@NounVerb  
Pay artists who make things you like so that they can continue to make things you like. That is my answer to that statement.

@Animanga21  
Marginal Cost  
n. The increase in total cost of production as a result of producing one more unit of output; since certain ovrhead costs are fixed, the marginal cost is almost aways less than the total per-unit cost of production averaged over all units produced.  
n. The increase in cost that accompanies a unit increase in output; the partial derivative of the cost function with respect to output. Additional cost associated with producing one more unit of output.  
n. the increase or decrease in costs as a result of one more or one less unit of output
 
Digital distribution has many advantages. Among them is reducing the marginal cost to effectively zero.
 
You are complaining about the concept of a marginal cost (because you didn’t understand what it was), and are trying to substitute that for the various overhead costs like the initial production labour. You are representing two distinctly different ideas as one single idea. That’s why I’m only answering one of your questions. I believe I’ve already explained my perspective on things very thoroughly in this thread. I’m willing to buy a poster or art print, but buying a digital file is a different process in my head. To pre-empt what your next argument might be, stuff like software or games literally can’t be experienced in any other way than digitally, so they are not a valid comparison in this.

@NounVerb  
I’m honestly rather confused what you mean by it being a marginal cost of 0$. You do understand that work goes into things like drawing and painting, right? It’s charging for labour, and most artists charge less than minimum wage for hours of work and effort.

need more of these

can you make more of these with the other girls and twilight is going from one to the next turning them into cocksocks

@NounVerb  
I mean, that’s why I don’t personally see the appeal of commissioning stuff unless it involves my own OCs, because that significantly adds to the value of the image to me. On the other hand what you just described is literally Patreon.

@Blissey1  
I’d love to see a part 3, too, but I’m someone who’s used to being able to get images just from a quick google search. It’s really hard to get into the frame of mind to pay money for a digital image to be made.
 
Frankly, I’d have to be very, very, invested in something to pay $20 for it. Making images or writing music takes time. I understand that. The problem is that it’s usually only people who have plenty of money to throw away who can afford to commission single images like this. Historically, artists’ creations were funded by a wealthy patron. That’s the way they were able to create as a full-time job.
 
Selling prints of already-existing images, I get. Selling installments of an on-going episodic series with crowdfunding, maybe with a timed release schedule where an inferior low-res version is released for free as an incentive, I can kind of get. Selling the creation of single images to a single buyer where the image is delivered digitally is something that just doesn’t seem sustainable on a large scale unless you get some kind of personality cult mixed with people who have more money than sense. You know, the stereotypical upper-class shut-in with money from their parents who supports starving artists who have similar politics as them. It’s not a flattering idea, but I have a sense that that’s where the lion’s share of the direct commission economy happens.
 
It’s hard enough for me to justify spending an extra $15 on lunch in a food court, and other average people are supposed to commission $45-$130 single images often enough to support that kind of economy? It doesn’t seem to work out.
 
I’d have an easier time understanding buying an already-drawn compilation or doujin that’s printed, but something with a marginal cost of about $0 is a hard sell for me.
 
The question I’m trying to get over is “There’s plenty of porn that’s free and freely available. What would make this hypothetical single page be worth infinitely more money then all the other stuff?”. Maybe I’d feel differently if I was obsessed with this specific theme, there was literally no other place on the internet to get it, I knew exactly what I wanted to see next, and knew I’d find an image of it more fap-worthy than the idea in my head. Absolutely everything would have to be aligned in the image for me to even consider it. Any deviation from what turns my crank would be met with a “I’m paying good money for stuff I don’t care for! Ripoff!” (The expansion in the 3rd panel and Celestia’s face in the 2nd, for example). It’s probably too strict a criteria to reasonably expect from someone.
 
Never mind that the big draw to these two images for me is something that I can’t put into words that are exact enough to be sure that I can explain to someone else.
 
So, part of what would need to happen for me to consider spending money on commissioning an image is knowing exactly what I want to see. Exactly which elements to emphasize, themes to display, characters to have, and acts to depict.
 
I think I’d probably be better off practicing writing some smut. If only to get practice fully understanding what I want to see happen.

@Blissey1  
I dunno. Cicada is a pretty high profile artist in the wider R34 community. He is in high demand.

@NounVerb  
It’s prob worth trying to contact him to clarify, since lots of artist have a different pricing model for comics than they do single images.
 
I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be “pricing for single image x3”
 
_{and I’d really love to see a part 3 to this}

The last image and this one are pretty good, aside from some odd writing quibbles and the anatomy appearing to have the consistency of bread dough.
 
I actually started to look into commission prices to see if I could get a part three to this. The $90+ price with an extra $45 per character in what I’d want a full 3-4 panel comic out of was just hilarious. I want a part 3 to this little series, but I don’t want to pay $360 for it. That’s laughably absurd.

Beautiful.

@NounVerb  
It was fine the last time I checked. Oh well, here it is again.  

@SuperDEF  
Broken link. Fix please? I’m interested in seeing that image.

@thps48  
I’m assuming…  

@Background Pony #FC78  
The GIF I’m recalling has him holding an upvote in his hand. :)

@thps48  
What doesnt kill you, makes you stranger?

@Keith Mowz  
Too lazy to find that GIF of Joker, but he says it best. ;3

@Daneasaur  
Not really. Its mostly “they drew something amazingly fetishy and over-the-top”.
 
People upvote it because they think its sufficiently well drawn, arousing, hilarious, any combination thereof, and for their own reasons.

@SuperDEF  
@Daneasaur  
I’d actually never heard of this artist before this image… I mean he/she only has 5 images on this site. Might be well known in other fandoms/communities, but I dunno if that really translates to having a lot of watchers on this site (which is the main way that established artists get lots of up votes).

@SuperDEF  
oh, it’s just a “this is someone popular so upvote them” thing. gotcha.

@Daneasaur  
@Exedrus  
Also, its Cicada’s artwork and he/she is right up there with other well known porn artist.

@Daneasaur  
It’s porn with some nice coloring and a delightfully/excessively perverse concept behind it. And that’s enough to make plenty of people happy, even if there are some odd bits in it.

Can anyone tell me why the hell this has so many positive upvotes?

@NounVerb  
*usual shape

@SuperDEF  
I dunno.
 

 
Trying to figure out how things make sense, even when I have to warp my mind pretty far out of it’s usually shape, is it’s own kind of fun.