Budding artists, designers and illustrators may feel tempted to take on unpaid projects, but this practice does far more harm than good. Teakster tells you why.
“If you do this job cheap, I’ve loads more work for you!”
“This job will provide you good exposure.”
“It will make a good portfolio piece.”
Artists, these are the most toxic lines of rubbish anyone will ever feed you. In the past, I bought these lines more times than anyone with an ounce of sense ought to.
Every day, there are more and more people seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.
But what they’re not doing, unfortunately, is realising how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
In the UK, there are almost 11 times as many certified mechanics as there are professional illustrators. So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?
People in the creative field are skilled tradesmen. Here are a few things you need to know:
- It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car, website, bedroom wall, etc. It is a “great opportunity” for them to have your work there.
- You may be a student or beginner, but that doesn’t mean you have to work for free. You deserve to be paid for you hard work. Would you have taken that job at McDonald’s with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world?
- The chance to have your name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is not a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to your portfolio. You get to do those things anyway. It’s not compensation; it is your right!
- Yes, artists do need experience, but you do not need to get it by giving your work away. Anyone who cannot pay you is obviously the type of person or business you should be ashamed to have on your resume. The only experience you will get doing free work is a lesson learned in what kinds of clients you should avoid.
- Some people will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of contest. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own.
You will not be paid, and you will not win the “contest”. The only people who win here are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, visit www.no-spec.com.
So to artists, designers and illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favour – especially yourselves: avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls.
Remember: They need you. You don’t need them.
The post Designers: you have the right to get paid for your work appeared first on Aquila Style.