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[juniperandchaos]

The six most popular items we made in 2017! ~ Posting a new one every Sunday. Item cards made in collaboration with @r-n-w​ More of our stuff here.

[juniperandchaos]

tiefling horn cheatsheet part 2  (part 1)

[juniperandchaos]

Just wanted to remind my 27 followers that I post on instagram only now!

[juniperandchaos]

Commission Pricing 101

Guidelines for Setting Commission Prices

Article by @dragonofdarknesschaos​ article dated April 25th 2017 Original Source: [x]

I’m going to be blunt with all'y'all.  You are most likely under-pricing your work.  That’s okay, but please consider the following:

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Industry Standard Price List for Book Illustration*

Black and White:    • Spread: $500-$1500    • Full Page: $500-$9500    • Quarter Page: $100-$350

Color:   • Spread: $700-$2000   • Full Page: $500-$1500   • Quarter Page: $200-$400

*From The Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines by the Graphic Artists Guild, ed. 13–basically the bible for all visual artists looking to sell and price their work.  Check your local library for a copy.

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Not all artists are comfortable charging this much for their work, or maybe feel that their work isn’t good enough to charge more than a few bucks (if anything at all), some are just doing it for fun and don’t care about the money so much.

All of that is okay.  Individual commissioners usually don’t have the kind of money to drop that large corporations do.  

This is more about setting a few guidelines to prevent people from charging pennies for a full-color spread.  

See below:

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Fandom’ Average Price List

Black and White:   • Spread: $10-$50   • Full Page: $5-$30   • Quarter Page: $5-$30

Color:  • Spread: $50-$200  • Full Page: $20-$70  • Quarter Page: $10-$30

Valuing Your Work

If you don’t value your time, no one else will.

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You probably put a lot of time and effort into your work over the months or even years that you’ve been honing your craft.  So even if you’re in the select few who can actually bang out a beautiful piece of art in twenty minutes or less, think about how long it took you to get to that point.  I knew I wanted to do art professionally since the age of four; at the time of this writing I’ve gained 21 years of experience.  Not all of it was paid or professional quality work, but I learned and grew to what I am now.  Even if you’ve only been drawing a few months, that time and experience matters all the same!  Don’t sell your skills short. Now that you’ve gained some confidence in your abilities, it’s time to set a monetary value for your skills.  Usually artists go with an hourly rate.  This means that for however many hours you work on a piece, you charge the commissioner (or customer) by the amount you set.  THE COMMISSIONER DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU TO MAKE THE ARTWORK.  DO, however, ask when they need the artwork by.  If you cannot complete the artwork in that amount of time asked, turn down the commission or find out if the deadline can be changed. Let’s try this hourly rate in an example now.  

Say it takes three hours to do a full color bust and the hourly rate is $10.  

In math terms it’s…

(hourly rate) x (time spent) = (amount to charge).  

The artist would charge $30 for the full-color bust commission.  

Thirty dollars for just a drawing of a head and shoulders might seem like a lot, and one might be tempted to decrease the hourly rate so the amount to charge is within those ‘Fandom’ Averages mentioned above. 

 Doing the same work for a total of $5 means one would charge $1.67 hourly.

Most states have minimum wages well above that.  

Are you worth less than the bare minimum, or are you worth more?   Spoiler alert–YOU MATTER!!  And so does your artwork too!  

If you’re still not feeling confident enough, just look up your state’s minimum wage and use that for your hourly rate.  You can then slowly raise your prices as you gain more confidence in your work.  While people might complain, remind them–and yourself–about those Industry Standard Prices listed above.  

It doesn’t hurt to let your fans know that you will be increasing your prices in advance either!

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When to Increase Your Prices

Either increase your prices when you feel confident in doing so, when there’s simply too much demand for your work, or if you’ve been undervaluing yourself.

Increasing the price will deter some potential customers, but those who sincerely want your work will save up to commission you no matter what.  Those are the people you want to work with. 

If the demand is still too high for you to keep up, or you don’t feel comfortable increasing prices to keep up with demand, create slots, or a short list of commissions you are currently working on.

