A question for freelance artist and graphic designers

[Brisco Bold]

Dude, I'm your father's cousin's uncle's nephew's former roommate, you can totally do this under your rate right? We're practically family!

That sounds like a lot of money for something that should only take you 15 minutes.

[Finch]

All of you, so joyless. You create without emotion, with only a want for compensation. There is no love in your work, not even hatred. No wonder your lines are so dead.

[Hero]

All of you, so joyless. You create without emotion, with only a want for compensation. There is no love in your work, not even hatred. No wonder your lines are so dead.

Finchu, the way I see it is this:

If I'm not making a living off art, I'm making a living doing something.

Which means 40 hours a week less spent on art.

So yeah, I would like compensation. No one asks a plumber, electrician, or mechanic it work for free.

"Oh, well you you must love to do it! So you'd be doing it even if you weren't getting paid!"

How well do you think that nonsense would fly with any other professional?

If I'm not getting paid to do what I do, then I would much rather it be MY OWN PERSONAL WORK, not something at the behest of someone else. Better that I get to work on webcomics, videogames, and pursuits of personal passion, than have that precious time eaten away by those who under value and take advantage.

Moreover, it isn't a matter of money, more than it is time. If I have to spend X amount of hours making a living regardless, I'd much rather spend it doing what I know and love, than in some asinine, 9-to-5 Joe Job just so I can continue to do what I love. Or another way; why work 40 hours a week and make art 20 hours, if I could work on art 60 hours a week and get the same results?

[Hero]

This is separate because I don't want it lost within the other post:

It's not about paper, dolla dolla bills. It's about protecting and respecting yourself as an artist and professional.

The way I look at it, anytime a client undervalues work, asks for something for free, adds things that weren't part of a deal AND doesn't expect to compensate you? That's abuse! That's mentally and emotionally crushing. Anyone worth asking labor of is worth compensating fairly for said labor. Anyone who would resist or refuse this is a villain and fiend that is actively leveraging your talents and good nature against you for their own personal gain.

[Fe 26]

How well do you think that nonsense would fly with any other professional?

I have no sympathy.

If I was to charge people for my technical advice, at a fair rate, the combined total that TNL members would owe me is probably over a 1k$.

But I have never charged for it. And the work I've done for members, I've done at cost or gone into the red on.

And I don't regret it, because I'm not an asshole.

[Fe 26]

if it wasn't in the contract to begin with, then you aren't "paying" him for all those files. Just whatever the finished product (print, filetype, etc) is.

There never was a contract. I didn't think I needed one to get help from a friend (double so since I was paying over the hourly rate).

[Dunlap]

Well, OK.
An Illustration I get, all the client should need is a full resolution copy of the picture.

But a logo? These are designed to be used over and over. Stretch and recolored. You don't hold onto the files so they have to come back to you to make adjustments to their property. You don't have to give them every little detail, but like Drewbacca said, you flatten some bits and it's good enough should they need to build off of it later.

And cheeks, come on. You need 6 copies on one page, my little sister can do that with Word. You don't need a master file for that stuff.

[MechDeus]

But a logo? These are designed to be used over and over. Stretch and recolored. You don't hold onto the files so they have to come back to you to make adjustments to their property. You don't have to give them every little detail, but like Drewbacca said, you flatten some bits and it's good enough should they need to build off of it later.

It's going to depend on the art itself, but a single vector logo should look good in any size. If you need something different to display properly and fit on, say, pens then I'm pretty sure most professional places with have a package deal that includes things like that.

There never was a contract. I didn't think I needed one to get help from a friend

Dude, I'm your father's cousin's uncle's nephew's former roommate, you can totally do this under your rate right? We're practically family!

Dude may be your friend, but this is still a monetary transaction involving someone's job. Normal rules still apply and people are still going to be protective over things that deal with how they're able to earn money.

[Hero]

I have no sympathy.

If I was to charge people for my technical advice, at a fair rate, the combined total that TNL members would owe me is probably over a 1k$.

But I have never charged for it. And the work I've done for members, I've done at cost or gone into the red on.

And I don't regret it, because I'm not an asshole.

The difference here is 1) yeah, you aren't an asshole, so you have the right to do work for free if you so choose and 2) it's not as if TNL as an entity has ever asked for your personal employ. People here share information (even professionally), but they are not being asked of it, or else - you do it, fine. You don't? Fine too.

So that your friend chooses not to give you something you didn't implicitly ask or pay for, as you ask him to be under your employ, is perfectly within his right to do so. You don't like that? You shoulda asked for a contract and specified what you wanted. Saying "well, he's a friend and I shouldn't expect to" is fine and all - but doing business that way also means instances like this...and he's not wronging you in any way.

You have no sympathy for the freelance artist trying to make a living? I have no sympathy for you being dumb and not making contracts or "oh boo hoo I give info to TNL for free because I'm cool like that" nonsense.

[FirstBlood]

And cheeks, come on. You need 6 copies on one page, my little sister can do that with Word. You don't need a master file for that stuff.

This is really the bottom line here.