A $5 Circle

I got an email saying an employer was looking for illustrators and will pay $5/illustration. Okay. Here’s a circle. It seems like a fair trade for $5. After all, let’s think about the actual progression of events if I were to actually try to get my $5.

First, I have to turn on the computer, read the email, open Illustrator or PhotoShop, draw the circle, save it in both a jpeg and a final format, then compose and send my email with my bill for $5. I would also have to keep records of this munificence so I can properly pay my taxes – which means that I wouldn’t really be making $5 once I’ve paid my taxes on it. The customer might also want some revisions, so here are some alternate choices.

After deducting my time for more emails and bills, and assuming they won’t pay for 3 billing cycles (minimum), how much time could go into my hypothetical circle? Certainly more than 1 hour, and since minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hour, this isn’t a legally fair price to offer. We might as well pay these people for the pleasure of doing work for them.

“But”, you say, “I need printed samples for my portfolio!” Oh sure. Do you think a company willing to spring $5/illustration is going to treat your work with loving care or even cough up the $5? If you’re willing to essentially work for free, at least do it for a good cause instead of for blood-sucking vampires. There are lots of good causes out there who will praise you, thank you, and give you something for your portfolio – which also makes potential employers notice what a nice person you are since you do volunteer work for good causes.

Nothing good comes from $5/illustrations. You lose the rights to your work when you sell it, and they can profit as much as they’d like while you look for half-eaten hamburgers in the dumpster. When they get away with this kind of payment for services, it drives down the price of more legitimate employers. The only people who win in this are the employers, and artists are screwed as a group. Don’t do it.

I reluctantly deleted the email address for this particular vampire. I wanted to suggest sending the "Art Director” hate mail, but I suspect they could probably sue me and steal my circles in the process. Let’s just all think mean thoughts at the same time... Oh, alright, that’s probably not a good suggestion either. Let’s just hope karma works these things out, but somehow that feels an awful lot like believing in the “trickle down” theory. Maybe I’ll just put out an open invitation to vent your personal horror stories?