Create a wait list too, if that helps.  Just maintain a clear path of communication with your supporters.

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The Nuances of Pricing

If you really want to get technical, there’s going to be MORE MATH ahead. Though it’s basically all about breaking down how much time it takes you to do anything.

It will take you three times longer than you think it will.

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Pricing by Style

Wow, you can actually draw in multiple styles!?  GREAT!  AMAZING!  Not everyone can do that.  

If it takes you more time to draw one style than another have a price chart that clearly shows that. 

If you have multiple coloring styles or techniques, break down how long each takes and give prices based on that. 

Dissect your artistic process into steps if that helps to understand what to charge for. Creating steps like this will also help if (and when) you need to make invoices, or lists of the services you’re providing for billing purposes.  

The following are examples of pricing broken down into each step in an artistic process for two vastly different styles:

Super Cartoony Style (full page):

- sketch: $10 x 15mins (or .25hr) = $2.50  - lines: $10 x 90mins (or 1.5hrs) = $15.00 - color: $10 x 1hr = $10 - (no shading) Total: $27.50

Semi-Realistic Painterly Style (full page):

- sketch: $10 x 1hr = $10 - (no lines) - color: $10 x 2hrs = $20 - shading: $10 x 6hrs = $60 Total: $70

Having these kinds of breakdowns will help potential commissioners identify what they want and what they can afford.  

Yeah, that’s great, but what if someone just wants a sketch in the Super Cartoony Style?  Then I’m making less than those ‘Fandom’ Average prices! 

True, but what if you sit down to do the sketch commission, and instead of taking fifteen minutes, you end up spending twenty minutes looking up reference of the character, and the poses you want, end up scrapping a bunch of attempts, and before you know it, an hour and a half has passed? By then you’ve charged the commissioner for fifteen minutes of work when it actually took you six times longer.  If this happens to you consistently, consider switching to a flat-rate approach or compensate for this time difference in the prices you offer.

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Flat Rate Pricing

Essentially you charge more up front and lower the price of any additional steps.  As such, additional services, like lines, color, and shading are then smaller fees that get tacked on after the preliminary sketch is completed.  

The flat rate is typically based on the average amount of time it takes to do each step of the process.  

Say it takes anywhere from 15-90 minutes to do a sketch depending on how inspired you are. 

With the same hourly rate of $10, that’s a range of $2.50-$15.  Depending on complexity things might take longer, so let’s bump it up to $20 just to be safe. 

Keeping the total costs the same as for the hourly break downs above results in the following:

Super Cartoony Style (full page) flat rate:

- sketch: $20 - lines: $4 - color: $3.50 - (no shading) Total: $27.50

Semi-Realistic Painterly Style (full page) flat rate:

sketch: $30 (no lines) color: $15 shading: $25 Total: $70

There’s less actual math involved, but it means that you’ll at least get your money’s worth whether you spend the fifteen minutes you originally allotted, or wind up taking two hours.

Again, the commissioner doesn’t need to know how long it actually took you to make the art.  

Consider adjusting the flat rates if you find yourself spending more time on certain things than your hourly rate covers.  

In the example, if you repeatedly spend more than two hours on a sketch, then you need to increase your initial rate to compensate. This model also plays a bit into the ideas behind the “super size” marketing. For just four dollars more you get cleaner line art. For only three and a half dollars more you get full color!  If a commissioner can get over the initial price to start, chances are they’ll be more willing to spend the few extra dollars to get a higher level of finish.

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Methods of Payment

While DeviantArt is a great place for finding and getting commissions, they don’t exactly have the best monetary system in place.  

Here are a few other methods you can use.  

While there are other sites and services you can use to send money, be sure both the artist and commissioner have agreed on the amount due and payment method before sending anything.  

In general do not start on the artwork until at least half of the payment is received or processed.

