“Oh after you mop the floor and clean the barn, can you finish the Sistine chapel in your spare time?” Contributed by my Facebook Friend Ross Fletcher
I woke up feeling quite feisty this morning. Nothing makes me spit nails more than the idea that some people under-value the work of artists.
Last night I was at a Blog World Expo party in Las Vegas. I met a pretty boy from a social media company who asked about my blog. I told him that I help artists make a living doing what they love with art.
Pretty boy replied, “Artists shouldn’t be paid for their art. Getting paid prevents them from creating really good stuff.”
I thought back to the artsy photographers I hired for my wedding day. They were more expensive than your average wedding photographer, but they gave me something wonderful: stunning photos of the most important day of my life!
I can’t even entertain the thought that being paid makes your work less good. That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.
I asked him, “If they don’t get paid, who feeds their families and pays for their supplies?”
“They should work another job,” he said, rather smugly.
I want to make three points about Art, Contribution and Money with this article:
- Your art is a CONTRIBUTION to society. It brings joy, it solves problems, and it makes this world a better place.
- Being paid ALLOWS you to make that contribution to society.
- Your contribution expands in relation to the amount of time you put into it. More hours = expanded contribution to this world with your God-given talent.
We live in a money-based society. That won’t change anytime soon – so those of you who say “money isn’t important” get over it!
I almost punched pretty boy in the face when he said to me, “Artists are better off working a job they hate and then painting in their spare time.”
This is the problem I have with that:
a.) No one should work a job they hate. You were put on this earth with talents and you are meant to do that which you are good at and what you love!
b.) The world is missing out on your contribution. The less an artist creates, the less they grow. It requires hours upon hours to hone your craft.
If you are at a “real job” for 40-50 hours a week, doing what you hate, and then you have to come home and be a parent, and mow the lawn, and feed your kids, when will you create art?
I have friends who regret living most of their lives working in an office job and only creating a few paintings a year because that’s all there was time for. Think of how much their talent would have improved, how much they could have shared, had they created all day instead!
“Soooooo”, I asked the pretty boy, my blood getting hot with frustration, “do you get paid for YOUR work?”
Of course, the answer was yes. “Does getting paid make your work less good?” I asked. “Well, no” he said. “That’s different.”
Yeah, I thought so.
This topic drives me insane. Why should one small segment of the population have their work devalued so much that they are forced to struggle? Should interior designers also not be paid, and should musicians play for free and should the guy who artistically installs my decorative bathroom tile do it for nothing?
And an even better question is this: why should my plumber be paid more than an artist?!
Drew Brophy has been a working artist since he was a teenager. He’s always “Lived by the Paintbrush.”
When he was in his twenties, he painted surfboards for a living. A lot of them. So many that he’s become known in the surf industry as the artist who changed the way that surfboards were painted.
He says that painting 10-15 surfboards a day helped him to get really good and to develop a very strong style of his own. His style is now well recognized and many people try to emulate it and attribute their artwork to being inspired by Drew.
If Drew had been working in another field and only painting in his spare time, he would have been wasting his talent.
Drew paints what he wants, and he loves doing it. When someone commissions a painting, it’s because they love his style. It’s a beautiful way to put art into the world and be able to live a good life.
Charging for his artwork allows him to make people happy with his art. Without payment, he wouldn’t have the time, because he’d have to pay the bills by working on something else. And there’s only so much time in the day.
Though he hardly paints surfboards anymore, occasionally he will. These paintings BRING GREAT JOY TO PEOPLE. When they see their very own Drew Brophy surfboard painting for the first time, their eyes light up!
(The picture to the left is from a thank you card that ten year old Spencer wrote, thanking Drew for his painted surfboard – he is proud to be seen with it!)
Charging for your artwork enables you to make a contribution to the world with your art. It allows you to develop your style and to get better and better at what you do.
Most of my friends are creative people. The rare few that don’t care about being paid are either supported by a family member or have another career that they really enjoy.
We live in a money based society. That isn’t going to change right now. It costs money to eat, put your kid in sports, to have a home. We most likely won’t see that change in our lifetime.
As long as we are stuck in a money based system, I find it an outright insult to all hardworking artists to say they shouldn’t be paid for what they do.
It’s just a crazy notion that this one, single profession should work for free! (While everyone else gets paid…)
What do you think?
394 Responses
Great article! btw pretty boy is exactly the type of person I enjoy crushing into a pile of loser by reminding him of the ignorance that permeates his whole being….ha..
I’m an artist and if something takes energy, skill, intense concentration, attention to detail, and lots and lots of time (sometimes my back gets sore and my brain gets mushy from concentrating so long) then it should be paid for like any other job. I only give art away for free if it’s a gift, for example a birthday or wedding present.
