My 2 cents on… cheap commissions…!
I think that last point is key. For every hour you spend working on a project with low pay, that’s an hour you could’ve spent working on your own project, improving your portfolio with work you care about, or better yet, taking on work that pays more.
And honestly, the jobs I’ve taken that were under my usual rates, the client was often difficult with revisions, schedule, communication, etc. The fact that they don’t want to pay you a decent rate is an indication that they don’t know how to work with artists, and so you end up stressed and frustrated and you’re not even getting compensated well for it. Hold out for projects with clients that understand and respect artists.
If you’re honest with yourself in your pricing and stand firm on the prices you set, you WILL find clients willing to pay for your art. I fell into the trap early on of thinking I needed to take super low paying clients to get started. And having worked with far better clients since then, I now know the difference. The ones unwilling to pay decent rates (even on par with minimum wage) will treat you like dirt. I had one continuing to try to convince me that his way was the only way, even after I was regularly finding clients willing to pay literally FIVE times what he would pay me. And I’m still setting my prices a bit toward the low end for my given craft.
Only we can stop this from happening. They’re not going to change until we force them. Stand together, my artist friends!
