Business Sense is Common Sense
Posted By Kathleen David on December 10, 2010
I moderate a community on live journal that is for artists and commissioners to warn others of bad deals, ask for advise with problems, discuss various aspects of the art business, and (once a month) praise both artist and customer for superlative service. I have been there for a while now and being a moderator I read through every comment to make sure it follows the rules of the community which aren’t that complicated but do need to be followed.
One thing that seems to come up time and again in deals gone bad is that there a lack of money for refunds for work that was never done. Another is new artists who get in over their heads too fast by taking on too much and then finding out that drawing for themselves is fun but drawing for a client might not be as much fun.
My first suggestion for artists who want to sell their services to other people, know your limits. If it takes you say 2 hours to pencil and ink a drawing then how many can you reasonably do in a day? Not 10 because then you would be working 20 hours straight. 5 maybe but that is 10 hours out of your day. 4 would be an 8 hour day but do you want to draw for 8 hours? 2 would be about 4 hours and could be done along with everything else you need to do. And yes you can start another project while waiting for approval for the pencils from the client but you still have to spend the time to either redo the picture to your client’s wishes (remember they are paying you for this) and you still have to ink so it is still X number of minutes per drawing no matter how you slice it up.
Another issue that flares up a lot is that the money is spent before the product/service is delivered. I know there are exceptions to this especially if you are up front with your clients that you are going to spend the money for X. But do you get paid for a job at say Subway before you work the hours? Not even CEOs get paid before they do the work. They get paid afterwards. Personally I put the funds in escrow until the project is done.
The only monies that are spent are those to buy the materials for the project and I spread the cost of materials that I use for more than one project over several like a box of polymer clay or closed cell foam. It seems that some people have this idea that they use one client’s fund to buy lots of materials so that they have them for the next project. Yes art pencils are expensive but a box of them should last you a while and you shouldn’t charge everyone for a new box of pencils unless you are sending the pencils to the client with the drawing. And clients are not stupid. They figure these things out.
If you screw up, admit it. Don’t get defensive and hostile towards your clients. Is it their fault that you bit off more than you could chew? You didn’t know your limitations? Also don’t go to ground leaving your clients very frustrated that their inquires fall on deaf ears. (Yes, I know there are clients who are e-mail happy and pushy but that’s a whole other entry.) Admitting that you screwed up and offering to make amends for your error will go much further than blaming your clients for your problems and not understanding your problems. Life happens and it happens quickly. We all get blind sides by things that we don’t account for. I remember when one of the X-book artists sprained his thumb while playing catch with his kid. They had to get someone else to finish the book because he couldn’t hold a pencil. He got paid for the pages he did and the roughs he had done for the rest of the book but not for the finished pages he didn’t do.
Also taking on more work when you haven’t finished your previous client’s work just to get some cash flow going is a big no-no. I really don’t care what others have done, it just doesn’t work on so many levels. Finish what you started and clear the decks before starting on new projects. Yeah, you really don’t want to finish that badge for X because they are being a pain in the behind but do it so you don’t have to deal with X anymore.
When you take money for art, it is expected that you will deliver on your promise that you made when you took the cash. The promise is spelled out in your terms of service which I highly recommend you work out before taking money from strangers. Don’t become another name of shame in my community. It takes a lot to work your way back from that.
I am grateful for artists who see the business side of the equation as well as the creative side.
It constantly amazes me how many comic book artists bite off far more than they can chew because they simply don’t realize they work a lot more slowly than they think they do. It amazes me more that editors let them get away with it time and again.