Art Pricing Rant

Hi, this is gonna be exactly what it says on the tin- looking around in tree carvings makes kind of sad right now. I know that translating cones to real world currency can be weird sometimes, but basically every artist on here is seriously underpricing their art right now. Seeing fully colored and shaded pieces offered for 4 gc might sound like a lot at first, but taking the actual grove gc prices into account, y'all are being paid a single dollar for all of that effort! I know that many users are doing this purely as a hobby, but this sets an expectation for younger or newer artists that their time and work isn't worth a fair rate. Obviously, this is also an issue outside of this site, but i think that the extra abstraction of fictional currency has made this even worse.

Ultimately, I don't know how much impact this post will have but artists, don't be afraid to ask for a fair amount (not just what everyone else has decided is fair) for your art, especially as you grow your skills and patrons, understand the actual amount you're paying and try to pay a fair amount even when the artist is asking for less. I really hope we can make this an environment where artists are valued and seen as skilled people rather than a machine that spits out artwork number 35 of your wolvden oc. 

While I understand the point behind this post, and I even agree, I see why things are severely underpriced.

Art is a luxury. This is also a website that has young people on it. Young people tend to not have a whole lot of disposable income. So if the main playerbase can't afford paying a fair price of 40 GC per piece of art, well... artists simply won't get business. It's also a matter of competition. People are much more likely to do business with a person that underprices their art.

I've seen it time and time again. People ask a playerbase what their art is worth in game currency. People give them a fair price (which can be seen as expensive, as it should be for their skill!). The artist then receives next to no business because people can't afford it even if it's worth it.

Or people tell an artist that is doing really well, yet underpricing their work, to raise their prices. Artist does. Artist then receives almost no business.

It's terribly sad and I hate seeing it happen, but that's the nature of doing business with people who may not have a ton of disposable income.

If it's any insight, people already complain about paying 10 GC a month for feed all/play all because they can't afford that.

Happens on every pet site. No one's gonna want to pay 200 gold cones for art since that sounds like a crazy amount, compared to the stuff in the game. That's why I'm only doing YWH art for cones, it's not as unfair as a piece from scratch. I'm just glad the site has such a busy market for art.