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The Commissions Widget (on DeviantArt)

Pros:

easy to use

built into site

allows points to be turned into actual cash

Cons:

deducts 20% from your earnings (most sites charge less than 10%)

keeps points earned from commissions separate from total points

few people have 3,000 points to drop

If you’re intent on using this system, be sure to add a 20% tax to your final cost (e.g. $27.50 + ($27.50 x .2) = $33.00 or 3,300 points) 

While you could simply trade the points outside the commissions widget, the points cannot [legally] be turned back into cash.

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Google Wallet

Pros:

easy to use

works fast

no usage fee

Cons:

open to continental US ONLY

requires gmail account

no invoices

If you already have a gmail account, then you automatically have access to gwallet.  It’s just a matter of connecting a bank account or credit card then. 

 While there are no invoices for any money exchanges that I’m aware of, still consider making invoices for your records.

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PayPal

Pros:

internationally available

used across many sites for payment

very secure

has built-in invoices

Cons:

lots of rules that constantly change and are difficult to understand

difficult to navigate; if done incorrectly one may be charged

both parties must fill out forms correctly or the artist will be charged or have their account banned

If you live inside or outside the continental US, here are a few links that may be helpful in [writing those invoices], and [making sure you don’t get burned].  

Also do not use PayPal to send your art, as their rules are a bit convoluted about who owns the rights to the artwork then.

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Patreon

Pros:

easy to understand

processes payments through Amazon

allows creators to build communities around their projects

multiple price points can be offered at the same time

encourages repeat customers

Cons:

while it’s a bit daunting to get set up and situated, Patreon has an almost infinite amount of easy to understand resources to help their creators take off

though not necessary, it helps to have a strong social media presence elsewhere

smaller group of commissioners

For those who don’t know, Patreon is like KickStarter, but it recurs monthly, and it’s just for creatives.  

What I’ve seen most artists who do commissions exclusively through Patreon do is have a lower reward tier that is fan driven like monthly requests, in addition to a higher reward tier that is the actual commission button so-to-speak.  

This format kind of forces the flat rate pricing method to an extreme, so price well, or create a dialogue with your fans/patrons/potential commissioners to see what they’re most interested in getting for their money.   They might even give you ideas for projects to do down the road.

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TL;DR

Professional illustrations go for 20-50 times MORE than what most ‘fandom’ artists charge.

Value your time, or else no one else will.  This means that you deserve to work for above minimum wage.

Never tell the commissioner how long it takes to make your artwork (unless you need more time to make your artwork).

It’s OKAY to increase your prices.  Especially if there’s high demand for your work.

You can price by how long it takes you to do each step of your artistic process OR…

You can have a higher flat rate to do the first step of your process, with smaller, additional fees for finishes like color, or shading, or both.

Be transparent about what you’re charging for.

There are many sites and methods of payment, use the one that is most convenient for both parties.

USE. INVOICES.  No matter how simple.

If you DO decide to use dA’s Commission Widget, charge a 20% tax to cover the site’s cut.

Trust yourself–after all, these commissioners came to you for your unique art style!  You can’t go wrong by doing you.

Anyone is welcome to ask further questions, or suggest additions.

Article by @dragonofdarknesschaos​ article dated April 25th 2017 Original Source: [x]

[juniperandchaos]

From Ancient Temples of the East, we Welcome the Chakara

The Chakara are a race I did on commission for a dear friend, and contain a wide mismatch of elements form several different cultures to help imagine something unique. In chatting here and there one day, we hit upon the idea of a race of emotion elemental which either represented a single distinct emotion, or physically showed their emotional state through drastic changes in their body. It seemed like a fun idea, and I had been toying with the idea of some sort of energy-being race for some time, so I decided to take on the project myself.

As I delved deeper into the idea I struggled for a little while over what they might look like, and how one could physical represent pure emotion. Should they be similar to the Genasai in Core, with physical bodies which showed their emotional element by way of runic markings or glowing features? Were they simply pure light, intangible and ghostlike? How would that affect their ability to function as a playable race? What would the Mechanics be? Eventually, I hit on a few key problems with the original concept, but in discovering those limits, I was able to nail down what the Race would inevitably become.

