Love it? Great!

You are an artist, writer, designer, or otherwise creative person? You create because you love what you do, right? Most creative people think like this. The fact is that creative people often meet with dismissal and scorn from others who don’t understand or respect the arts as a skilled professional vocation. Of course you have to love what you do to put up with any problems that you might encounter.

Eating Ramen and Duct-Taping Your Shoes Together? Not Great!

Many new creative people unknowingly fall short when it comes to money. Most of us are guilty of this at one point or another. One of the hardest things about this field is pricing your work. I wanted to strangle one artist who did a commission for a customer that took her over 20 hours and charged them $5 total for the finished piece.

This is wrong. It teaches people not to respect you and it teaches people not to respect the field.

This is not the Touchy-Feely Happy Camp for Low Self-Esteem. If you want do create for fun, give away your stuff for free. Do not say you are a professional by setting up a business. If you are selling it, it’s business. Your prices should reflect the fact that not only do you love your work, but your customers also love your work.

Your stuff is worth being bought. Money is directly equal to respect. You are worthy of respect.

It is beneficial to no one if you always dramatically under price your services. It tells your customers that you and what you do isn’t worth beans and you might not have the maturity to be reliable.

Do you think celebrities would buy Gucci or Prada if they were being sold at Wal Mart prices? Regardless of the value for quality, it wouldn’t be cool anymore. People think cheap things are cheap, period!

You are participating in a field that can be fun, but it is also a skilled profession. Would you expect a doctor to give you a discount on a lung transplant?

LUNG TRANSPLANTS! HALF OFF TODAY ONLY!

This would terrify me because I’d think something was wrong with the guy’s quality.

Additionally, do you think it’s OK that your plumber or landscaper or hairdresser works for a rate of $3 per hour? No. She couldn’t even fuel up her car for that much money.

The creative field is no less difficult to succeed in than any profession. The creative field is no different and no less deserving of human respect.

It is quite frustrating that many businesses seem to feel that it is OK to ask people to do creative work for starvation wages. I’ve heard a lot of talk that entry level Graphic Designers are working for less than $8 per hour at the local print and copy center. People without a degree or a grasp on basic grammar who scrub out toilets make more than this in many establishments. Entry-level temporary receptionists in the Northeast US where I live make $13 per hour.

So what gives? Why the lack of respect? I think the situation is complicated. What really matters is that new artists understand that there is a difference between entry level wages and being taken advantage of.

This problem is the biggest at anime and other such conventions. I think these places are great because it is relatively easy to get started here. However it is a double-edged sword. It has gotten to a point where many look on the Artist’s Alley as not worthy of respect. Some of it has to do with the people charging next to nothing for good commission work.

I implore you. If you are doing this, STOP. If someone you know is doing this, get them to STOP. If you can make just as much money pumping gas or falling asleep at McDonald’s or The GAP, then you are not ethically doing business. I am not saying to charge astronomical prices; I am saying to be reasonable for all parties involved.

People who undercharge might think that they are doing their customers a favor, but in reality they are reinforcing a perception that incorrectly says it is OK to not respect the field. You get what you pay for, right?

Your prices tell your story. Your prices say a lot about you. It’s a big part of how your reputation is perceived. You can either be an artist or you can forever be a kid who is a human photocopy machine. Your prices are part of what makes this distinction.

So, you might be desperate for work. You need money. We have all been there. I’m sorry to say that doing more work for less money isn’t really going to help you. You’ll be working a gazillion hours for peanuts and you’ll be creatively drained such that you won’t be able to take the steps you need to take to remain competitive in the field. It will eat you alive.

It sucks and it’s not fair. Some of it has to do with our hypocritical society and big companies for having such a poor attitude toward the creative field–and at the same rate every market research study cites package design and marketing images — *creative work*– as the main thing that sells a company’s products and reputation. (Apple didn’t get famous for being in a beige box.) I also blame most art schools for not teaching their students the first thing about business and survival in the real world.

What we all need to do as creative professionals is take another look at our work, educate ourselves on business concepts that we don’t understand, and make a positive change.

Oh yeah, and helping out your neighboring artist helps you as well. It increases the level of awareness, and it strengthens your network. You never know when you might need a friend. United, everyone wins.

Your reputation is everything. I seriously recommend getting a day job if you can’t make rent until you can properly invest in your career. That’s right, I said “career” not “job”.

You aren’t going to do yourself or anyone else in the field a favor until you go about it differently than expecting only $3 per hour.

ShareThis