well I think if you don't pay for a licence a pricey head is not justified..maybe is this what he means..
if you try to think...
eleven and ace toys make heads..they are amazing, they are painted already
and the price is about $30, for which reason?
What reason? Let me break down cost for you...
The artist is one who works for industry collectible companies... a LOT of different companies use him for making their prototype sculpts. This is his first offering in the personal custom market
You are asking price of ELeven and ACE Toys.
Do you know they are Injection Mould PVC?? Not resin. Production process for both is different. ACE Toys and all have a staff and are chinese companies who have control over production as much as a mass produced company.
Here the artist has to cast and clean every sculpt on his own. Then hand paint on his own.
Please go and check how much that will cost in Korea. In term of labour charges.
Mass produced collectibles are painted mostly by machine using dot matrix templates. If the artist had a factory and a staff and initial capital he could make mass productions and offer these sculpts in prices like that you mentioned
The production of these unauthorised mass productions as you call it are done with factories who need to keep on producing on short term contracts to keep the rolling investments going.
Understand the specifics of why costs are different before making judgemental quotations.
The fact that one person has to work behind it is also a reason why too many orders dont want to be taken then the artist has to keep revisiting for every order which will affect his professional life.
