So it's been a while since I updated my journal. I've had a lot going on this summer which kept me really busy and didn't leave me a lot of time to finish commission or do personal work. I think I mentioned that I had to do a mandatory co-op this year for school at an animation studio and I ended up going to Guru for the summer. I started me co-op working with the marketing and development team on new shows and promoting existing ones on social media. Near the end of my co-op the FX team asked if I could help clean up their library and then I started helping out on FX after that which resulted in me getting a job. I worked there a bit over a month and I ended at the end of August before going back to school.
I also had to attend to funerals this summer and I ended up fostering two rabbits that weren't being taken care of so I had the to deal with on top working two jobs. Since my internship was unpaid I had to keep my part time job at garage to cover travel costs and coming up with rent money, so I ended up working 7 days a week with no breaks and by the time I got home after commuting from Toronto to Oakville I just wanted to pass out. The team at Garage also underwent new management and I wasn't enjoying working there anymore so I ended up quitting, so now I'm jobless for the time being. That being said not having a job leaves me with a lot of time to do art. My commissions are open too .
On the subject of commissions, some of you may noticed a significant increase in my commission prices. I recently finished a commission that took me a very long time to complete. While everything above came into play there were other things that prolonged me from finishing it. I had asked for a really low price for this commission, and it really effected how I felt about my work. I know there are a lot of artist on here you under price themselves. I know I'm a culprit of it and I can tell you some of the reason why I felt this way; One, I wasn't famous enough to charge expensive prices, 2, I wanted everyone to be able to afford good quality art, and 3, I didn't think my skills were good enough to charge high prices. I also saw a lot of 'amateur' artists charge ridiculous prices and thought well... if I charge less, people will come to me instead of these other artists who art isn't as good as mine (that's terrible to say but its true).
Unfortunately though I still wasn't getting commissions so when I saw someone asking about commissions I mentioned my work and ended up taking on the request for little to no money. I started the commission right away and poured myself into the sketch but after time passed I became less and less committed to the commission, and it's because it wasn't worth my time. The amount of money I got for the commission and the amount of time I was putting into it wasn't worth it. When I finally did finish it I asked a few of my artists friends what they would have charges and everyone said a price that was over $100. When I told them the price that I charged they got visibly outraged that I under valued my art that much. So I sat down and took a look at my commission and asked myself how much would I have paid for this, and that's where I finally realized that I needed to start valuing myself as an artist and charging for commissions at a price where it's actually worth something to me.
I think sometimes for someone to value themselves they really need to have an experience like this where they take a step back and realize that their art is worth so much more that they think it's worth.
So I'm sorry if the price increase upset some people and I'm sorry if it's too expensive for some people but at this point in my life I feel like this is the cheapest I want to go with my prices. I need to eat, and pay for rent and I can't do that if I charge 3x less than minimum wage on my commissions.
Other than that, schools started up again and I'm doing a group film this year so hopefully that goes well.
Thanks for reading
~Emi
Skin made by fantasy-alive
