I normally don’t post things on my site like this, but I felt this one is important enough to share. Below is a link that perfectly illustrates the problem artists face when someone wants them to work for free.
I don’t know when or where this mental shift occurred, perhaps it has something to do with Arts funding being cut from schools over the last several decades and that has led to an under appreciation for the craft, but this country has a problem with artists and in particularly paying them for work. The vast majority look at artists as hobbyists and not someone who has a viable career, despite the massive amounts of time and money to get them to that point.
I think this feeling is worse now that we have the internet, because people just go online and save images off of some artist’s site and then uses them on their site or prints them out to hang it on their wall, and the artist doesn’t get one cent from it. People still want art, they just don’t take art seriously enough to want to pay for it.
It’s really frustrating to say the least! Please take a look at this!
THE BRAVE LITTLE ILLUSTRATOR
http://kendallhaleart.tumblr.com/post/143817546754/im-tired-of-getting-these-stupid-offers-to-work