Therefore, that is why it is always a good idea to keep a daily log of how many hours you painted and breaks you took so that when it comes time to price your art you are not selling yourself short and it demonstrates that you are a professional who recognizes the value of their WORK.(work? hint hint)
Moreover, those assholes that don’t want to pay for artwork are those who do not understand or appreciate art in the first place.
Besides, those that really love my work are actually quite eager and willing to give me their money :). It is only money after all and people spend it on tattoos, coffees, takeout, cinema, alcohol, etc…
With this in mind, is art less valuable than those other things we buy for our pleasure? The answer is Absolutely not!!!
Conclusively, I always say it’s called artwork because you had to WORK to create it.
One thing only…..art is something you have in your soul and you present it in the world..How much your soul costs?What i want to say is how you put a price in your soul,isn’t that degrading?And i thnk what pretty boy wants to say is that if you after money you will do art for the masses/popular which usualy sucks,,still art but bad art….one last thing you can not study art..a fellow artist(sorry for my english, not my native language)(always friendly)
Art is not some mysterious thing you “have in your soul”. We don’t wave our hands at a canvas like some wad of dandelion fluff and a picture just appears out of cosmic rays and bunny butts (and if I’m wrong and it does work that way, someone better clue me in ’cause I’m doing it all wrong.) It’s a skill, honed the way any other skill is – with hours and hours of mind/hand-numbing practice. The difference between an artist and a non-artist is the same as the difference between a doctor and a non-doctor – the artist/doctor put in the time, effort, and schooling to learn their craft. That’s it.
Amandah, you are VERY right about comparing artists as doctors vs non-doctors but here is the difference – and this applies to doctors as well, is that ‘true’ artists and even doctors and everyone from A-Z the difference is the ‘passion’ I come from a huge family and there are a variety of ‘passions’ in my family, we are born with a gift inside us that will come out, for me, and maybe you if you’re an artist, there is a drive inside me that just wants to create and paint anything I can.
I was born with the passion but the passion can also die or go dormant if it is not used or trained. Even Michelangelo, Rembrandt, etc. They were not born with a paint brush in hand, but they were born with a passion to create. As the years go by and we learn from each other, as Picasso learned from the African’s art — his art is an extention of what he learned his passion took it to a whole new level.
I hope that makes sense and before I close there are bad doctors and bad artists, and though they have a medical degree – doesn’t mean they are good and that holds true to some self-proclaimed artist want-to-be’s.. so the whole career thing applies to all.
Just keep your mind open and explore and learn everyday!
oh! and for the above article YES !! Artists should be Paid! We don’t live in the freaking dark ages!! NOBODY can live on nothing!
If popular, paid art sucks, how is it popular? It’s probably good, and you’re just one of those people who wanna feel special and trash anything popular with the mainstream. All the makers of great movies have been paid. Radiohead are paid. Nirvana were paid. Scorsese is paid.
Dear IAN, the immense majority of people have a random job, expecting that SOMEDAY (after 40 years working in something they hate) they will have plenty of time to do what they really like. They didn’t followed their dream because they wanted the security of a -/+3000$ monthly wage.
Don’t you think that is way worst this tendency of putting a price on leaving your dreams than being payed for pursuing them?
All these statements like ”art is your soul”, ”creativity needs starving”, ”do art at your spare time”, etc., are made mostly by non-artists; by frustrated people who prefer to live in the illusion that if they haven’t become artists (”yet”, according to many of them) avoiding financial risks, well it’s not that bad as they will have the chance at 70 years old, after retiring from their jobs. You cannot be a serious artist if you cannot concentrate properly at your projects. If you believe that you can concentrate at your projects during just 2 or 3 hours per day, between 19:00 and 22:00, p.ex., during your whole life hopping that you have real chances of becoming an important painter, a good screenwriter or a prestigious author, go ahead! But in my job, related to the arts, I’ve met several hundreds of artists of diverse disciplines and just about 10 of them have achieved the highest level in their art while working in unrelated jobs 8h/day – 6 days/week. You must be a prodigy to do that and even then you have to struggle everyday against people who really think that your projects are ”hobbies” that shouldn’t be taken seriously.
You should understand that if some people have the right to put a price at your appetite, others also have the right to put a price at your entertainment. The price doesn’t represent the real value of the work, but the amount you consider fair to offer your work to churlish people who want everything for free.
sis how do you expect someone to spend 5+ hours doing THEIR job for free smfh the entitlment these days
you can’t study art? wow thats a stupid statement. YES YOU CAN. otherwise art galleries and museums wouldnt exist -.- or art school. and my debt load says THAT exists.
