Do artists make more money from the publishers...

[Mighty Hal]

I was curious about this very question -- how much does an artist make from a comic book? So I went looking for page rates for Marvel and DC.

 

Happily, I lucked upon a Newsarama blog that addresses the question. (I still don't know how to add a proper link to this board. If someone can PM me, I'll try to post it.) On the blog, it was said that a new artist, doing pencils for Marvel Age FF, would get $175 a page, $262.50 for the cover, and gross $4112.50 for the typical 22-page book.

 

But Mark Millar, who oughta know, disagreed. He wrote: I don’t know the Marvel Age figures, but that’s certainly much lower than any artist I know working at Marvel, DC, Top Cow or even Harris. I can’t say how much the NAME artists get but it’s HUGELY more than that. HUGELY. Even average guys are getting twice that. I

 

Millar put in the capital letters, not me. He also wrote that comics are a fantastic and lucrative way to make a living.

[lmiller]

Exactly. You don't realize how many low-end pages are out there until you start thinking about all of the OA that you aren't looking for.

 

So Larry, how many pages do you want? I have hundreds on my site that fall into the $30 or less category...just tell me how many you're looking to buy, and I'll put a care package together for you. I can even go down to $25/pg if you're looking to buy 500 at once. A dash of Sonic the Hedgehog here, a sprinkle of Betty and Veronica there, top with a bit of Masks: Too Hot for TV or perhaps a bit of Body Doubles...season to taste, and voila!

 

 

 

jjeanius. i gotta give it up to you sir . your correct there are tons of low end art out there that most people don,t want . sonic. archie. masks. even pages from marvel and dc books that have nothing going on in them. those will always be a hard sale.

 

but my question was about main stream guys that we all have heard of a least those not in the top 2% superstars are not living below the proverty level. so yes you are correct that there is a ton of artwork out there that.s below $ 30.00 but most collectors on this board collect super hero art and some horror with a few comic strips tossed in. by guys they at least heard of and will only buy what they like not because it cheap

 

would i buy a steve ditko page with two guys standing around gabbing about nothing for 30.00 heck yes ,where do i get in line for that. would i buy a page with 2 guys standing around gabbing about nothing from some new artist working for marvel or dc on his very first book and pay him $ 30.00 i think not. if any thing i would buy a page that i like and pay him more. i checked out your site nice stuff, i seen lots of pages on there for 30.00 and less. it.s just none them were my cup of tea. now i did see some very nice stuff. that you had in the high hundred.s

 

so again my whole point was if you are a current comic artist and you are working on a standard monthly book for marvel / dc or maybe top cow, most of those guys are making 3 to 5.000 a month, to me that,s not starving.

 

larry.]

[lmiller]

I was curious about this very question -- how much does an artist make from a comic book? So I went looking for page rates for Marvel and DC.

 

Happily, I lucked upon a Newsarama blog that addresses the question. (I still don't know how to add a proper link to this board. If someone can PM me, I'll try to post it.) On the blog, it was said that a new artist, doing pencils for Marvel Age FF, would get $175 a page, $262.50 for the cover, and gross $4112.50 for the typical 22-page book.

 

But Mark Millar, who oughta know, disagreed. He wrote: I don’t know the Marvel Age figures, but that’s certainly much lower than any artist I know working at Marvel, DC, Top Cow or even Harris. I can’t say how much the NAME artists get but it’s HUGELY more than that. HUGELY. Even average guys are getting twice that. I

 

Millar put in the capital letters, not me. He also wrote that comics are a fantastic and lucrative way to make a living.

 

 

humm i would never tell mark miller he,s wrong. after all we do have the same last name . but i think the guy should know what he,s taking about . he is working in the industry. thanks for listing the above blog report.

 

but thoses rate sound right to me. i knew artist were getting a lot more than an $ 100 an page for there work. i just did not buy that 98% percent of the industry are broke artist.s or at least are not starving. and what they sell there work for on the after market is there biz.s

larry ;]

[jjeanius]

Actually, you don't have the same last name...his last name is MillAr. ;-)

 

Anyway, "average" DC page rate for inkers is $120/page. Pencillers probably get a bit more...so those numbers do indeed sound correct. So $4000/month is NOT a lot of money. And that's IF you can get consistent work month-in and month-out. It's feast or famine...some months you may have two books to do...other months you may be out of work.

[topofthetotem]

I think it's all relative if you drive a benz or hummer then 4 grand aint much but if you get by in a explorer or a sedan then is sounds pretty sweet. Depends on the persons lifestyle more then the actual # of dollars.

[lmiller]

Actually, you don't have the same last name...his last name is MillAr. ;-)

 

Anyway, "average" DC page rate for inkers is $120/page. Pencillers probably get a bit more...so those numbers do indeed sound correct. So $4000/month is NOT a lot of money. And that's IF you can get consistent work month-in and month-out. It's feast or famine...some months you may have two books to do...other months you may be out of work.

 

 

jjeanius. whopps like you got me again. see what happen.s when i take my glasses off for a second. anyway millar is close enough for me. kinda like you say tomato i say toomatto ;]

 

 

but thanks, on your posts i really enjoy our banter on the subject and hopefully some board members may have learned a thing or too. like my self. see ya around.

larry ;]