Okay I know I’ve made a lot of posts today but that thing about “Well if you’re not willing to make art for free I’m gonna take my business elsewhere” just made me really mad like

Business?? What business? You’re not offering to pay! Why would anyone want to do that? Artists are people and they need to eat and pay rent just like anyone else. 

"It will look great in your portfolio!" Yeah, no. I’m so done with that shit. You want my work, pay me. I’m not handing out freebies here. My time is valuable. Unless I love you a whole awful lot or am REALLY excited about the project itself and/or the prospects it could lead to (or if I explicitly state that the artwork is a gift to you)… no. 

Everyone, repeat after me: Art is WORK. And just like any other type of work, I deserve to be paid for it. Maybe I’m just bitter about commissionees continually bailing after I tell them my prices, which aren’t even that high (some of them have even gone through the initial planning stages and then I never hear from them again) but come on now. 

If you have asked an artist doing their best to work in a professional capacity (because there ARE artists out there who want to keep it a hobby and that’s fine too) to do something for you for free, I want you to consider something.

How would you feel if you were told, day after day, that it would be in your best interest for you to take a job that requires massive amounts of time and effort, and then not to be paid for it? That you should be grateful for the opportunity and that “maybe next time it will lead to a paying job”, and then the same fucking thing happens “the next time”?

Pay your artists, or do without. Experience doesn’t do jack shit to fill a belly or keep a roof over your head (unless roofing and set repair happen to be your specialty.)