I agree with you and I’m only playing Devils advocate here… I think part of the reason people have this view is because the type of art you’re talking about is considered a luxury whereas having running water isnt. (Wheye you ask why should a plumber be paid more than a painter or whatnot.)
Rubbish. Having holidays are a luxury but they cost money. That’s the start of a list I won’t bother writing down. I wish people would shut their mouth or think before they speak.
Well said.
Exactly because art is a luxury nobody truly needs, you should pay for it. Since the artist’s work isn’t needed, but his time is invested in its creation no less, the artist deserves to be paid.
also do you know how much money it costs to buy art supplies? it’s like working 5+ hours not only for free but at your own expense, for a total stranger.
And I agree with what ESL person said too: If an artist still creates despite being paid for it, that shows art is in their soul. There are so many so-called “artists” nowadays who do do it only for the money, and because we “enable” this (via paying ppl for art), a) it’s hard to distinguish between true artists and people who don’t have art in their “soul”. B) it allows for a lot of bad art. Pretty Boy agreed had some bad delivery but maybe this is a less mean version of it.
And sorry for my typing too–I’m writing this on my phone and I suck at it.
Just because it’s their “soul” doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to eat and feed their families doing what they love as a job.
And like the article says: If you are at a “real job” for 40-50 hours a week, doing what you hate, and then you have to come home and be a parent, and mow the lawn, and feed your kids, when will you create art?
Too bad pretty boy wasn’t speaking with Pablo Picasso! Picasso more than likely would have picked up a board and wacked him over the head to give him thst “finishing touch.”
Anybody who critisizes what they dont understand reminds me of a symbolic thought I always get when I meet them, imagine a goat trying to direct a quantum physics project! A pig reverse engineering an advanced alien species ship, a donkey trying some Gymkhana or is it an elephant trying ballet? It’s really confusing when those that can’t do what you do get so quick at attaining a “gift” of making you look as non-talented, but you know darkness reminds us of daylight.
I almost punched pretty boy in the face when he said to me, “Artists are better off working a job they hate and then painting in their spare time.”
I think that’s a super dumb philosophy!! the problem in our society is the excuse not to pay artists so the big corporate machine can continue to take money from their creations and people can keep downloading their music for free! All art can contribute great things to this world, as can plumbers and brick layers, but to say that art deserves to be in the realm of irrelevancy is not fair to those who work long, hard hours to share their gifts!
Great article thanks. I needed to read this as my husband is the pretty boy. It’s hard to hear him say “why don’t you just give her the picture” or “it’s only your hobby.” Or They Can’t afford it.” …. When I’m only charging for supplies not the 8 hours I put into the painting anyway. It makes me mad. He devalues me by not acknowledging my work as important because I dont make a living at it. He tells me to get a real job. Ahhhh!!!!!!!
I would leave him. He doesn’t understand you and he’s not trying to. That would make me feel even more trapped for being who I am. Nope.
Therefore, that is why it is always a good idea to keep a daily log of how many hours you painted and breaks you took so that when it comes time to price your art you are not selling yourself short and it demonstrates that you are a professional who recognizes the value of their WORK.(work? hint hint)
Getting paid is fair. However I have tried to sell my art in the past and people start asking for specific stuff and dont feel connected with. Most of the time I have given my art away to people who are importatnt to me or they just touched and feel connected to an specific painting. It would be so nice to just dedicate most of my time to art. I like and do art in many ways, music, dance, painting… But there is this other thing that happens to me (and I dont know if someone else feels the same) I love it when someone likes and wants my paintings in their house and at the same time it hurts to see them go . I see them (my work) like my own children. I dont see a product where i feel comfortable talking about a price. Sometimes I feel like im selling my child away . Im very connected to my work, I dont do it because I know who to do it and impress people with it. It is more of an emotional need . I work a lot and when i have sometime off I paint for placer, just like going on a cruise during my vacation, it feels the same. And then seeing this source of happiness going away …. Real mixed feelings. Do you know how to work this issue? I think I need serious help.
