~Daifuno~

If a client says they can’t afford to pay you but you’ll get good exposure, one of two things is happening:

1. They are lying. They can afford to pay you, but they are choosing not to. They will pay the printer to print the books, they will pay the mail service to deliver them, and you’d better believe they’re going to pay themselves for sending you an email explaining that they can’t afford to pay you. They think you are a sucker, and if you take the job you’ll be telling them they are right.

2. They are not lying. They have zero budget, no audience and no real distribution system. They’ll still be paying the printer and mail service because people who work in those professions don’t work for free just because someone promises them a recommendation. But they aren’t paying themselves, they’re running on an incredibly small margin, and there’s a good chance they won’t exist as a corporate entity in a few years. Publishing your work with them will give you less exposure than putting it on tumblr or Instagram for free would. It will never lead to a paying job. 

If a client starts ranting about the “short-sightedness” of artists, or otherwise complains about artists in general in their opening offer to you, run. Run as fast as you would run if a blind date spent the whole of dinner ranting about how horrible your entire gender is. Yes, there are doubtlessly clients who’ve been screwed over by artists in the past, but the ones who complain about artists in general will not respect you, they will not treat you well. 

Working for free does not prove that you are passionate about something. It proves that you do not need to be paid for your work. How many doctors went into medicine because they are passionate about saving lives? Do you think any of them are asked to perform heart surgery for free?

No one will ever pay $50 for something if they can get something similar for $5. When you charge next to nothing for art that you’ve worked for hours on, art that required years of training to create, you are telling your client that it is worth next to nothing. They will remember that the next time they want to hire an artist.

People who are looking to exploit artists know that artists are hard on themselves. They know that most artists don’t think their work is good enough to charge top dollar. They know that artists have been told from the first day they started taking their art seriously as a career that they’ll never make any money off it, that it’s not a real job, that it has no value to society. They know how to push artists’ insecurities about their profession in order to convince them that that demanding fair compensation is unrealistic and uncooperative.

If you’re just desperate for a job in the arts, any job in the arts, give yourself a job. Start a webcomic, or give yourself illustration assignments that you post on social media regularly, create work for a gallery show even if you don’t have one yet, or make a book. Give yourself a job. If you’re going to work for free, you may as well be working for yourself, setting your own hours and following your own interests. Having original art with original characters and ideas in your portfolio, and making sure your art is visible online will get the attention of publishers who are actually looking to hire people for good jobs. Drawing a shitty comic for a defunct publisher based on someone else’s shitty ideas will not.

1. Ask the Artist if they allow others posting their work. (if the Artist doesn’t have a share method ready for users to use without asking.) If you are given permission, proceed to next step. If not; don’t post it.

2. Do NOT remove their signature or username or watermark! Do NOT put your own username or watermark on the art, anywhere, especially in place of the Artist’s. Even if you have “edited” the art, do NOT put your username on it, that can cause others to think you made the art.

3. Fully disclose you are not the Artist, and link to the Artist’s account properly (click linked manner) when uploading.

I saw this post on my dash (with commentary, dw) and there was one thing that I didn’t see addressed in the comment chain that I really feel needs to be

Once an artist creates a work, they own the copyright

None of this “I paid for the art. It is mine.” bullshit, unless the artist actually sells you the copyright (something which has to be stated and never assumed, and something you would have to pay extra for) you can not claim ownership over the piece, even if you paid for it.

And yes, this means you can not alter the work in any way, you can not use it for banners/advertisements/etc., you can not print it, you can not sell copies unless agreed upon with the artist

and artists are also protected under moral rights

meaning that the artist has the right of attribution (the right to be identified and named as the creator of their work), the right against false attribution, and the right of integrity. (Source)