Firstly, emotions run an entire spectrum of mental experience, and while some are easy to define, such as sadness, anger, and happiness, others are more difficult to describe, if no less meaningful. Whatever my solution, I had to limit the number of elements this race would represent. Secondly, a being of pure energy was too intangible to function well as a player race, but I didn’t want to create just another subset of genasai. My solution had to have a physical presence that was whisplike, but clearly defined.

I wound up finding inspiration in the study of Chakras and meditation, something I have practiced since my youth. While Chakras don’t exactly correlate directly with emotions, they represent a similar idea of metaphysical energies, and this gave me a framework to build off of.

For the appearance of the race, i took inspiration form Japanese Ofuda, or paper talismans, and the vague memory of race called the Ethereals I remember being frustratingly non-playable back in my World of Warcraft days. Oddly Enough, even with examples of the aesthetic in a game as widespread as WoW, tracking down art for this race was nigh impossible

The Preview here is low resolution. For the high-resolution PDF, as well as a whole host of other work I have done, check out this handy dropbox link. And be sure to tell me what you think!

If you like what I do and want to support me or just generally help out, Check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi pages, or throw some coin at me through Paypal.me. If you wanna just come say hi on my Discord, that’s great too!  

[juniperandchaos]

“the three songs” ask set

1. three songs that come up when you put your phone on shuffle

2. three last songs you listened to

3. three songs you were recently obsessed with

4. three songs that you know thanks to your parents

5. three songs you wish you could forget (because listening to them hurts)

6. three songs you wish you could erase from history (because they’re terrible)

7. three songs you didn’t expect to like but eventually loved

8. three songs that remind you most of summer and vacation

9. three songs that get you in the Christmas Mood

10. three favourite Halloween/spooky songs

11. three favourite songs from movie or TV series soundtrack

12. three favourite songs from video games

13. three songs you want at your funeral

14. three songs you want at your wedding

15. three songs you want to dance with your love to

16. three favourite songs for sex

17. three songs that remind you of your crush

18. three songs that remind you of your best friend

19. three songs that are your guilty pleasure

20. three songs that remind you of the person who sends this one

21. three songs of your childhood

22. three songs you listen to when you’re sad

23. three songs that never fail to get you pumped up

24. three favourite old songs

25. three favourite songs of 2017

26. three favourite non-English songs

27. three songs that you sing while drunk

28. three best songs to get drunk or high to

29. three songs that influenced you most (some songs change or save lives)

30. three songs you really want your followers to know (for reasons other than all those above)

[juniperandchaos]

I forgot to post this here. 

A Cloud tutorial that I made for meself.

[juniperandchaos]

D&D 5e: Official & Homebrew Roguish Archetypes Masterpost

[This is largely a compendium of compendiums, in that I gathered all the relevant tumblr posts I had, and then nicked the lists from Giant In The Playground, En World, D&D Wiki, and The Three Hs of Gaming. Please give credit to the original compilers (and creators, obviously), and be advised that homebrew material varies wildly in terms of balance and the like. Check community feedback where available.]

Official / Wizards of the Coast

Thief (PHB)

Assassin (PHB)

Arcane Trickster (PHB)

Mastermind (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)

Swashbuckler (Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)

Scout (Xanathart’s Guide to Everything)

Inquisitive (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)

(via) Tumblr Homebrew Compendium

Acrobat

Ambusher

Arachnoid Stalker (Redux)

Arcane Locksmith

Archaeologist

Archaeologist

Battle Dancer

Blade Dancer

Bloodletting Rogue

Body Snatcher

Chrono

Corsair

Covert Infiltrator

Crusader

Daggermaster

Desert Wind Initiate

Dimir Agent

Dirt Eater

Dirty Fighter

Dirty Player

Eldritch Raider

Enforcer

Enforcer

Enforcer

Firebug

Gambler

Ghost-Faced Killer

Ghost-Faced Killer (Redux)