And off course getting paid is necessary, supplies are so damn expensive. X
I can’t believe how naive it is to say artists shouldn’t be compensated for their work. I’ve put 30+ years in to hone a skill that IS in my soul and always has been. If the client wants the artist’s soul then perhaps they should give the artist more creative freedom when they commission their work. Remember, before there were cameras, artists were paid very well to capture a king’s portrait or spend a lifetime on the Sisteen Chapel. Just because you may have a faulty opinion that states real artists don’t do good work when they’re paid doesn’t make you right. There are several types of art and design and some of the very best get paid top dollar. No it’s not fair to starve an artist and render any person struggling to keep a roof when they’ve paid their dues and deserve compensation for something you want them to do for you. If you’re not interested in an artist’s work fine but don’t run around instilling in other people’s heads that art isn’t worth much if it’s paid for. That is degrading my years of skill, of trial and error, and dedication. And if you deserve to get paid for your years of skill, trial and error, and dedication then so do I. Stick with your cheap Ikea cityscapes and shut your mouth. You really do NOT have a clue what you’re talking about or what it’s like to be STARVING and made to feel worthless for having a practiced, polished, and difficult craft to hone. How anyone could be so entitled to think they are any different is beyond me. How dare you insist that you’re any different and deserve to be paid more for your skill? How would you feel if a large part of the population mocked what you do by telling you you shouldn’t be paid for your work, that your work suffers its integrity when money is involved, and that your soul is being compromised if you’re allowed to eat and live under a roof? It’s not different. Artists are not different than you for having a skill and we do not deserve to be thought of as incapable of bearing our souls when money is involved as though we are not intelligent enough to remain creative when we lack struggle. You’re wrong and it’s insulting as hell, not to mention rude, and insensitive. Get off your high horse. If anyone gives you any part of their hard-earned skill, you should expect to pay for their time. Everyone needs to eat, breathe, and survive including artists.
Musicians get shafted too, big time.
Just found this article. Loved it! Makes me wonder if pretty boy is the same type of blogger that enhances his blog with stolen artwork images. LOL That’s what happened to me! I also dislike the rare people who dicker for a lower price like we artists are used car salespeople. They totally disregard the time, passion and effort involved in creating a beautiful and unique piece. Anyway, great article. I shared it on Facebook.
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I am so grateful that someone finally said what so many of us artists have been thinking for several years now. In my years, I have found that people love to view art, they just don’t want to pay for it.
I mainly do landscape photography. People do not seem to understand the many many hours I hike and trek through forests, mountain passes and wilderness meadows in order to find those perfect shots.
It’s frustrating, but I am addicted to what I do for a living.
as an artist who cant take a photograph to save his life, I UNDERSTAND(I pay a buddy of mine to photograph my work, cuz i make beautiful things, then take shitty photos of them XD). its a special, learned and developed skill, like painting, sculpting, or any other form of art, its not just pointing and shooting, its the ability to find and frame those prefect shots, a well developed sense of lighting, and a myriad of factors beyond that. anyone can take a picture, but only a skilled photographer can take a Photograph that moves you, a picture that is more than just a “snap shot” hell, when a person with your experience takes a snap shot, because of the skill behind it, its 1000x better than anything some unexperience normie could do, and is thus, worth more.
I am so grateful that someone finally said what so many of us artists have been thinking for several years now. In my years, I have found that people love to view art, they just don’t want to pay for it.
I mainly do landscape photography. People do not seem to understand the many many hours I hike and trek through forests, mountain passes and wilderness meadows in order to find those perfect shots.
It’s frustrating, but I am addicted to what I do for a living.
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Actor here. This article was just shared with me on Facebook, and I wanted to say thanks! It’s nice to know that my particular art form isn’t the only one getting shafted. Well ok, not NICE at all, but solidarity and all that…
Most artists are shit at business and management, and I don’t give a shit if they get paid or not. I don’t care if anyone gets paid. Nobody ‘deserves’ anything. If you can make millions selling shitty paintings, good for you. If you spend all day working and you can’t make a red cent out of it – so what? The same is true of all sorts of entrepreneurs. Why the fuck should you have a ‘right’ to wank off to your shitty hobbies all day and expect to make bank off of it?
Please. Most artists are basically fucking hobos and their work isn’t nearly as original as they think. As long as their doing it on their own dime I don’t care. But what most artists need is an editor and a manager to kick their ass into producing something people actually want, instead of wasting time and smelling their own farts all day.
Endowments for the art encourage the latter. Patronage encourages the former.
Thank you
Beautiful article!
This is stupid, as an artist, I would appreciate being paid for my hard work as well as the supplies I used making such a piece.That’s like not paying for an authors book yet they spend their hard earned money to get it printed, not just one book but multiple, that’s pricey stuff. If people liked my work they’d help by giving us money to produce more art. I don’t know who thought of this philosophy and said it was a good idea but you sir are in the wrong. I feel as a young artist you are burying my future career before it even starts by giving others the idea My! hard work isn’t worth buying but to give out freely when I! used my money to get the paper ink’s, paints and markers I used I’m supposedly gonna give out for free. I don’t think so, art supplies aren’t cheap so pretty boy get your facts right because I sure as hell am not gonna waste my life away in some deadbeat job that I’m not gonna enjoy!
