Originally posted by jazcks

time is money 

Originally posted by jazcks

well, maybe you should take a look at this Fool article: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamSaltsman/20090724/2571/Pixel_Art_Freelance_Best_Practices__Guidelines.php - http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamSaltsman/20090724/2571/Pixel_Art_Freelance_Best_Practices__Guidelines.php

Originally posted by Atreides

Contracts internationally aren't that hard. Unless you're dealing with a big sum of money that would make it worthwhile to involve a lawyer with international expertise , here's what I would do.
Write everything you understand about the job in a letter.

Use bullet points. Use plain english. Exactly what you will do, how much you will receive, when you will deliver, payment method, rights and anything else. Send it to them. Ask them if that is what they understand. Back and forth until you both agree.

Then write at the top of the letter: This is an agreement between   ( you)   and (them)

at the the end of the letter write:

Agreed this day (date) between

signature
(you + address and contact details)

signature
(them +address and contact details)

leave a space for the signatures. Sign it and fax it to them. Have them sign it and fax it to you. Both [parties should have a copy signed by everyone involved.

Without involving a lawyer that should be enough. Everyone understands exactly what is involved and what they have to do.

How much you get paid? Decide how much you want to get paid per hour. This will be a little in the beginning and more as you become more experienced and get a better client list. Multiply the hours it will take to do the job by how much you get paid and that is your fee. If you're feeling confident, add in some hours for admin and other related tasks (I don't because I don't have a big enough client list but many do) That's your price.

This is how I do it. You seem like a genuine person so if you want some more personal help, you can find my contact details at my website:

http://turnbullportfolio.com - http://turnbullportfolio.com

Originally posted by snader

Just doing some rough math here, based on several sources, but it might help you along a bit. This is based on a fulltime job, so your 40 hours a week would.

Average yearly salary for U.S. game industry, at entry level (which is where you'd be) 33-40 thousand a year
Average U.S. salary is about $46.500 a year (nominal GDP per capita), whereas Turkey comes in around $8.500 a year.

33.000/(46.500/8.500)= $6032,26
45.000/(46.500/8.500)= $7311,83
which comes down to about 500~600 a month, or about 120~140 a week.

If those numbers sound fair to you (not ridiculously high or low), you can offer your client this, and show them the calculation.

Of course you could also recalculate to an hourly wage, and calculate an estimate for the entire job, like Atreides mentioned.

Beware: this is just a rough idea of how I would calculate a salary and in no way I guaranty that my estimate is correct.

Sources:
http://www.rsart.co.uk/2007/08/29/how-much-should-i-be-earning/ - U.S. 3D artist salaries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita - U.S. and Turkey salaries


As for sample images and stuff, I meant: could you post some here. So I/we can gauge your skill level.

A contract doesn't have to be a very complicated mess like you generally see in EULA's and big company contracts like mobile phones etc. Like Atreides said, just write down the deal you and your customers have worked out, and have both parties sign.