Grave Robber

Highwayman

Huckster

Illusionist

Infernal Gambler

Investigator

Invisible Blade

Jester

Knife Juggler

Knifemaster

Lightbringer

Mage Hunter

Mistwalker

Mystic Bastard

Mystical Psion

Nightstalker

Ninja

Ninja

Outlaw

Outlaw

Outlaw

Outsider

Paramour

Plague Doctor

Poacher

Practical Joker

Prickly Impaler

Ranged Assassin

Reaper

Relic Hunter

Reliquary Seeker

Rockstar

Saboteur

Sawbones

Scoundrel

Scoundrel

Scoundrel

Scout

Scout

Scout

Scout

Shadestep

Shadow

Shadow Assassin

Shadow Dancer

Shadow Hand Initiate

Shadow Spy

Shadow Weaver

Shady Dealer

Skirmisher

Sniper

Sniper

Spellsneak

Stealth Hacker

Stiletto

Strategist

Stray Cat

Student of Shadow

Tempest

The Brotherhood

Thieving Magpie

Thought Thief

Thug

Tinkerer

Trickshot

Twilight Dancer

Wild Card

Zealot of Flame

Zoomer

Giant In The Playground Homebrew Compendium

Prestige Classes (and Others) Re-Worked as Archetypes

A butt load of homebrew subclasses

Weekly Subclass Workshop

Intelligent Character Options by RakiReborn

Techsmith

Thug

Unseen Seer

Unseen Seer (2nd Draft)

Harlequin

Daggerspell Mage

Vindicator

The Invisible Blade

Ninja

Ninja and swashbuckler

Mercenary

Phantom Blade

Scout

Shadow Operative

Strategist

Rebel Leader

Mord-Sith

Scorpion Heritor

Inquisitor

Poisoner

Wild Stalker Rogue

Divine Subclass Rogue

Investigator

Shadowbane Stalker

Temple Raider

Xelor

Death Dealer

Mentalist

Daggerspell Shaper

Shadowdancer

Street Fighter

Pain Taster

Order of the Frozen Skull

Avenger

Avenger

Parasite

Plague Doctor

Ninja

“Jack”

Ace

Hitman

Bounty Hunter

Totem Elite

Shadow Stalker

Master Trapsmith

Freerunner

Thief of Hearts

Scout

Ninja

Duelist

Divine Trickster

Holy Avenger and Enforcer

The Smooth Operator

Apothecary

Occult Agent

Pack Leader

Daggerspell Mage

Inquisitor

Sniper Rogue

Trickshooter

Trap Smith

Master of Masks

Factotum

Soulknife

Trap Smith

Demolitionist

Scout

Cat Burglar

Saboteur v0.2

Desperado

Scout

Rockstar

Master of Daggers

Scoundrel

Lunatic

Courtesan

Filch

Ratcatcher

Athlete

Roguish Soulknife

Stiletto

Mystic Tracker

Agent

Darklurker

En World Homebrew Compendium

Bravo

Charismatic Bastard

Investigator

Investigator

Liberator

Lucky Jack

Lunatic(Joker/Madman)

Minstrel

Physician (Expert in Medieval Medicine)

Ruffian

Scoundrel

Sniper

Masked Ones (Emmascarati)

Shadow Blade

Spymaster

Street Surgeon

Avenger

Shadow Dancer

Inquisitor

Shadow Hoof

Spell Breaker

Duelist

Brute

D&D Wiki Homebrew Compendium

Arcane Assassin

Arcane Trickster

Assassin

Blademaster

Bounty Hunter Captain

Cardslinger

Dashing Swordsman

Executioner

Expert

Highwayman

Investigator

Investigator Variant

Joker

Marksman

Mechanique de Arcane

Mesmer

Mystic Assassin

Ninja

Psionist

Scoundrel

Sellsword

Shadow Assassin

Shadowling

Speedster

The Burst

Wyrmhand

The Three Hs of Gaming Homebrew Compendium

Covert Infiltrator/Techno-Spy

Divine Trickster

Horizon Walker

Gunslinger

Investigator

Mastermind

Nightgaunt

Ratling Scoundrel

Servant of the Grave

[juniperandchaos]

Does this count as homebrew?

