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The Norwegian Drawing Center's indicative rates for illustration and comics
On May 1, 2021, we published indicative rates for illustration and comics and defined an industry standard for practitioners. The list is adjusted upwards every year based on the consumer price index. The war in Ukraine, increased electricity prices, interest rate hikes and generally higher living expenses are the main reasons why the consumer price index has increased by as much as 6.5% since last year (SSB), which is the basis for our upward adjustment.
Tegnerforbundet (TF) - The Norwegian Drawing Center is a venue for drawing art and an artist-run union founded by newspaper cartoonists and illustrators in 1916, and has a long tradition of working in the field of professional politics. The original purpose of the association is "to bring together Norwegian cartoonists to jointly safeguard their professional and economic interests through cooperation".
Protecting the professional and economic interests of our members remains a high priority in 2023. The list of indicative rates is part of our professional policy work to strengthen the whole field.
For many years, there has been great frustration and uncertainty surrounding pricing in the field of illustration and comics. The Competition Act has been used as an argument that practitioners cannot discuss or have guiding rates. The list is the Norwegian Drawing Center's recommendation and cannot be considered a price collaboration. Our wish is that illustrators and cartoonists should be able to have a sustainable economy, and that uncertainty in the field should be minimized.
Since the publication of the indicative rates two years ago, we have conducted several surveys on the impact of the indicative rates on practitioners. We have received a lot of positive feedback from practitioners and clients. It is clear that several practitioners have underpriced themselves and had their prices pushed down over a long period of time. Practitioners have used Tegnerforbundet's list in negotiations and clients have been able to use our list to adjust their budgets upwards.
Pricing in the field has for many years been unbalanced as mainly the client has been in a position of power. With the list for guiding rates, we create a better balance in the field where more power is given to practitioners who can use the list in their negotiations and again get a better economy and be able to make a living from their profession.
We are now continuing this policy work to create a better and more sustainable economy for artists. In the future, we will also map the field of illustration on digital surfaces and present indicative rates in this context on May 1, 2024.
Regards
The Norwegian Drawing Center's working group:
Tanja Thorjussen, Chair of the Board of Directors Tegnerforbundet
Anders Kvammen, Board member Tegnerforbundet
Anja Dahle Øverbye, Board member Tegnerforbundet
Åge Peterson, Member of the 2023 Working Group
Hilde Lunde, CEO Tegnerforbundet
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See Tegnerforbundet's indicative rates 2023