Don’t Ever Work For Free

Why charging for your work is not only acceptable, but necessary.

Working for free is a tricky subject. I mean it shouldn’t be to be frank, but it is. It is something that I think should always been strongly discouraged - not even discouraged - it should just be a flat out ‘no’.

I hope that in the not too distant future, we can get to a point where clients won’t even consider pitching jobs to us without a fee attached, a fee so low it might as well be for free, or in exchange for those ‘exposure coupons’ - I am sure you know the ones…

I’ve wanted to slap people in the face with a wet fish sometimes out of sheer frustration, (metaphorically, not literally) however…this can’t be done through the medium of an email or video call. So instead I have had to settle for a firm, fair and educational reply on why I don’t and won’t ever accept work without a fee.

I genuinely won’t ever be that person who replies in a passive aggressive manor. That gets you nowhere, and just isn’t very nice is it! I wouldn’t want to receive an email like that, so I won’t ever send one out regardless of how exasperated I feel.

I also don’t want to burn a bridge! Not only do I want to be known in my industry for my work, but I also want to be approachable, kind and collaborative towards people.

I have had people contact me before enquiring about free work, I have declined with an explanation, and later (a particular example I have to mind it was over a year later), they got in touch because they had some work with a budget!

They came back to me because not only did they like my work, but because I took the time to explain why illustration is commissioned in the way it is and how my fees are calculated, with a full licence breakdown too.

Your skills are worth being paid for!

A lot of the time, whoever is emailing me concerning free work, or work for good old ‘exposure coupons’, sometimes isn’t actually aware of how commissioning illustration works and/or how valuable a skill it actually is. So if you don’t know, you just don’t know right?

Of course, there are, unfortunately, also people who get in touch knowing full well what they are doing and appear not to be concerned. Again, a firm, fair and educational reply is my go-to. But it can get very disheartening after a while.

Why does it feel like creative industries seem to get the brunt of people taking the piss…our skills and time deserve to be paid for!

Illustration is a highly skilled profession - and you better start believing that, and therefore it deserves to be paid for accordingly. I have always held sted-fast on that opinion, and as a result I have had to reject a lot of work that has come my way, and equally not been ‘chosen’ for projects because I have even dared attached a fee to it, not even that it is too high!

Map commissions are a personal favourite of mine!

You could see that as foolish, especially when I first graduated. Ideally you want to get involved with as much illustration work as you can. It boosts your portfolio, boosts your client network and gives you a head start against everyone else who has graduated from a University course, or who is coming up into the industry as being someone who is commissionable. All great things…in theory.

In practise, if you do decide to take on projects for free, what you are actually doing is automatically devaluing your skillset and the skills of everyone else in your industry.

Illustration is a skillset that is sought-after, highly varied in its application and its variety of visual languages. (I feel like I need to shout that for people at the back - someone hand me a megaphone!).

As an illustrator you often, if not always, are able to apply the following skills to a project:

• Drawing/observational skill

• Painting skill

• Digital skills - from drawing digitally, to using a wide selection of digital applications - Adobe InDesign and Photoshop for example

• Compositional skill

• Art material knowledge

• Colour theory

• Typographical knowledge

• Art direction

• Lateral and conceptual thinking

• A strong visual communication understanding

• Understanding an intended client audience

• Being able to ‘solve’ visual problems

• Working through client briefs - this often comes with a huge amount of variety, so being able to adapt quickly and appropriately is key as well as working to a timeline

• Being able to work with image and type together

• Knowing the application and intention for the illustration, and being able to adjust: materials, visual language and composition accordingly

Look how many things that is?! SO MANY! I've probably missed loads more off that list as well.

Essentially, as an illustrator you’ve got an abundance of skills that should be paid for properly, and in full. There isn’t ever a valid excuse for not paying for those skills, whether it is in exchange for ‘exposure’ - that word makes me shudder, it is so awful - the promise of additional work, winning a competition (more on that subject in another post I think as occasionally there are exceptions) or a free ‘shout-out’, none of those compare to being paid with actual money.

Every single profession deserves respect and recognition and creative occupations arguably don’t always get that. Seeing illustration as ‘a hobby’, an ‘indulgence’ or a job that ‘anyone can do’ instantly adds to this idea that it is not valued or really respected and therefore isn't worthy of being paid for.

The A.O.I did a brilliant campaign not too long ago called 'Illustration is not a hobby’, you can find it here.

There are of course nuances to this. If you’re drawing for the fun of it and it is a hobby or a relaxing past time for you - hooray! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that in the slightest. All I am saying is that if you have a desire to make it into a career, being paid is part of that!

So, don’t ever work for free! Politely and firmly decline and explain why you and your work should be valued and paid for. There are occasions when clients, or people enquiring about a personal project, might have never commissioned an illustrator before and don’t know how the process works, or what the costs involved are. Of course, educating and informing is always a good way to go as I previously mentioned.

The only time when this rule doesn’t apply is if your parents or siblings ask for something - you should probably do that for free!

Have you ever accepted or thought about working for free? Are there any circumstances where you think it might be ok to? No shame here at all if you have, it can be so hard to resist the want for work, especially if the client and project brief fits. There has absolutely been times when I've done a project for far less than I should have, I am certainly not perfect!

But each timeyou pick yourself up, make a note of what you did, where you think you went wrong and how to rectify that going onto the next job. Don't beat yourself up too much, we are humans, we make mistakes, be kind to yourself.

If you’re not sure on what to say in reply, or don’t feel confident enough to say so, you can always drop me and email or a comment here and I will happily help you out with an email template. Also, the AOI (Association of Illustrators) have some great resources to help too. They are here if you fancy a peek.

They are well worth a membership subscription if you’re able to, I have lost count the amount of times they have helped me, and their abundance of helpful resources are worth the membership alone!

Until next time,