The millisecond that someone finds out that you can draw, something changes in their brain. They go from treating you like a normal person to feeling an overwhelming urge to ask you to do things for them. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you are a close friend or family member. I’m not above doing favors for those I care about. I’m talking about the people who hardly know you, find out you’re an artist, then proceed with fifteen minutes of verbal diarrhea about this tattoo idea that came to them in a dream.

For the most part, I do art for myself. I do it because I enjoy it. Yes, I enjoy it but that doesn’t mean that I am going to do it for whoever asks and without compensation. It’s staggering how many people assume that because I like to draw that they’re doing me a favor by asking me to draw an 11×14 portrait of their cousin’s hamster “Pickles”… for free. They say it like I’ve run out of things to draw and they’re throwing me a bone. They always have this stupid smile on their face which equates to a mixture of arrogance and pity. If the request happens online the typed words are always dripping with enthusiasm. I feel like the reaction they expect from me is to fall to my knees with hands clasped in front of me saying “Oh, thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to spend a lot of time and money making something for you to hang on your wall! Pay? Oh, no, not for me, thanks! You can pay me in smiles!”

Would you ask a carpenter to build you a free house? Would you ask a
farmer for free food? Would you expect a potter to create a set of
dishes for you? The answer to all these questions should be a resounding
“No”. So, why do some people think it’s acceptable to ask an artist to
make something for free?

Half the time I get completely impossible requests:

“I need you to draw my whole family of 37 people on a piece of paper the size of a postage stamp! It’s a gift for our cat, Butternuts!” 

“I want a mural covering an entire wall in my house with life-sized portraits of celebrities. My budget is $50.”

“I need 32 portraits of various sizes and of various people to be auctioned off at a charity event for unemployed squirrels. Can you have them done by next Wednesday?”

“Draw my cat.” *sends blurry, low resolution photo of a garbage can.*

“I heard you’re an artist. Can you draw a picture of me and Edward from Twilight making out? For free.”

In a world dominated by quick fixes and cheaply made mass produced merchandise, there is no respect for the artist anymore. Art supplies are expensive, and it takes time to complete. An 11×14 charcoal drawing on paper might not cost a lot in supplies, but it takes me 10 or so hours to complete from start to finish. Time-wise I charge about minimum wage.

Oil paintings aren’t even something that I offer. It takes me about 50-100 hours to create a painting and it takes at least a month for oil paint to dry. Not only that, but oil painting is an incredibly expensive art. A single 1.25 fl. oz. tube of cadmium red paint costs $50. Even the less expensive pigments are at least $20 for the same quantity. It isn’t cheap, and I use high quality supplies.

If you’re reading this and have asked an artist before to do something for you for free, and that artist was not a family member to you or at least a close friend, then give your head a shake. Art takes a lot of time, a lot of money, and the work of a talented individual to complete. Would you do your job for free?