That's really interesting about looking up artists that have done a character before, I never looked at it that way. I was always thinking "well, they already did that character, so asking them to do it again might be insulting, like I don't like the one they already did." Interesting approach, maybe I should look at it differently.
I have noticed the pricing, and it's sort of another challenge in the whole landscape. First, it is important to of course agree that one needs to be willing to pay for quality. These artists deal with a lot of stuff, and I'm sure plenty of people looking for freebies, or offering that dreaded word, "exposure." Ugh.
Unfortunately, the "don't work for free, you're worth a billion dollars" mantra almost grew to meme level, and the pendulum has swung too far. The real pros that have spent a lot of time dedicated to the craft have had to raise their prices to maintain their value because, in all honesty, there are now too many people out there charging way too much. Sorry, but taking 1 semester of art in middle school doesn't mean you should now be charging Jim Lee prices.
I'm exaggerating a bit, of course, but if I see one more person charging $250 for waist-up Sonic the Hedgehog mashups in Microsoft Paint, I'm going to lose it.
That said, part of the fun in searching so far, for me, has been trying to find the artists that are newer, or the non-recognizable names, and supporting them. Ah, the hunt continues!