a question regarding layout/graphic design pay rates

[kabael]

What is the "going rate" for layout and graphic design work in the gaming industry? I have a friend who has a lot of work in that field and may be interested in working on some games in some capacity, but I had no idea what kind of pay range it supplies.

I do know that art is certainly expensive and the pay for RPG layout won't compare to "normal" layout rates, but if people could share some general ballpark figures, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Misguided]

Derek, I honestly don't know, but from what I hear, art, writing, and editing all get less in the game industry, so I'd expect your friend to get less too.

[kabael]

Yeah, definitely. I know that writing and editing are both much lower, and I have ballpark figures for that kind of work, but I can't even really guess at layout/graphic design payscales.

[Saranjeuhal]

Originally posted by kabael
Yeah, definitely. I know that writing and editing are both much lower, and I have ballpark figures for that kind of work, but I can't even really guess at layout/graphic design payscales.

Kab

It depends on a number of factors but the biggest one being, how much are you willing to be bought for :)

Seriously though, one way to look at numbers is to look at www.salary.com and see what comes up for locations there. That should give you a good baseline. RPG companies don't tend to have as much money as even the smallest of the small companies used in that research, so take anything from 25-50% from any figures given.

Alternatively, ask some companies what they pay. You might be surprised and get some answers.

[RpmQ]

Theres a book titled "Graphic Artists Guild Pricing and ethical guidelines".
It can also be found at the graphic artists guild website (GAG.org).
It gives average payscale for everything imaginable for anything arts realted (Illustrators, graphic arts, photographers, drafters etc).

Bear in mind that it is a national average. COst of living affects pricing locally, even though the internet is changing that somewhat.

To be honest, I am floored at the cheap prices peope are selling their artwork services, or even the prices willing to be paid to artists, that I have found advertised on this website. Says something about the rpg industry as a whole I think.
-r

[Guildofblades]

Typical Graphic design pay rates run from about $10 per hour up to $25 to $30. I do some graphic design work on the side to pad my income from the Guild and until recently I had a roommate who did grphic design for a living.

It would seem that $15 or so is the standard rate for entry level layout persons and general design work done for employment agencies. Experts with a particular medium tend to charge more like $20 to $30 per hour within that medium. But then they get a lot done in tnat time too; that;s why they are the experts.

For a lot of freelance work I charge $17.50, but my area of expertise is map making. For those types of projects I usually charge $25/hr. To give you an example, a recent map project I did on behalf of the Guild for a product shipping out this week was the maps for the Rise of the Red Army (A&A variant). I didn't keep an exact tally of how long they took to complete, start to finish, but at a guess I would say it was between 12 and 14 hours of work (roughly $300 to $350 if it had been a contract job). If you want to take a look at a lower resolution web version of that, is can be seen at http://www.guildofblades.com/empires/rise.html

I have one friend who is a true expert in making Powerpoint presentations and he charges between $22 and $30 per hour.

Of course, this is the gaming industry, so it may not be an issue of what the going rates are, but rather how much can you afford? Though you do tend to get what you pay for.

[hive]

Not to sound to discouraging but most game companies are considered small-tiered in the business sense (meaning that grunt work like layout and gd is inhouse mostly by the guy in the basement that calls himself "Senior Line Editor"). I've rarely seen freelance gd work going on behind the curtain since its considered a project effort that is done onsite. If your friend is serious about doing layout and gd my advice would be to find the closest RPG company absorbed by HASBRO and call them up for an internship. It's not glamourous but it's a staff position.


All in all, your friend might be better off just working 3rd shift at Kinko's because let's face it...RPG companies are not real companies in the first place (Mom said it was kewl to use the money from the lawsuit to start up DARKSTORM GAMES. Now we can publish all those great sessions as d20 books!).


-
hive

___________________________________________________
"...it's this great site about cats that fall asleep on the scanner!"

[Guildofblades]

Hi Hive,

My friend that does graphic design full time doesn't work in the game industry. I occassionally do a bit of contract work for small companies at the pay rates I had posted. But you are right, most small companies can't afford anywhere near standard pay rates for graphic design work.

Still, you learn quickly in the business world that you /can't/ do everything yourself. It can't be done. At least not well. You do as much as you can in house, then outsource the rest.

For instance, while the staff here at the Guild does a great deal in house, from writing, editing, game design, graphic design, internet design, marketing, etc, etc. The one thing we don't have on staff, and really aren't quite producing enough different products to justify a salaried position for (yet), is an artists. So we freelance out all of our cover artwork, excepting those products we can create using existing artwork or doing in house graphic design for.

Artwork tends to demand different pay rates entirely, so I won't bother posting about those, as they aren't really relative to graphic design pay rates.

[hive]

hi ryan,

Not saying that small businesses can't achieve alot or produce enough...i'm just saying that most are done more for the love or personal gratification of the field rather than fiscal returns. This quickly leads to the inbreeding effect wherein most production is done inhouse.

Why representational art is outsourced to several channels still makes me wonder but then again so does half of the stuff that the Croc Hunter says with that damn wonky accent of his.

-hive

___________________________________________________
"What's my game like?...It's a post-apok fantasy setting with cowboys and vikings with Summerian and Latin-derived names. I got the idea watching Temptation Island 2".