*meeting a guard npc* Rogue: I give her the lesbian once over DM: *rolls die* she just kinda shrugs, doesn’t seem interested Like three players at once: oh she’s straight :( Rogue: what did you roll for? Warlock: that was the kinsey roll DM: yeah that was the kinsey roll

[juniperandchaos]

ROLL YOUR CLASS

Roll 1d100, adventurers. (It’s entirely possible to end up with “adventurer”).

[juniperandchaos]

which one would you drink?

~ follow me on twitter and instagram✨

[juniperandchaos]

do you have any resources for map building or world generation? I want to try and build my own campaign from scratch, but want to try and get a world map so I can build off of the generated biomes & formations before throwing down all the roots for kingdoms and stuff. thanks so much for all your help!!!

Here are a few resources that might help out! 

Large-scale mapmaking tools:

-Inkarnate (and a guide)

-Donjon (Fantasy world generator) (Fractal world generator)

-AutoREALM (Requires a download)

-City Generator (look through all of the options!)

-Hextml (hex-map)

-GM Friend (hex-map, very simple. Can also be used for dungeons)

-GM World Map

-Gozzys (Can also be used for dungeons)

-Mapforge (there is, in fact, a free version)

-Stonesword (Not the prettiest, but more versatile than you’d think)

For dungeons and other smaller-scale mapping:

-Dave’s Mapper 

-ANAmap by Deepnight 

-Ye Olde Map Maker 

-Dungeon Painter 

-Hobbyte (requires a download)

-Tiamat the Tile Mapper

-Mipui (Very simple)

-RP Tools

-PyMapper

Other Resources:

-RPG Mapshare 

-Historic city maps and r/papertowns

-Obsidian Dawn’s Brushes (can be used to paint features onto maps)

-Gimp (robust, free art software)

-Jon’s Map Tutorial

-Dyson’s Dodecahedron maps

-Plexsoup on Youtube

-r/Mapmaking

-Cartographer’s Guild

[juniperandchaos]

This is honestly the best Alchemist class for 5e I’ve seen. It has a lot going for it, and this might be the final version!

[juniperandchaos]

Homebrew Roguish Archetypes by The Middle Finger of Vecna

Acrobat

Arachnoid Stalker (Redux)

Body Snatcher

Dirty Player

Ghost-Faced Killer (Redux)

The Brotherhood

Thought Thief

[juniperandchaos]

DM: Okay, let me just find my notes on the potion shop.

DM: Ah yes. I wrote: potion shop. And that’s it.

[juniperandchaos]

D4 Compulsions

Sometimes you want to use a badass monster, but you know it will utterly destroy the adventurers. Roll on the table to give your baddie a compulsion that may allow your heroes to circumvent or maybe even defeat the foe!

1) Arithmomania: This monster is constantly counting everything around them. If the players throw a bag of caltrops, rice, or something else numerous on th ground this creature must take the dodge action on their next 1d4 turns to quickly count the tiny objects.

2) Ailurophobia: This monster has a fear of cats. This creature cannot willingly approach the location of a cat unless it succeeds a DC 15 Wisdom Saving Throw, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls while the cat is in line of sight.

3) Hydrophobic: This monster can only willingly cross a river, submerge itself, or walk into the rain if it succeeds a DC 14 Wisdom Saving Throw. If this creature is in water or if it is being pelted by rain at the start of its turn, or when it enters one of these wet spaces for the first time on its turn, it takes 1d4 acid damage.

4) Breathblindness: This creature can only see creatures that are breathing. Creatures holding their breath are invisible to this creature. A character can hold their breath a number of minutes equal to 1 + Con modifier. If a character holding their breath wants to take a strenuous action (like lift something or attack) they must make a Constitution Saving Throw DC 12 or accidentally take a breath. In which case the creature can see the character normally until the beginning of the character;s next turn.

[juniperandchaos]

Witch Class by Zarieth