Beardo by Dan Dougherty for August 20, 2012

I had a busy weekend and hadn’t been able to get online for a couple days so I just read yesterdays strip. It was so dead on, I had to respond.

Since I have been in high school, every time I turn around I find someone who finds out that I draw and then wants to know if I could draw something for free. They always use the familiar line, “it is just getting started, so we can’t pay you, but, hey, you’ll get exposure, right?” Or sometimes different variations of the same. Another one is, “we can’t pay you now, but you are coming in the ground floor, when we make it to a big company, you’ll be established and make it big too!”

Okay, when I was young and green these appealed to me and I fell for them. Well, I got the exposure all right. I was known as the schmuck that could be talked into doing free work for little businesses. I kind of find it funny that all these starter businesses that offered to have me grow with them never made it out of the starting gate.

It is funny, they wouldn’t go to a doctor and say, “treat me for free and soon you’ll be a famous rich doctor” and don’t even get me started with lawyers.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind doing something pro-bono once in a while for a friend or relative, when it is for something small like an invitation or pattern for a birthday cake, but if said friend/relative wants to use my work for a business, they should include artwork as part of their overhead. I once painted a sign for a local restaurant that was just about to open. The sign was two sided, 4′×8′, the catch was they couldn’t bring it down from the 50 pole, so I designed it on the ground, made stencils and straddled (without scaffolding) and painted the signs by hand in the hot Texas sun. My pay? $50 and ten free meals for two at the restaurant after it opened.

I think the last time someone tried that tactic was 18 years ago, a woman learned of me via other contacts and approached me. She was starting a greeting card company and wanted some artwork. Someone, I knew was already doing free typesetting for her and making proofs. I asked her how much she was offering to pay. She said, “I was thinking ‘nothing’, but you’ll get your work known.” I told her (kind of like yesterday’s strip), “I can’t buy anything for being known, I am thinking ‘no’, I don’t see you offering people free cards to send to get your business known.” She never spoke to me again, but I don’t see her cards in the store either.

So, Mr. Daugherty, I want to thank you a day late for hitting that one on the nose. I am sure you too were writing from experience. Have to go, I am off to the corner bakery that just opened up. I am sure they will want to give me some donuts so I can make them famous. ; )