Sorah Sauce Will Work for You...

Yeah, honestly, I can't even remember where the nickname "The Sauce" came from, but it was definitely from CoX boards.

Anyway, my account was activated for a month due to me being super, super sick and stuck at home, but my account is going to be running out within the week. I figured I would go ahead and post a link to what I'm offering here before it goes away!

I have a sale going on right now:

Sorah's Sale
(You can skip my explanation of why I'm all of suddenly offering severe rate cuts LOL, long story short, I was having cascade system failure for about a month, it was awesome...and by awesome I mean suckfail).

Examples of what you can expect:

COMPLETED----


And even though this was a gift piece, here's example of me drawing male figures----


Anyway, shoot me over an email, message (not on these boards obviously, but through my DeviantArt site), etc!

XoXo

A note from a customer:

And Sorah is incredibly fun to work with! You don't want to miss an opportunity like this

Will you write "Happy birthday, baby" on a piece for me?

If those are "sale" prices, then count me out. There's a certain level of inherent cost scaling with talent, but good lord. I could easily get 2-3 other commissions from people just as talented for that price. >.<

Well, the right price is whatever people will pay. That's the law of capitalism. In a closed market, you have a lot of power over the audience to charge what you will. In an open market when you have to compete against lots of other providers, the game changes and you have to adapt to the situation.

I'm not being nasty, although since you don't hang around here very often you'll likely take it as such. I speak my mind as an un-interrupted flow of thought since I don't care about playing the social game of popularity with strangers. The facts of the matter are you're *really* good. Better than most everyone here in the art forums. But to me, you're not [blank] dollars good.

For just a pencil sketch, with no ink, no color, little background, limited characters, I'd expect a lot more out of it than strange centers of gravity, flawed perspective and shortcutted lines. You make the same mistakes that other amateur artists do, albeit with a polish that comes from repetition and confidence. I would pay you more than I would pay some other artists here on the forums, but certainly not what you want to charge. There's other people who are just as skilled who are providing more for less and I cannot in good faith ignore that in my assessment.

My opinion is an extreme one, because I have a pet peeve with the combination of artists, popularity and money. So it's unlikely that everyone feels the way I do. But that's my opinion and I stand by it, regardless of what price I pay for having it.

That's fine, darling. Everyone is welcome to their opinion.

*checks wallet* *pouts* I cant afford the sauce

Wow, I've spent about 15 minutes starting about 4 different replies and then self censoring each and every one of them.

All I'm going to say is:

Sorah, you've got some great pieces both here and on your DA page. When I do break down and commission some pieces I'll definitely give you a consider...

As for prices: I think whenever anyone is buying anything they should comparison shop and go where they think their money is best spent for what they want.

As for criticism: I'm a newb here and just basically have an outsider looking in perspective but I do find this board a bet of a love in where negative comments really don't seem welcome. Personally I would prefer a bit more openess about how piece x, y or z could be improved and such (once thinking I had enough talent to be an artist I still find myself interested in those who are and their techniques and such) but basically I figure that if the choice is between a love fest with no criticism and a tear down everything we see fest... Well then let the dirty hippies win!

None of this applies to Sorah, since she's taken the most graceful response to this that one can possibly. Chalk it up to a difference of opinion which won't change and thusly doesn't need to be argued about. That makes me respect her more as a person.

Funny enough, I got equal parts good and bad rep from my comments on this subject. That's one of the only reasons I think I like the system, because it lets someone 'vote' anonymously and thusly be more truthful about what they're really feeling.

I'm vocal on money value, because like many other people here on the forums, I have very little money to afford such things for myself. I would likely have as large a gallery as Buckeyestar, Katfood or Rowr, if I only had the cash to back it up. So price is a very large issue to me and high prices mean cutting off access completely to an otherwise willing customer. This month is my bday and I actually have more cash to toss around than normal, so I'm actively looking for places to spend it. But sticker shock has set in here.

I also have issues with high prices and art in general, being an artist myself. Art is a wonderful thing. Beauty captured on the canvas, emotion conveyed to an audience, experiences taught through the material. You can't put a price tag on it, as it has none. The 'price' of it is entirely negotiable because it has independent value to everyone who views it. Generally in the business, you're paying for the artist themselves as a laborer, rather than the finished piece and that's where things go awry at times. When I pay for art, I'm paying for the finished product. Much like how I expect a well built house when I pay a master architect to design one for me. No matter how good someone might be, if I get less that what I paid for, I got gypped.

Too many artists out there think that due to popularity or tenure, that their stuff is worth more than it actually is. I've seen all too many cases where two different artists had approximately equal skill and one was 'professional' and charged nearly 4 times the amount the other did. Nothing about the art was better, only the 'big name' that came with it was the difference. They'll usually defend themselves with the line "You're not paying for the hour of work I did on this picture, you're paying for the 12 years of work I did before that."

B*******.

I'm paying for a product and years of experience helps you create that product, faster, better and more easily than someone else. The consistency and the quality of your average work is *why* I come to you instead of someone else. That's the benefit you enjoy as someone of experience and skill. The burden isn't on me as a customer to pay exorbitant fees for the 'honor' of having your time. Unfortunately, that's a hole that more popular artists fall into quite often. Too many yes-men surrounding you would make anyone's ego inflated.

This board has far too many yes-men on it. People greedily sucking on the fringes of their social barriers hoping that they'll enjoy some artist's scraps for the price of being a constant suck up. Nobody wants to 'break the ice' for fear of being ostracized and denied those artist scraps forevermore. But there's a reality that exists unstated here, where people are taken aback at what they see and internal dialogs run through their heads that echo what I say out loud. The commentary from the forum rep feedback proves that to me. So I take it upon myself to 'break the ice' because no-one else will. I might be 'punished' for such behavior socially, but the message is stated and once it's set into place, other people can follow without fear of repercussions. I am a hate tank and I keep my team of 'common sense' safe because nobody else has the defenses to do it and survive.

It's pretty easy to chalk it up to me being an antisocial deviant who constantly needs to seek attention by lashing out. That may very well be true. But I don't need love or attention on myself. I need people to talk about the things they always bite their tongue on. The things that everyone looks at and rolls their eyes and yet doesn't speak out on. The elephant in the room is plain for everyone to see.

I won't post anymore in this thread, simply because I've already stated my intentions and reasoning. Further posting would simply be threadcrapping Sorah's advertisement. I posted my opinions on the matter and that's it. Everyone else can vote with their wallets.

While I am not going to get into anything in specific, I appreciate the kind words from those who shared.

As for the advertisement, I figure given the potentiality of flame-war thread-jacking, I'm going to request to delete the thread. It's just not worth it. I've been getting plenty of inquiries from DeviantArt, but I wanted to show some love to the community that started my career. It's all good

As for the debate of value and the like...I do this for a living. Comics book artists are commercial artists first and foremost. And we have a pricetag. Simple as that. I do not consider myself a "Jim Lee" or a "Marc Silvestri" or an "Adi Granov," I'm still being trained. I am a professional, but I've got loads of room to grow.

However, my issue is this...(and I will quote one of my mentors):
"I can't afford a Rolls Royce...doesn't mean I'm going to write them a letter telling them that their prices are ridiculous. I just don't buy the car."

But can you DRAW a Rolls Royce? If so, how much does that cost?

How about a 74 convertable VW Beetle then?

Are you just padding your post count before they delete my thread, Rei? LOL!

Just thinking about my own team of Sorahs (Sori? Or is it the same as the singular?) gets me light headed.