{"id":64,"date":"2008-05-21T14:06:53","date_gmt":"2008-05-21T20:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2011-08-12T15:28:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-12T21:28:10","slug":"beautiful-art-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Art for Free?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amy Guidry with her work at the Acadiana Center for the Arts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought I should address this issue even though it seems like common sense to me, but maybe others fall prey to this.\u00a0 I’ve seen an alarming number of art opportunities that ask artists to give up their work for free in exchange for publicity, a percentage of the royalties, etc.\u00a0 These are typically illustration jobs or graphic design jobs which promise to “provide you with good portfolio pieces.”\u00a0 Or they expect their book to get published, thereby making the artist “famous” and they will receive “royalties.”\u00a0 If you are an artist, no matter how desperate you may be for money or exposure, please don’t go for these “opportunities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, you should already have a portfolio, which means that you already have 8 or more of your\u00a0best pieces to show.\u00a0 So when a job promises that all you get in the end is a great sample for your portfolio, well, you’ve already filled that void.\u00a0 You can find a paying gig that will do the same.\u00a0 You should be keeping copies of your work for your portfolio, personal records, etc. anyway.<\/p>\n

Next, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the overwhelming majority of potential authors looking for an artist do not have a publisher lined up.\u00a0 So when they ask you to do free illustrations, you are probably doing this work so it will end up lining their cat’s litterbox.\u00a0 More than likely these are half-baked ideas that these people *may* intend to follow through with, but won’t.\u00a0 In the end, there will be no book, screenplay, collection of poetry, etc. therefore your artwork will never be seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know there are exceptions to every rule, but more than likely requests for free artwork are nothing more than that- free work.\u00a0 Time is money, so please keep that in mind before you consider forking over your valuable work to strangers (or even family members!).\u00a0 Unless someone has already shopped around for a publisher and their deal is a “sure thing,” then you can discuss your payment and get it in writing.\u00a0 And unless you know that your work will be heavily marketed (and this is still debatable), don’t even consider hoping for publicity from the use of your free illustrations, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, pro-bono work is great, but the jobs I’m talking about are not for a good cause.\u00a0 They are simply a means to an end for someone else looking to line their pockets with your free work.\u00a0 Before you give away your comic book art, maybe you should just write your own comic.\u00a0 Or get a gig doing graphic design for an actual design company that pays you with money and not empty promises.\u00a0 There are plenty of paying opportunities for artists, you just have to look for them.\u00a0 Let’s put an end to the starving artist concept.\u00a0 You’re a paid professional, and should be treated as such.<\/p>\n

Let me know if you come across any other questionable opportunities.\u00a0 Comments?\u00a0 I love comments.\u00a0 Questions?\u00a0 I love questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

www.AmyGuidry.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought I should address this issue even though it seems like common sense to me, but maybe others fall prey to this.\u00a0 I’ve seen an alarming number of art opportunities that ask artists to give up their work for free in exchange for publicity, a percentage of the royalties, etc.\u00a0 These are typically illustration … Continue reading Beautiful Art for Free?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45,42,44,47,46,43,48],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-help","tag-artist-job-opportunities","tag-free-art","tag-illustration","tag-portfolio","tag-pro-bono-work","tag-publishing","tag-royalties"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2063,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistcommentary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}