Cost of Art

[Kalagaraz]

Alright so I'm working on a 2D game right now and I'm currently considering using these graphics (Free Graphics for Games) (bottom 2 packs) for temporary art. I like that kind of semi-cartoony style. I don't want to use them for the final version though however as I still do not "own" the art. I.E other people can use the same art in their games and my game now becomes a cookie cutter.

So what I'm wondering is a general estimate of how much it would cost to have an artist create game art for me giving me all rights (artist can still use it for portfolio purposes, but cannot resell)?

I'm just planning ahead, I will probably use the above mentioned graphics for now, but I would like a general idea of the cost of having new graphics made so I can start setting money aside in the budget.

I know it will be expensive, I just would like to know how expensive...


Also if anyone has any tilesets/art for sale that has a similar cartoony feel as the above posted graphics let me know, and I may purchase them instead to use as temporary place holder art.

[RMachucaA]

Ask around 2d forums, grab an example texture\model from an existing game and ask how much time on average would it take to texture\make the example given. Based on that, look around and see what the average pay\hour is for a 2d artist and that will give you a very rough estimate.