WHAT DO TOP COMIC ARTISTS EARN PER YEAR??

[drdonaldblake]

i was wondering what the top, hottest comic artists earn, guys like mcfarlane, byrne,miller, jim lee, perez??

 

does anyone know this or is all industry hush hush stuff?

 

do they get pain per comic or have an annual contract?

 

anyone??

 

ive heard mcfarlane is drowning in the $$$

[rob_react]

I haven't been a gossipy info-monger for this type of thing in a few years, so forgive me if I'm out-of-date.

 

People get paid per page. I don't know what the rate for someone like Jim Lee would be right now, but the top "regular mortals" probably make in the $2-300 range per page. Add to that the $200-1000 that the top guys might make, per page, selling their share of the original art and you get a basic picture of their earnings.

 

Covers get paid at a higher rate and sell for more on the secondary market. AH! is probably as well off as anyone and he basically just does covers now. When the originals sell in the $1000-3000 range it's pretty easy to imagine him doing pretty well.

 

Royalties used to be more of a factor than they are now I believe. A book like JLA/Avengers or Ultimate FF that sells over 150,000 copies might kick some money back to the creators but books like that are few and far between.

[rob_react]

Oh, and TMc is most definitely swimming in cash. Between the toys, his earnings from being the driving force behind one of the best selling books of all time and the whole Image thing he's as well off as any comic creator has any right to be.

[DiceX]

The price varies quite a bit.

A starting penciler can make anywhere from $50-$125 per page.

This depends on who you work for, and how good you are.

 

Top pencilers make upwards of $250+ per page.

They can usually get a bonus on sales.

These bonuses are usually linked to sales numbers. They make more of a percentage if the title sells over x number of copies.

 

Starting inkers make $25-$100 per page.

Top dogs only get into the $150-$200 per page max.

I don't think there are very many inkers that can get a percentage bonus.

 

Colorists make squat.

Most mainstream coloring is done by teams in a large "house" or company that specializes in coloring.

Many colorists will only do a single page of a book because the team is like an assembly line and is required to pound out several complete books per day.

I've heard of these guys making $15 to $30 per page max.

This is the main reason I've backed out of attempting to be a colorist.

These color houses run a fat profit for the owners, while the artists *doing* the work get jack [!@#%^&^].

Hopefully someday all the colorists will revolt and they will get more of the money that they righfully deserve.

 

Painters make quite a bit more.

Usually in the $500+ range for a cover.

Top artists bringing quite a bit more.

Interior pages go for $300+ each for fully painted comics.

 

There ya go. All the info you could ever want.

If you think you might want to work in comics, put a pencil to those numbers.

Remember, if you are doing a single book, you're only doing 24-28 pages a month.

It doesn't come out to very much money and you constantly have to pimp yourself out for your next meal.

This is not the best of times to be getting into the comic art industry.

There are a lot of veteran artists right now that are trying to eat.

It's an extremely cut throat occupation at the moment.

[drdonaldblake]

thanx guys for the info!!!

[heartened]

If you think you might want to work in comics, put a pencil to those numbers.

 

 

Let's see.... if an average penciler makes 200 per page X 24 pages = 4800

 

Add 700 for the cover = 5500

 

X 12 months = 66000!!

 

If they can sell their art in the secondary market for the same amount = 132000

 

If they sell their art at 50% off = 99000

 

And, this is still for doing one comic during the year.

 

Just to play devil's advocate, a pediatrician goes through four years of college, four grueling years of medical school and three years of pediatrics residency, doesn't start earning until they're 30, and ends up making about 90000 for the rest of their life. And, don't forget malpractic insurance of 20-30K that they have to pay out of pocket each year.

 

I know most artists can't find work, but for those who do.... it doesn't seem so bad. At least you don't have to deal with people thinking you make a ton of money, and that you should suck it up!

 

Sorry if this sounded like a smart-[!@#%^&^] response. Just thought I'd play devil's advocate And, to be fair, I'm an interventional cardiologist, so these numbers don't apply to me.

 

Anyway, just food for thought. Hope I didn't make any enemies

[RS]

I should have not cut out of art class in High School

[Smokinghawk]

You know, I have a college degree in studio art. I could genuinely be good at do comic pencils, but I lack the patience. I get bored with the repetitive pictures, so I tend to do single, large stand-alone pieces instead.

 

I'd be a GREAT cover artist, but a poor interior artist.

[tth2]

ive heard mcfarlane is drowning in the $$$

 

He IS drowning in dough, but only a fraction of that is directly related to actual comic art these days, even money that he gets from sales of original art. That's all chump change compared to the money he gets from licensing deals, Spawn movie, cartoons, etc. and toys. Being a good comic artist got his foot in the door, but being a great businessman is what's turned him into a multi-millionaire.

[aardvark88]

My buddy told me Joe Jusko is a very fast painter. He was commissioned to paint Marvel heroes for a card set so each original is smaller size say 8 x 11 inches. Only took him 2 days to do each card art. If Jusko averages $500/ original x 14 cards/month = $7k/month + sales of his original card art at a retail of about $500 each would average out $14,000 revenue per 1 month of painting work.

