I'm thinking of developing a 2d fighting fame for pc and I was curious as to how much animations would cost per character. I would also like to know the difference between hiring for traditional sprite sheet animation, where an artist would develop each frame of an animation, vs creating animations through something like spine. I read somewhere that artists can charge anywhere from 8-15 dollars per frame for sprite sheet animations, so for a 300 animation requirement at $10 per frame, that would be around $3,000. Does this sound like a reasonable estimate for 2d animators today? What about the cost of a single animation from the use of something like spine where animations are created through skeletons and keyframes? Any info on the subject would be appreciated.

Afaik, spritesheets are 30-50 bucks per hour, for a non-oustanding artist. It's hard to give an estimate per frame with unknown sheet size, drawing style and details involved. The guy working on my game (you can see the art in the signature) charges 30 for hour, animated or not, it's all work.

Try Fiver or Freelancer , Its so competitive there that some new good artists doesnt have choice but do it cheeper than it should be, but ask for some of theyre work just to check or they good, or you will get rubish