Thankyou so much for this and for appreciating the hard work we put in every day to make that path come true. People devalue the talent and effort people put into art unless they are a well renown name out there already established. I am happy to hear you see the truth behind it all. We need more people like you in this world. Aloha!
The pretty boy had a good point – “Getting paid prevents them from creating really good stuff.” Let’s take current pop music as an example. It’s terrible. Composers, singers and all other involved people don’t create anything new, they just take something people have heard for so many times and change it a little bit so no one would notice. The reason behind is the money. If an artist is motivated by money, he makes himself a sellout. He does not express himself or contributes to the society, he just makes money. And the money is not just bad motivator, but also demotivator. Artists may feel pressure if they must create something “sufficient” in strictly specified time and sell it just to have food and shelter. That’s creativity killer. Nothing great or breakthrough has ever been created with “help” of fear and poverty. I understand artists need to eat too. In this world there are just two bad alternatives – to sell yourself or do a shit job.
Without art, our civilization would be very ugly, boring and maybe wouldn’t even exist. Good artists are as much valuable as doctors, scientists or engineers. Their work is just not appreciated enough and is seen only as commodity.
The society should secure the artists. That’s the solution, not just dealing with one of those two bad alternatives. The society is not some alien rigid colossus that we must obey and subordinate. We people created this society and we are able to change it the way we want, to make it more human and to make it work for human, not the opposite.
To say artists shouldn’t get paid because they don’t work long hard hours is ignorant. It does take long hard mental and skillful hours to complete something unique.
Brain power consumption throughout the day is the cause of tiredness, sleepiness wise and you use brain power on any and every job….creating art is no exception.
Physical work may exhaust you physically but not necessarily mentally. Your brain will shut your body down after mental exhaustion.
So yeah, an artist is working when they devote brain power while creating art….it’s a job and if an artist can’t get paid then all artist should let the world go artless.
Thank you
kys artists need to eat too
I recall a girl who once asked me to draw her portrait but when I told her the price, she said incredulously: “What? You mean you charge for your art?” I replied, of course. Don’t you get paid for your work? She said, “But I don’t like my work. You shouldn’t get paid because you enjoy your work.” I said, “But I don’t get much joy creating what YOU want. I mostly only get joy from doing the art that I want.” So if I’m going to create art for free, it will be art for ME, not someone else.
Hear me out I think you and pretty boy are both correct. So, you gotta look at both sides of the coin. I’m actually an artist myself. I once had my own caricature biz too. I think what “pretty boy” was trying to say is that artists can put out some of their best work when they aren’t stressed out about artwork they have to create for a client or patron for money. I’ve done artwork for myself and for paying customers. There is a slight difference. Now that’s not to say an artist can’t put out his greatest work when he’s getting paid a good chunk of change either. That tends to be great motivation to churn out amazing work. I feel it isn’t just one way or the other, though. There are many grey areas in life. Also, suffering can enhance a song or artwork, such as, working at a job you hate. And I have worked at jobs I hated before. Some of the greatest songs I’ve heard were written out of real pain. Some of the best artwork can come from joy. It just depends on the artist. And if you have a handle on promoting yourself on social media then it’s easier to blow up as an artist these days. That surf board artist figured out an art hack. He realized the art world was rigged. So, he dove head first into the surfers world. The surfboards were merely a way to make a name for himself in the surfing niche market. It’s brilliant.
While I understand the question of cost and time put into making art, I would also say that creating art isn’t something unique
We’ve all grown up hearing and being taught songs or riddles or stories – none of which we (nor the people sharing with us these things) paid for. If you were charged for a nursery rhyme then I’m sorry you live in a horrible society.
All of that is art too.
Yet nobody charged or paid for it because art is not something rare and people have created art and will continue to do so without pay because trying to profit from art is like trying to profit from air
I’m 35. I’ve hardly been able to draw or paint since I moved almost five years ago.
I’ve had horrible jobs and I’ve made one friend since I moved, and I have had to deal with my demons on my own. I’ve also had to put up with my uncle telling me, “You can’t be an artist, you have to work”, or “Have you SOLD anything yet?”
He doesn’t get the process of time and energy it takes to draw. Energy I am wasting on jobs where I repeatedly get dumped on. It’s made me reclusive, unwilling to be around anyone, and angry whenever my uncle rides me for BS. I also have to bike to and from work.
I’ve debated just going on unemployment/welfare so I can draw and be left alone.