Eight years ago someone told me “If you work for free, you’ll never run out of work”.
At the end of that week I quit the place where I was, then, doing an internship. 
Here’s a video that will ring familiar. It’s advisable to join artist associations, and work together to improve the market on which we all depend.

Don’t undersell your hard work, it will affect your morale and spoil the market.

 

Reading the blog of the talented illustrator Alexandra Falagara, I came across this article. Should this be adopted as a choice system in day-to-day commissions?

It’s naïve to think one can get everything for nothing. No one should undersell hard work — this affects the morale and self-esteem of the illustrator or artist, which means the client will get less in the long run.

Artists who undersell themselves, even if unintentionally, ruin the market for all artists who wish to get a fair price for their work. Unpaid work and some internships are ultimately good for no one.

Some suggest that internships are good because they encourage clients to take on people into their teams. But, if you’d really like to maximize profit, you’ll never say no to an artist willing to work for free, even if you have to go through the awkward situation of letting go the person after 6 months or so.

Sometimes artists might seem a little overpriced. But consider:

§ Freelance artists usually have to pay a higher taxation due to the kind of company they run.

§ The budget is normally used to buy: Computer, scanner, inks, rental of work place, and services (postage, internet).

§ Freelance artists must take part of their salaries to pay for things such as: paid holidays, retirement fund, health insurance, property insurance, maternity leave. Most benefits — despite some existing for artists living in welfare states — are not all that easy to get.

§ Freelance artists work alone and can’t be replaced in case of illness. Which means their income would be seriously compromised.

However, it’s not all bad things. Artists can also decide when to take a break, for the most part. They can also run for stipends. But in most cases these stipends must be used on a specific project and don’t count towards retirement fund or holidays.


Some associations in Sweden:
Svenska Tecknare
KRO

In Norway:
Grafill
Tegnerforbundet
NBK

In South Africa:
SAGD

Other organizations:
Norsk Form (Nor)
IASPIS (Swe)
Nabroad (Nor)