Paying Strangers to Re-Draw My Character

Audiences on YouTube seem to have a fascination with comparisons. One dollar spoon versus one thousand dollar spoon. One dollar ice cream versus one thousand dollar ice cream. One dollar burp versus one thousand dollar burp. One dollar burp in a jar versus one thousand burp in a jar. I thought I would create a video about this fascination, focusing on illustration and art as the subject. So, here is what I did. I created six different artwork concepts and also listed some illustration styles that I was interested in seeing. I gave this information to a friend of mine along with a budget of 250 Australian dollars and told them to get all of these ideas made by different artists. This would ensure that I haven't seen any of the images prior to recording this video. Very important. My friend then compiled these finished artworks into a PDF and we're going to scroll through them together for the first time ever today. I really hope my money went to good use and I hope these artists were nice to me and my character. After I've reviewed them all, I'm going to attempt to guess how much each of them cost. I apologize in advance to the artist if I completely butcher that bit. I'm sorry. Later in the video, I will reveal something top secret that I've created with one of these artworks. So, stay tuned to find out what it is. I'm super excited for it. Okay, so these are the individual costs. $6.66 The little devil. $23.92 $33.25 $39.91 $45.49 and $71.25 Making a grand total of $214.09 AUD. Not too shabby on the budget. Let's begin. Okay, so I have the file open now and I've been told that there's going to be a blank screen between each of the artworks. So, oh my god, that's so cute. Oh, I didn't know that they were going to add like the sketches and stuff in it as well. I'm a really big fan of the colors. All shades of green that I really like. The little butterflies, they're so cute. I really do like the trees in the background. I feel like it gives the artwork more depth. The way they've like adjusted my character with the hair and everything. I'm a big fan of that. The butterflies are so cute. I really hope this is a reoccurring theme with all these artworks. How these artists have adapted my character into their style. It's going to be real disappointing if someone's just traced my character and not adapted it at all. Let's hope that doesn't happen. In terms of price, I have no idea where this would sit on the scale. It could be anything, honestly. So, I guess it's time to move on to the next one and see how it compares. It's the lo-fi study style. It's so good. There's a lot of things in this picture that are actually in my room. I mean, the jelly's not in my room. But pretty much everything else is. And I can't stress enough how accurate and amazing this is. So, with this background, there's actually a lot of Jelly Jess props and stuff in this. So, you could probably recognize the curtains, the dreamcatcher, the lava lamps, the lemonade. They're all things that are in every single video. And now, the things that are actually in my actual room are the little dog. His name is Davis. He's a childhood favorite. Well, I actually have the dreamcatcher as well in real life. I've got the chicken leg. And no, it's not a real chicken leg. I've got a pop plant and my blue yeti microphone. Oh, and the headphones. Can't forget the headphones. And see these little guys over here? They're the wobbly boys, aka you. I'm a really big fan of this because it's a relaxed, sort of chippy style. And all the colors and everything together kind of just blends in and works. So, they've really nailed that lo-fi study vibe. I really love this because it kind of sums up my whole personality and all my interests. Even the chicken leg. Coming up in a future video, this chicken leg will have its green time. Please wish him well in the comments. The lo-fi design was so on brand, I've made some slight adjustments to it. And you can get it as merch! On my store right now, you can get this exact design on a t-shirt and hoodie. These will only be available for a limited time. So, get yours fast while they're still here. I really like this design on the more aesthetic colors. But I made sure to include plain black and white too if you're not into that. We're off to a really good start. And again, I have no idea where this would sit on the scale. So, let's continue with the video. I see the text and it says chibi style. Let's go. That is so cute! Okay, first I really like the jellies surrounding me because that's the colors of like my intro. And this goes to show that you don't need heaps of detail to make art look good. Because that is cute! As you can see, they have adapted the character very well. And they've changed a few things here and there. But it's still very recognizable and it's still really cute. I don't know how many times I need to say that. Cute! I also really love the shines in my hair and the little blushies on my face. Cute! I have a feeling this one is probably on the lower end of the scale. Just because of how simple this is. But we're saying that I would pay good money for this because... Cute! Scrolling, scrolling. The next one I see is anime style. I'm very excited. Oh my god! The detail in this! I really, really, really love this one. But I really love all of them