I am fairly sure anyone who has worked in freelance will be familiar with being taken for a ride. This has happened to me a lot of times. The kindly retiree who i spent hours on the phone with (at my own expense), who wanted me to illusttrate a childrens book about bears. After spending weeks on the drawings, in crayon and watercolour, at my own expense and scanning and emailing them to him. I waited for a response as to when he would send me the script..and waited and waited. Phonecalls and emails were ignored and i assumed he was either dead or had taken what i had done for, initially, free and sent it to another artist.
Never do anything for free.
Unfortunatly i have this horrible habit of being a nice person,and do still do things for free.
I did a series of drawings for my boss and he promised to pay me. Money has yet to surface, despite the quality of my work.
I did a series of large crayon drawings for a community centre, working with loads of difficult kids with behavioural problems. Which believe me, is draining, when their fighting for the fifth time, or have drawn penises or breasts on the work. I never got paid for that, i didn't even get publicity photos.
People like drawings, they see it as a luxury, as a hobby. They do not see it as something they should pay for.
This rant came about because someone copied a drawing i did and posted it to their site, without asking me, or linking me or identifying me as the artist. This is really frustrating, because i am not rich , i am poor. And any sales i get are hampered by this lack of awareness of artists rights.
On a more positive note, i got an extension on my dissertation which means i might get a higher grade after all. My tutors still hate me, and it looks like when i finish ill be back sleeping in my freinds spare room in the ghetto, but if you hate your life....change your life.
And on that note, im going ot watch one more episode of Eastenders and bed.
Never do anything for free.
Unfortunatly i have this horrible habit of being a nice person,and do still do things for free.
I did a series of drawings for my boss and he promised to pay me. Money has yet to surface, despite the quality of my work.
I did a series of large crayon drawings for a community centre, working with loads of difficult kids with behavioural problems. Which believe me, is draining, when their fighting for the fifth time, or have drawn penises or breasts on the work. I never got paid for that, i didn't even get publicity photos.
People like drawings, they see it as a luxury, as a hobby. They do not see it as something they should pay for.
This rant came about because someone copied a drawing i did and posted it to their site, without asking me, or linking me or identifying me as the artist. This is really frustrating, because i am not rich , i am poor. And any sales i get are hampered by this lack of awareness of artists rights.
On a more positive note, i got an extension on my dissertation which means i might get a higher grade after all. My tutors still hate me, and it looks like when i finish ill be back sleeping in my freinds spare room in the ghetto, but if you hate your life....change your life.
And on that note, im going ot watch one more episode of Eastenders and bed.
im sorry. that must be really annoying for you. i've written some press releases for someone and this person never paid me. it's like the thought never occurred to him to pay me although we had agreed on a price. but freelancing is usually like that. you could get the cheques way much later. some of my friends get them only after half a year! doesnt make any sense to pay for something after soo long, does it.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that Jaya, it's such a selfish world we live in. People never make the right choices...
DeleteAt least your work is out in the world and he came to you because of your skill and talent.
That sucks. I haven't had any work experience yet but I'm sure it's one of those things that probably happens to all artists at some point...unfortunately!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah, have you thought about setting up a tumblr?. People reblog your work off people who reblog ect. So it gets the chance to be seen by thousands. Your really talented, so im sure that work will happen super fast for you. If i had any money id love one of your pieces on my wall. One day maybe.
DeleteDamn bro, I can empathise with you man because I had the same thing happen many many many many many many many (many) times before in high school. My favourite subject in year 7 - 9 was Art, mostly because I liked drawing and the teachers were awesome. Anyway I had a "mate" who took my work and passed it off as his own.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about that. I guess this is the world that I'm in for once I'm in trade school huh? There will always be people that'll take advantage of anyone and/or anything, including me but that's a whole 'nother story.
Say I donated AU$5 (it's all I got in my Paypal sorry *sadface*), what can I get out of it? Just sayan.
Your in trade school?. YOu will be making big money then, one of my old neighbours used to teach and he quit to train to be a plumber because he made more money. That and he hated kids. You donted?. That is super nice, but i can't accept it, i meant to take it down but im usless with computers. I will do you a drawing though, tell me what you want and ill make you a really good one. Or you can have a painting if you don't mind waiting a bit.
DeleteWell, you could call it a trade school. Here in Oz we call them TAFEs, if memory serves me right you guys call them Colleges I think. I just finished high school so yeah.
DeleteI just donated now, could've given you a fiver but my money wasn't enough for the conversion so I could only give you 4 quid. The main reason I wanted to donate is that you seem like a nice guy and I was raised to help others so I guess that's a plus.
Are you good with shooping? Maybe you could make a banner for my blog, if not then that's cool - still glad to know that I helped in some way.
Good luck buddy!
There are people waiting to take advantage of others everywhere ! You're right though, don't do anything for free! Make sure you're paid what you're worth. You gotta eat too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jax, i wish i could remember this all the time, 2013 im going to significantly toughen up...maybe.
DeleteOh yes everyone has been taken for a ride once or twice, been there and I still want to smack the dirty sob's upside the head. But all we can do is live and learn I guess and move on, trying not to make the same mistake once more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Patt, sorry for the delay in replying the internet here is stone age. Learn by experience i think, but don't get too cynical or you become closed off.Most people are decent.
DeleteIt's kind of the reason I left biochemisty...the whole intellectual property thing is messed up on all sides
ReplyDeleteHa!, i am glad you wrote that, my brother is a scientist, he got ripped off by a tutor who took credit for something he discovered. It's appalling and i do not see that as right or moral. Doing the right thing is hard, but it means you sleep easier, i think were supposed to struggle and do whats right. A fair few people don't thats all, sad but..that is the world.
DeleteI know exactly how you feel! Such is the bane of being an artist with integrity. Considering most of the work I do is for punks and kids with not a lot of money I used to do it all for free, to give back to the scene so to speak, but I got taken for granted far too many times. So I charge now, but not much at all, because I even feel bad about doing that, even if I put a lot of hours into my work, I guess when my work gets more recognised I'll charge a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI know, u are a nice person but business is business. money is money
ReplyDelete