dA Points are really just store credit at Deviant Art denominated in 80ths of a USD. It's pretty much equivalent to if someone offered to pay you with a gift card.

So, decide what your time is worth, convert that to USD, convert that to points by multiplying by 80. Then decide how much you value points compared to cash and adjust for that. If you consider points to be half as valuable as cash, then you need twice as many. The end result is what your time is worth in dA Points.

Think of what your time is worth in terms of what you could have done with that time instead and factor in any additional non-monetary factors. If you enjoy drawing, you can factor that it as partial payment for the commission, but if you enjoy doing your own drawings more, then you need to be compensated for the difference in enjoyment.

Then figure out the time it takes to complete a commission. Consider the ENTIRE time spent including time spent in communication with the client. This will vary a lot so you want an average. You can adjust this over time as you get more data. Multiply this by the value of your time, then add any material costs like paper, paint, shipping, printing, or whatever.

If you can't make that much off of a commission, you shouldn't do the commission. You should do whatever the something else that gives you more benefit is. So this is your minimum price. By definition, you will be getting more (Financial or otherwise) out of something else, so you should do that something else. In fancy economics speak, this is called the "opportunity cost": the cost of the opportunity to do something else.

The other important thing is the market price. This is how much other people are willing to pay for your product, and varies with a lot of different factors. There's no good way to figure out what it is other than offering your product at a price and seeing if it sells. If you sell more than you can make, raise the price until you get just enough demand. If you don't sell enough, reduce the price until you get more, without going below your opportunity cost. (There's actually a bit more to this involving what economists call "elasticity" bit that would probably be over-complicating things for this case.)

Also consider that it may be more difficult to raise your costs from ridiculously low to a reasonable amount. People who pay, tend to develop expectations, including an expectation that the cost will remain the same. Even if that expectation is completely unreasonable, it can loose you much of your audience if you break it. If you just want some practice working with other people's ideas, you might be better off working for free (But clearly reserving the right to choose only those ideas you find interesting), and then when you feel you can pull in a reasonable price, start charging. In the mean time you may still pull in some revenue if you clearly indicate that you accept tips, donations, or honorariums.

The longer something takes you, the more you should charge (obviously! ) its about what you think is fair aswell. If you do a particularly good piece, add a few points on as it will see. Decide on an average. Say for example, 50 points for every hour you take. If you do a really good piece of work in 4 hours, charge 240 points instead of 200. It will sell still if it is good. But same works for lower quality... Just decide on an average, and go from there. you can always change prices if things are not selling. GOOD LUCK

Art is a job like any other, and frankly, I do not understand why people here charge so low.
Since it IS a job like any other, I would just calculate how long each commission would take you, and charge minimum wage (per hour).

Alternatively, I've been told you come to the best results if you ask what the commissioner is willing to pay. If it's too low, ask them to compromise. If it's too high?