so far. So, I can't say. This one is really, really cool. This is exactly what I mean about having a character adapted to their art style. Look at how many changes this artist has made with his own intuition. And yet, it's still really recognizable as my own character. Look! I have ears! He's completely changed my outfit. Which I will explain in a second. He's also detached the hoodie. So, everything kind of works together in his piece. And it's kind of like a little beanie in this. Which is really cute. He's also interpreted the fringe. Or bangs if you say. Really well in his style. Which is completely different to mine. But it works just as well. If not better. I also really like the pink and yellow highlights throughout the hair and clothes. I think that's a really cool touch. Also, how the hair and eyes match the sky in the background. That's just a... 10 out of 10! Okay, so let me just explain the concept of this. Quite a while ago, I actually got some fan art from someone who made this on the screen right now. It's a jelly bender. So, I took the concept and sent this fan art to my friend who sent it to this artist. So, he could interpret it himself. So, that's exactly what you're seeing here when it comes to the outfit and the floating bubbles. This looks like it could be from a real anime. So, a big shout out goes to Force Dodo for the inspiration of this piece. It's amazing. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. I see the text for pixel style. Oh my god, it's so cool. Look at the little anklet. It's like four little squares. Now the art style finally matches my theme music. Some of you guys might actually recognize this art piece. Because it is on my crowd made store on Jumpers and Shirts. Shirts! So, I wanted to see another artist reinvent the design. This has been made really accurately. Despite only using pixels. He's not only made the gradient look consistent. But it also still looks like I'm in the jelly. This also really gives me some old school video game vibes. This is the final one. And I'm scrolling. And I see cartoon slash manga style. That's so, that's so detailed. I absolutely love this artist style. It's also pretty different seeing my character looking directly at the viewer. As you can see, the hair looks pretty different. The artist has done a really good job at translating this to their style. Also, I wish I could hold two plates of jellies. Oh! Speaking of the jellies. I really like how the colors are desaturated. So they don't distract too much from the actual character. It's also a really minor detail. But I do like the color of the plates. Because it matches well with my skin tone and hair color. Normally, if I draw my character holding some jelly. The plate is usually silver. But I feel like this works out better. The eyes. Oh my god, they are so pretty. And they also match really well with the rest of the piece. There's even purple in there. Honestly, I can't think of anything that needs any sort of improvement with this piece. It is just amazing. There's no other word. Overall, this was not how I expected things would turn out. I thought maybe one or two artworks might be like outcasted from the rest. I'm really happy with what I got for my budget. And however it is split up. It is definitely worth it. Honestly, I'm just speechless. Speaking of budget. Let's try and guess which one belongs where. So I've actually got a tier list maker right here. And I'm going to guess which one belongs where. This is going to be really hard. So wish me luck. And to the artists, if you're watching this. I am very sorry if I get your prices wrong. Okay, so the one that I feel like I have right is the chibi one. And I feel like that's probably going to be the lowest tier. The $6.66. Just because it's a simple design. So I'm just gonna place that little boy there. Also, if I got a really good price for the pixel art. I feel like that could be an option in this tier level as well. So I'm going to put the pixel art in the $6.66 tier as well. Just because I'm a bit unsure of where he's going. So I'm just gonna pop him there. So I think it might be easier if I try and guess the most expensive one. And my gut is telling me it's the jelly bender one. So I'm just going to move that one up to the $71.25 tier. So now it's these three bad boys left. And I am stuck. I want to put the holding jelly and the lo-fi jelly artworks in the $45.49 tier. But I'm not sure which one will go lower. So I'm just gonna place both of those there. And I'm probably going to put the children illustration in the middle. Okay, now I'm very stuck. So now I have to move one up and one down. Um, I'm going to move the pixel art to the $23.90 tier. And with the other tier, no idea. Even though the lo-fi one has a background and everything, I feel like it's a very chill sort of art form. So maybe they might, it might be $39. I'm just gonna slide it there. But I am still very, very, very unsure. And this is my final tier list. Now let's see if I'm correct. All of the artists commissioned in this video did an amazing job and are going to be linked in the description below. They were all kind enough to let me use their art publicly like this. And they're all super talented. So if you need any illustration or art related services, give their gig listing a visit and I'm sure they'd be happy to help.