[DiceX]

If you think you might want to work in comics, put a pencil to those numbers.

 

 

Let's see.... if an average penciler makes 200 per page X 24 pages = 4800

 

Add 700 for the cover = 5500

 

X 12 months = 66000!!

 

If they can sell their art in the secondary market for the same amount = 132000

 

If they sell their art at 50% off = 99000

 

And, this is still for doing one comic during the year.

 

Just to play devil's advocate, a pediatrician goes through four years of college, four grueling years of medical school and three years of pediatrics residency, doesn't start earning until they're 30, and ends up making about 90000 for the rest of their life. And, don't forget malpractic insurance of 20-30K that they have to pay out of pocket each year.

 

I know most artists can't find work, but for those who do.... it doesn't seem so bad. At least you don't have to deal with people thinking you make a ton of money, and that you should suck it up!

 

Sorry if this sounded like a smart-[!@#%^&^] response. Just thought I'd play devil's advocate And, to be fair, I'm an interventional cardiologist, so these numbers don't apply to me.

 

Anyway, just food for thought. Hope I didn't make any enemies

 

The average penciler doesn't make $200 per page.

There are very few that make $200 or more.

A doctor sits in his office and people that are sick come to him for service.

He doesn't have to advertise, just do his job.

 

A comic artist has to constantly "interview" for their next job.

Nothing is certain except they have to get work where they can.

This often leads to a several month layover between books.

 

Also note that they do not get all the finished originals.

They have to split them between themselves, the inker, and sometimes the scribe.

Now recalculate it.

Be sure to give them 2 to 3 months of no work in that year.

 

It's not even close to being as stable of a job that you're making it out to be.

There are very few artists that have the stability to not have a few months between jobs.

[heartened]

Hi,

 

My only point was that there's money to be made in all fields, including being a comic artist. And, sometimes, the money can be quite substantial.

 

Best,

[sckao]

 

Most pencilers cannot maintain a schedule where they can produce 12 books a year. They rarely get to draw their own covers as well unless they're already well established.

 

Assuming a 22 page story and a cover with each taking a day. That's 23 working days in a month. You're also assuming that a penciler can pencil a full page in 8 hours. If he has to work 12 hour days to finish one 1 page per day, the per hour rate starts dropping really fast. (Even at an inflated $200 per page, if that page takes 10 hours, you're talking $20 per hour.)

 

You also have to factor in convention appearances, vacations, store signings or appearances, meetings, running a home office/studio, maintaining shipping supplies and art supplies, sketches, phone and fax bills for talking to the writer/inker/editor, etc. which all cut into drawing time.

 

Realistically, comic book artists are probably making far less than you imagine.

[cavecarson]

Yeah but they get all the chicks right?

[FlComicFan]

If an artist cant crank out one 22 page book per month and stay on a one book per month schedule he is either trying to draw a masterpiece every time or is spending way too much time screwing off Didnt guys like Kirby draw 3-4 titles at the same time?

[Aman619]

yeah. thats fair. compare every one to the most talented AND prolific comics artist ever.

[Smokinghawk]

If an artist cant crank out one 22 page book per month and stay on a one book per month schedule he is either trying to draw a masterpiece every time or is spending way too much time screwing off Didnt guys like Kirby draw 3-4 titles at the same time?

 

 

I read once that the "Kirby Barrier" was eight pages a day.

[DiceX]

There are a few pencilers that can do more than one book a month.

Not to punk on Kirby, but comic art is a little more than it was in his day.

The art is more intricate.

An artist pounding out 4 books a month now is producing substandard product.

 

Also remember the artists that are doing two or more books a month are taking a book away from another artist.

 

I'm not saying that you can't be a comic artist and make money.

I'm saying that the field is cut throat and not the pipe dream that many people make it out to be.

Imagine a job that you work at for a few months...you get laid off...go interview for another job...you don't get it...interview for 10 more and land a job that will last a few more months...you get laid off...etc.

 

The list of current artists that have work offered to them, without them having to look for it, is very small.

[Aman619]

the life expectancy of a comic artist's career is very short too. Even many of the top guys recah a opint where the offers stop comibg in. And the middle tier and lower tier guys are phased out fairly quickly. Like pro sports. Your style goes out of style quick sometimes. Or your "buddies" as editors are moved out for younger guys, who have theor OWN guys they like to assign work to.

[FlComicFan]

I'd have to differ one that point Maybe todays art is more detailed as far as the figures but Kirby and the rest of the Silver age guys were drawing stories with many many panels per page complete with full backgrounds Much of today books are nothing more than a dozen splash pages with zip for backgrounds and Kirby may have been the fastest bu many other artists were drawing more than one title each and every month Artists may [!@#%^&^] about how "bad"they have it now but the old timers really were chained to their boards They couldnt run out to conventions and sell sketches and their published art for anywhere what todays prices bring