It can take years to break through and become a master of your craft. So why do so many people equate art with little or no value when they want or need it?
If you aspire to work as a professional creative or are currently working in a creative field chances are you've probably met your fair share of those who think they can do what you can yet are still asking you to do it. 🤔
The great irony is that they see value enough in your work to ask you, but not sufficient to provide value in return.
The Choosy Beggar Problem
Are you looking for high-quality artwork but don't want to spend much (if anything)?
You might be a choosy beggar.
Browse the subreddit of ChoosingBeggars and you'll often find a number of ridiculous requests from people online for art from a logo to a caricature...and getting offended at the idea of spending money for it.
If you want to become a professional 2D artist, writer, musician or 3D modeler, you better get ready for the beggars to come knocking.
Early on in my career, I received numerous "profit sharing" requests from people thinking they had the next hit game idea (don't we all).
All they wanted me to do was create the entire game, and they'd share the profits. Programmers can relate to getting pitched app ideas that are an alleged goldmine.
The truth is, ideas alone aren't worth that much.
So why do people seem to equate creative fields with less value?
The Experience Dilemma
Second, people tend to equate value with the time spent on completing something. But time isn't always the best measure of quality: a sketch might take me, an average illustrator, a full day. A master artist will complete it in an hour.
Who's work should be worth more?
You've probably heard the story of Picasso charging 5,000 Francs for a quick sketch. "But it only took you 5 minutes!" complains his outraged client. "No, madam," replies Picasso, "It took me my whole life."
Whether true or not, this anecdote sums up the misleading "time-equals-cost" idea.
It reminds me of my time working in IT. People would complain, "My computer is down, what do we pay you for?" or, alternatively, "My computer is working fine, what do we pay you for?" People think they can do your job when they see you do it and then say, "that's it?". They forget the past failures and obstacles to overcome to get to the point where it was easy for them.
Paying the Happiness Tax
The happiness tax concept is also prevalent in creative fields, implying that because you enjoy what you do, that's already your form of payment.
Game Developers, while paid well at times, tend to suffer from this. They work doing something they love, so it's often assumed they could get paid less.
Game Development, like many other creative fields can be incredibly rewarding, but can oftentimes come with grueling work.
Enjoying your work is great, and something we all want, but have you tried paying your rent with a 10/10 job satisfaction score?
The highest quality work tends to come from those who really enjoy what they do. We need higher quality work out there, and that only comes from those who have a mastery of what they do.
That often comes from dedication to sticking with something over the long term. Value of work done should be based on quality, not on the feelings of those making it. Should you pay more because I hate doing the work? It's the "feelings" based equivalent of using time to determine value.
Exposure Kills
A lot of good responses here. In the Indie Game developer World, I see similar things.
Another problem comes from undercutting artists, from Countries where a living wage is FAR less than others. They can afford to work for less.
As to artists who aren't sure of their work's worth; I would suggest bouncing you work and WIPs off of Communities such as this, as well as those more centric your field (ie, game art, architectural design, vfx, etc.).
Great article and conversation. Thanks!!
Yes, I totally agree, but the few times I have been asked for some art I almost felt embarrassed asking to be paid for it. I can't speak for everybody of course, but for me is a mix of "what if I am actually not good enough" and "I don't want them to think I am overestimating myself"
Great article. Definitely struck a chord! The hazard of "exposure deals" especially. Even if one of these results in more work, it is often very hard to get a fair rate on future projects, most notably if these clients mention their rate with those referred customers.
aangryman540 You deserve a big cookie for posting that video lol Love it!
@theluthier It's a very informative talk. Watched it recently.
aangryman540 Ooo that looks like a good talk. Thanks for sharing!
nnoise I have said no for years and earn some hate along the way for it. I've hold my ground, since I've seen over the years how people get used. They only ONCE do work outside their tasks and above their pay grade and that's it, before they know it, it becomes the thing they do and salary stays the same. By the time they complain it seems as if they don't want to do "their job".
A great article!
Unfortunately, it's not only the customers who make life difficult for us, but also other artists who set their prices far too low. Astri Lohne has summarized this aspect in a video. It's about painting, but I think you can say that about many other artistic areas including 3D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUiVdFn60C0
Another experience I've had: Customers think the software does the work for me. That becomes quite clear with painted pictures. I often work on a picture that I paint with realistic materials for less time than on a picture that I paint digitally. Digital painting tempts you to make more and more changes and improvements. You also have more possibilities to make corrections. As a result, my digital pictures are much better than those painted with real life materials. Nevertheless, the customers appreciate this less. They pay the price for a RL picture without batting an eye. With digital pictures they often start to negotiate down the price.