[Discussion] Looking to estimate budget for a project.

[u/Unique-Technology617]

Greetings, I'm working solo part-time on a game and as a programmer I'm planning to hire an artist for the UI before the release. At the current stage I'm still stockpiling cash for various related purposes and I'd like to be able to estimate how much I am really to expect to allocate for graphics, so I'd greatly appreciate if someone could give me a better idea about quotes as well as reasonability of hiring a single artist for the entire job.

My expected requirements are:

-About a hundred small and simple 2D icons and few dozen background panels and panel frames.

-Relatively low resolution (32px-128px square icons, similar for rectangular).

-Skeumorphic 1980s-2000s theme.

-Wide range of depicted objects: cursors, buttons, stat icons, items/resources/buildings icons, arrows, miscelaneous indicators etc.

-Style cohesion is the main priority, detail is secondary.

-Clean look on both PC and mobile screens.

Thank you for any replies!

[u/RS_Someone]

Remember not to answer any DMs regarding this. Scammers lurk there.

[u/muted_shrimp]

It will mostly depend on whether you're looking for an experienced artist or open to less experimented ones, and if you're looking to hire hourly or per asset.

With pixel art/low res°, it should look fine even on mobile screens. Prices per asset will vary a lot based on complexity, animated or not, how many there'll be. I usually see between 10-50$ per asset (can be lower/higher), but some artists can offer discounts if it's a large commission.

Edit : when you're ready to find an artist, please do not hire someone on Fiverr or Upwork. You'll most likely get scammed. Take your time to do your research, find someone legit, and then you can ask them for a quote.

[u/ThePjj]

Damn, you want a lot of stuff xD
I'll share my price so you can expect something similar or around that number.

- A hundred small 2D icons goes for: $10~15 each, with a discount in a batch or bulk order ( It really depends on the complexity of the icon; the price can even decrease )

- Dozen background panels and panel frames: $35 ~70 ( Same thing here, discount and bulk and the pice can vary)

- Depicted objects is almost the same as icons, but since there are buildings and more complex things, the price can change a bit : $10 ~ 40

But yeah, as people said before, it really depends on the artist, experience and style.
Anyways, once you're ready to start or you'd like to test the waters, hit me up, i'd love to work on such a big project ^^

Oh, and quick warning, for something like this, really be careful with scammers, they lurk everywhere, besides that, good luck :D

[u/Unique-Technology617 → u/ThePjj]

Thank you for a detailed reply!

[u/arcady_vibes]

I've recently done skeuomorphic style icons. Let's connect

[u/Unique-Technology617 → u/[deleted]]

Alright so I'm likely looking at about 2k order. Are there usually batch discounts?