The thing is, I’m brazilian and I’m willing to pay for a 2D pixel art job, the problem is that I cannot pay in american dollars since it’s 3+ times more valuable than brazilian real, I would go bankrupt if I did that 
I tried looking for brazilian websites and networking it through LOTS of friends, but I found nothing.
So, is there a solution for this other than sharing profits at the end?
Or maybe, is there any brazilian 2D artists here who accept to be paid in brazilian real?
If you’re using paypal, it can do automatic currency conversion for you. Meaning, it doesn’t really matter what your country’s currency is, you can still pay. There are hidden currency conversion fees (3%, iirc), though, but you could pay in yen, rubles, and whatever you wanted.
In the same fashion, when you have a mastercard/visa bank card, it usually handles currency conversion for you.
So, you shouldn’t have any issue paying in dollars.
If you want cheaper artists, that’s a different story.
No, no, you didn’t get it. The problem is not HOW to pay, but the value itself.
For example, while a fair price for an art here in Brazil would be 50 reais, in US would be 50 dollars.
50 dollars = 170 reais, which’s way too expensive for our country’s reality.
Got it?
I’m sorry but that’s just stupid. 50 USD is never the same as 50 BRL. Everyone knows that. Simply ask for the amount it would be in dollars ie 15 USD.
You want to pay 50 BRL. This means you ask the artist to do the job with 15 dollars. The currency will always be checked and converted regardless. Nobody is going to be interested in BRL outside of brazil, ever.
Which means you’re looking for cheaper artists. With you being in brazil, you most likely will be unable to afford someone from USA or better developed regions of EU.
You’ll need to look for freelance artists from different regions. Russia/Ukraine, for example, eastern Europe or for someone from your country or your country’s neighbors.
You might get lucky and find someone who’s just starting out and hasn’t been swamped by clients yet (when this happens, they raise prices to american standard). Basically, it is the usual freelancer hunt.
He probably speaks about local living costs affecting work price. Meaning that someone living in USA will ask $50 for the job that costs 50 BRL in brazil.
Yeah, but he’s basically asking people to un-understand exchange rates. It’s dense.
I see, pretty much what I thought 
Any hints on how to find these people? For example, a centralized website where I can post an offering for a specific region?
No, I’m asking if there’s a solution for this, I’m not asking for anyone to change their minds on my behalf.
…
(-_-)
“un-understand exchange rate” is an unimportant minor detail in this case. I think that instead of getting stuck on a small illogical detail, it is a better idea to just figure out what poster MEANS and respond to THAT.
I did, I’m just berating him indirectly.
Nope, sorry. Just go through the biggest freelance websites, find someone who’s affordable for you BUT has a good portfolio and decent english.
Also, keep in mind that people who ask for incredibly low price (like $5 for 2 weeks worth of work) are more likely to botch the job.
Got it. I appreciate the help, take care 
If you can’t afford an artist, like it’s often the case even with indies from richer countries, then it might be a good idea to look at open source assets, like the ones you can find on this list:
I Have A Large List Of Sites For 2D Art… And I Want To Share With You
Or if you do have a bit of money to spend then you can search for art in places like the asset store.
If you really need custom art then you’re looking at the costs of around $1000, for a small-medium size indie game, if you’re lucky.
Imho such price guesses are rather useless without any context. The likelyhood that you can get artwork for a full game (even a small one) for only 1000$ from any professional artist living in a first world country is very low. For artwork for complete games you’ll get wildly varying quotes from different artists depending on: how much work there actually is to be done, how good you are at communicating how much work there is to be done (if you are forgetting to add tasks to the briefing that you need done, those will cost you extra in the end, naturally), and how good the artist is at making time estimates based on the other factors, and his hourly rate of course.
In other words: what games have so little art in them, that a single artist could finish them in 2-5 days? Maybe some mobile shovelware, but nothing that I would consider a “proper game”.
Once i ask few artists from those regions and they have their own “exchange rate” so in the end it was similiar price to what artists from betted developed countrys call for similiar job.
Those from them who have skill know that they can do same work as artist from "first world’ countrys so why they must be cheaper…??
I knew someone who got a custom oil painting for less. So, as Martin_H says, it depends on the project, and picking random prices from the sky is not a good idea.
Because cost of living in the region is lower.
So, if you’re looking for cheaper art, you’ll be looking for #3 or #4.
Also, I’m quite sure that there are a lot of people that aren’t very expensive… except they don’t speak english.
And speaking of russians, you’ll have higher chance of finding inexpensive artist when the artist doesn’t live in Moscow.
Wow, that’s a nice post, thank you!
And well, $1000 wouldn’t even start to cost my entire game, since it’s a JRPG
For now, I just want enough for a playable demo with 1~2 hours gameplay lenght, mainly the characters and their animations. Menus and environments I will probably try to do myself (and the result will most likely be hideous, of course :P).
Exactly… that’s what I would do, hence my challenge.
If you find one tell me pls, i did not have luck in finding that kind of person
By the way, depending on size, motif and technique, a custom oil painting can be way less work than digital artwork for a full game.
If they speak proper english and are good and reliable, it makes sense for them to work on western markets as if they were living in western countries (also western artists will thank them for not further undercutting prices in an industry where many western freelance artists already earn so little that they struggly financially).
If I was in that situation (living in a country with significantly lower cost of living) I’d do the same and go for either an excellent work/life balance, or use excess income to hire local freelancers who lack the english skills, at local rates, to work on my own indie games.
Sorry, missed your post earlier.
#4 would be perfect for my needs (since I have a hard time even imagining #3). If I cannot find anyone in the scenario I’m looking for, then I will try to find some profit sharing/cooperative work. This is not my first choice because I wanted someone closer to me for the possibility of a studio formation in the future (and also I’m kind of a dictator :P). If that also doesn’t work, well… then I will have to go for job offering board and empty my pockets
And well, I have absolutely no idea where to even start looking for a russian inexpensive artist :S
That’s a terrific idea… receiving in dollars and repaying in reais… if only I had any artistic skill…