What is a fair cost for a logo, a cartoon or an illustration?
I get this question all of the time. Unfortunately there is no one price for a logo or cartoon. All designers are different and all clients are different. I’ve been freelancing cartoons and logos since 1981 and have found what I feel is a fair price to charge my clients.
I’m a professional cartoonist and graphic designer, meaning I make 100% of my income in this business and have been doing so full time since 2003. I’ve dealt with large and small clients all over the world but rarely do projects for large corporations.
In all of the years that I’ve been doing business I have almost never had any client complain about my cartooning and logo design costs. The rates below are for my services and are listed for small to medium sized companies.These are just average costs and are not set in stone and are not meant to be a quote for your project.
I am listing these prices to let potential clients know what they could be paying and also for newbie designers that are struggling to price their work effectively. Be sure and read my article on “What a Logo is Really Worth.”
$50.00 per hour – this is my freelance design rate for cartooning, designing and layout.
Logo Design
Small to Medium Sized Company
Logo only – no letterhead or business card design
Includes copyright and vector art files
$200.00 – Simple text (or cartoon font) only logo design
$300.00 – Simple logo with text and design element
$400.00 – Average logo with text and simple cartoon character
$600.00 – Average logo with text and more complex character
There could be additional costs for multiple characters, large corporate clients or really complex designs. Please request a quote for exact costs.
Cartooning
Small to Medium Sized Company
These prices include all copyrights & vector files
$150.00 – Simple illustration for t-shirt design
$300.00 – Complex illustration for t-shirt
$150.00 – Greeting Card design for individual
$300.00 – Greeting Card design for publisher
$50 per hour – Convert bitmap to vector
License a single panel cartoon
$25.00 – Gag cartoon for small publication
$75.00 – Gag cartoon for medium publication
$150.00 – Gag cartoon for large publication
Add $100 for an original gag cartoon
The design costs above are just a snapshot of my cartoon prices. I require a 50% deposit to book a project and I rarely have a client balk at the deposit or my rates. These prices are based on my own experience and may change without notice.
Feel free to base your own design rates compared to these. Less experienced designers and illustrators might start out by pricing services a bit lower while expert designers will most likely be charging more.
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