Megafoetus

In short, because you are also paying for all of the un-paid hours those artists spent researching, studying, practicing and honing their skills. For your average professional, that's thousands of hours. That's a lot of non-paid preparation time that needs to be made up for. That, and of course freelancers have to compensate for their financial insecurity and lack of employment benefits (think of a pension, sick leave, health insurance and paid holidays). This is, in a nutshell, why professional freelance artists are so expensive. I'm just clearing this up for those people who ask for "pro-quality art" and are then surprised that they will n