If its a privilege to pay for art, then its also a privilege to work as a freelance artist
This is more of a rant to the art community as a whole about how commissions are priced than something im personally struggling with
It irritates me when unpopular artists complain about not getting commissions when they price their artworks the same as professionals when the work they make have 5x times less quality. Sometimes, people try to be supportive by saying "youre underpricing your artwork!", "price it at minimum wage", and when the artists do that, they dont get any commissions, and they wonder why. And if someone tries to say something "negative" or "harsh" like "nobody is buying an artwork with that quality for that price", "you have to practice more and lower your prices", people respond with "well art isnt a need! its a privilege to be able to afford commissions!" yet they come crying when nobody buys their commissions, because not everyone has hundreds of dollars to spend on things like art every month. And guess what? Its also a privilege to be able to live as a freelance artist without worrying about rent and being able to afford daily necessities for months.
What also makes me mad is that, some artists, especially beginner, when they make 1 good artwork, they get too confident and immediately price it at a similar rate as a professional who can make consistently good artworks, and then comes the issue of not being able to produce the same quality artworks as the example they showed. And because of that, they immediately become demotivated and stop making art. Look, its not wrong for artists to try, and vent to others about their issues too, but the problem is, some of these artists reject valid criticism, keep making the same mistakes and then they end up in the same place, wondering why barely anyone wants to buy their commissions.
The "charge your commission price based on how long it takes for you to make the drawing" rule also doesnt make sense, beginners naturally spend more time trying to make something a professional can make in less time. Have you seen those professional manga artists who can sketch their own characters in insane details under a minute? Yet its common to see beginners try and make a decent drawing in 5-6 hours. Yet you wanna charge based on how long it takes for you to make the drawing. Based on that logic, its better for me to just get a commission from a professional because I guarantee you they can make a good doodle in less than 30 minutes and youd only have to pay for about 5 dollars, rather than beginners where itd take them hours and chances are the drawings will look decent at best, yet because they spent hours, youd have to pay the cost of a whole meal, typically 30-40 dollars, which is just insane. Just look at how artists in the industry get payed, their expected to draw quick (especially storyboard artists). Yet you dont see them earning less than a dime every month, despite drawing so quick.
Like, it just doesnt make sense to be telling a beginner who still has a shaky foundation that they should price their commissions at minimum wage when it doesnt work like that in other fields of work. Why would you pay 10 dollars to eat bad food made by an amateur chef when you can buy good food made by a professional chef for the same price? Okay, some people might pick the former, maybe they like the bad taste, maybe they want to support the amateur chef, but for the majority, itd be the latter. Its unstable. Youd have a much better chance at earning more if you had priced the commissions lower, especially if nobody wants to buy your art. I think this rule would only make sense if you were getting payed on a monthly basis by an employer, otherwise, if youre freelance it wouldnt work and would likely make your monthly income unstable.
Of course there are exceptions, if you have the demands and people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars just to get a doodle from you, then I mean, take the opportunity! But Im talking about the majority of artists, who are unknown, who are still developing artstyles, who has only a few fans. Its unfair to want the same benefits as those professional artists whove worked their ass off for years, even decades, to get to where they are now, especially when you are just starting out.