[Anon77]

Greetings all. Sorry for the anonymous post, but i feel that due to the nature of what I am asking it is in order.

ok.. I am a year out of a really good art school and working as a professional concept artist primarily doing environments for a decent sized game company. I started at $60k annually + 15% bonus and benefits. i am now coming up on my year review and would like to get a feel for what i am making in relation to other concept artist professionals. I would like to have some negotiating leverage in my review. I think my work is pretty solid - i.e. nearly photo-real illustrations in about 2 days depending on subject matter an complexity of scene, which is a substantial improvement over my productivity when i started. so, with a year of experience, a big jump in skill, and 2 shipped titles, what should i expect to be making?

Thanks for your input and time in advance.

[Sumaleth]

Craig? Is that you?
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[Tzan]

Haha!

(But seriously, stop giving people the wrong idea about the game biz.)

[sparth]

images can't hide how much you're expected to earn
post images.
it also depends if you have a name in the industry, ... or not.

everything else is blabla
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[lysander]

wooow.....

just hope im as successful when i go into work after just a couple of years
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[cheney]

I have always imagined the most diffecult part of asking for a salary would be adjusting for cost of living difference. If I were interviewing for a job in New York, DC, or anywhere on the American west coast I would literally ask for $70K compared to a corresponding $40K I would ask to work in Dallas.

Since the majority of the game industry is based in high cost areas it seems it is not worth applying without prior experience. This is what has been turning me off to the game industry, that and the xompletely over saturation of entry-level candidates that are willing to work as minimum wage slaves.

It seems I would be much better off to use my planning and management experience from my military NCO past to apply for a business job as a generic team lead in an industry that is not so saturated. This is of great concern to me since I am not sure what to do with skills as a design artist and I graduate with my BFA in December.

If you ever doubt the level at which the game industry is saturated simply head over to CGTalk forums and actually listen to what some of those people have to say.
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[Japong]

Anon77, could you post some links to your earlier work and your work now? Or is it all NDA'd?

[Anon77]

I would love to post my work, but it would break my anonymity, sorry.

[Godwin]

What about doing original work that no one else has seen before?
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[Mikko K]

What's with the anonymity, who cares really? You can PM all important stuff anyway.

[balistic]

Well, he did kind of just spill his salary publically. I imagine he doesn't want his coworkers to know what he's making.

Anon: what market are you in? 65K in Utah or Texas is different than 65k in Cali or NYC. Are your games well-received, top-shelf stuff? Honestly, there are too many factors for anybody but you to decide what you're worth.

If you've not got other studios trying to woo you, I wouldn't press your luck with your current employer. You've only got a year of experience, after all.
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[Sumaleth]

Dhabih, is that you?
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[Mikko K]

I've been doing some calculations and I have few questions for you guys. How are the taxes in US? Do they vary a lot between different states?

It seems the salaries are quite high there when compared to where I live. Of course the costs of living must be higher too (at least in big cities), but I'm wondering, if you get like 40k per year, what's the approximate net amount per month after taxes and social security payments etc.?

I'd appreciate any feedback from you.

[cheney]

Here are how taxes work in the US:

Federal Level - Income Tax - All persons in the US pay this tax. It is a graduated tax, which means the more you make the more they take in percentage of profit.

State Level - Various - Each state has a different method of collecting taxes, and most states actually uses many methods of taxation. All but 3 or 4 states primarily use an income tax system similar to the federal income tax. Texas has no state level income tax, so we pay higher sales taxes on good bought within state and tourists pay a large part of the tax burden here as well through hotels, sporting events, and so forth.

County and City Level - Usually Sales Taxes - In Texas the final sales tax is computed by adding the sales tax set by the state, county, and city. The only out for this is when goods are purchased either out of state, which incures no sales tax, or when goods are purchased outside of a city, which incures only a sales tax as computed by the percentage set by the state and county. I have no idea how this level of governmental tax is computed outside of Texas.

The average personal tax burden per American citizen is 44%. Business by far carries the vast majority of all of America's tax burdens, so be glad you are not a business owner. This is why Bush gives tax relief to America's top 1% of the population, because their business ultimately runs our entire economy, and they pay many times the taxes that I actually earn.
Hope this helps.
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[balistic]

It's not exactly simple, but here's a breakdown of how income tax in the US works at the moment:

"Here's an example of how income is taxed: Say you are single and report $80,000 in taxable income in 2004. In accordance with the income ranges defining federal tax brackets for single filers in 2004, the first $7,150 of your income is taxed at 10 percent; dollars $7,151 through $29,050 are taxed at 15 percent; dollars $29,051 through $70,350 are taxed at 25 percent; and dollars $70,351 through $80,000 are taxed at 28 percent."

So making 40k would put you in the 25% bracket. Roughly 1/4th of your pay goes directly to the federal government. Most states have income tax on top of this, but it's a much smaller percentage. There are a few states like Nevada that don't (they usually have higher taxes on purchased goods to compensate).

Even with state taxes included, it's not too bad compared to most parts of Europe.
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[watmough]

we dont have state health care,though.

[Mikko K]

Thanks a lot guys. The system seems quite similar to what he have in Finland. In here it's just more graduated, I think with 80k, you'd be close to 50% tax.

Thanks again, I'm thinking that it would be interesting to work there someday, though it seems that at least the game industry is kinda crowded these days.

[rv_el]

www.gamasutra.com puts up a salary survey, you can quickly find it by googling for it too. This is a good reference for where you might stand. I think its important for people to look at it and see that it is dropping, especially for artists. It is our responsibility to ask for what we deserve. There are a lot of people trying to get into the industry, and to do so they sacrifice everything. I have a friend right now who's intern ended at sony, and will soon move over to full time hire.. BUT in the meantime he's worked for several weeks with out pay! its our responsibility to put our foot down and keep salaries reasonable. I didn't get 35k in student loan debt for nothing!

It took me nothing to learn how to make a wopper at BK or print a copy at kinkos, and its taking my life to become a decent artist. i would like my pay off to reflect that

Anon: sounds like your in a position to make some nice demands. what exactly, i'm not sure.