¡Señorita Pug!

On this whole "$4500 for one illustration" discussion: I'm pro-valuing your own work and setting the price you think you deserve. I have worked with some global top tier artists at the companies I've worked at over the years. These companies are loaded with money, so we could afford top tier quality. Never has one of our contracted illustrators charged us even close to $4500 for a single piece. And this was before the AI boom. (I know, as I was keeping the accounts). Moreover, their pricing accounted for several rounds of revision and, assuming a standard work day of 8 hours, would very often deliver the completed or near completed work in 4-5 working days (about 40 hours). A lot of the artists also didn't charge their hourly rates during the onboarding process (when we needed them for longer periods), where they got to know how we worked, our standards, the vibe we were going for, etc, and during which some also did some test work for us. What was their secret? A lot of them (not all!) were from East Asia and Eastern Europe, where cost of life and salary expectations are lower For the artist who's at the center of attention, maybe the rate they are asking matches their location and average salary. I don't know, and I haven't done any research on their life. This is to say: I believe this artist has the right to set whatever price they want, more power to them and to whoever loves their work. For everyone else, there's A LOT of equally talented individuals who offer cheaper services.