Official: Artist's Frustration

[Gordon Gekko]

Since there seems to be a lot of nonsense going on with clients and them not respecting the graphic artists/photographers. People trying to scam us out of work, etc. This thread is for artists to vent about this nonsense.

What made me make the thread is a situation from last night, a phone call from a person inquiring about graphics. When it comes to it, we charge chump change for these CD covers and other work that we do...bottom line. Thats not the issue though. The issue is, lately, people have been expecting to get printing along with their mixtape cover designs. Lets be for real. Who in their right mind can really expect design + printing for about $100? Thats crazy. Even crazier than that is, when you tell them thats the price for design only, they act like they'll be getting ripped off if they dont get printing wth it. Once again, thats insane.

Speak on it...

 

[Beads]

i agree. Im not a graphic designer or photographer, but i deal with musicians daily, since i promote many. A ot of artists ask me to set up their cover design, press, print, etc. and you wouldnt believe how many cats bug out when i tell them prices. and its not just the small cats. Like you said 100 is nothing for a solid design. Especially since the CD cover itself can drive sales.

I feel for you guys, cuz i can only imagine the shit you guys get!!!

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Im on a printing website right now. Im looking at the price for a design and 5k print outs for CD Inserts. Its just front, back and on-CD. The quote on that is $300. For print only with your own design supplied, it's $150.
Thats only for a mixtape print job. So its not realistic for them to expect design and print for only $100, lol.

 

[Beads]

^^But even at that price, its dirt cheap. Rappers, in particular, just expect hand outs. plus 5K covers is a lot! even if you dont press 5K CDs, the excess covers can always be used as promo flyers.

You guys deserve some recognition because you do a lot!!!

 

[Kayne]

thats crazy.. thats like gettin a cd from a artist for 13 bucks and expect to get a concert included.. i get kinda pissed of because they saying the cover aint that important that they should pay 100, but in fact a good cover will get those 100 back eazy.

 

[qwasian]

some clients are just cheap, they need to get they mind right.... then get graphics

 

[LadyTragik]

shit i bugged out when i called a dentist, expected a root canal for 50 bucks










jaykay

 

[DJ Coma]

I'm not an artist or designer but I do recognize the skill that you guys possess and respect it. I understand how you guys get frustrated with people looking to get free work done so that you can "get some good exposure" or whatever the hell they want to say in place of "i'm a cheapskate." I get it a lot with DJ'ing. They expect me to do a party or something for free because it's going to be huge and will be good for my resume. Fuck that noise!

There's a lot of crap designers out there though that think they are hot shit though so it's kinda giving you guys a bad name. It's like that in all occupations though. For example this cat from my city that recently had a myspace bulletin titled "My graphics shit on yours." I have no idea how he can even say that and be serious.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=254555868

 

[underground]

I'm not an artist or designer but I do recognize the skill that you guys possess and respect it. I understand how you guys get frustrated with people looking to get free work done so that you can "get some good exposure" or whatever the hell they want to say in place of "i'm a cheapskate." I get it a lot with DJ'ing. They expect me to do a party or something for free because it's going to be huge and will be good for my resume. Fuck that noise!

There's a lot of crap designers out there though that think they are hot shit though so it's kinda giving you guys a bad name. It's like that in all occupations though. For example this cat from my city that recently had a myspace bulletin titled "My graphics shit on yours." I have no idea how he can even say that and be serious.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=254555868

MY 3 YEAR OLD SON'S CLOSED EYE'D GRAPHIC DESIGN SHITS ON THAT BITCH.

 

[NFP911]

I'm not an artist or designer but I do recognize the skill that you guys possess and respect it. I understand how you guys get frustrated with people looking to get free work done so that you can "get some good exposure" or whatever the hell they want to say in place of "i'm a cheapskate." I get it a lot with DJ'ing. They expect me to do a party or something for free because it's going to be huge and will be good for my resume. Fuck that noise!

There's a lot of crap designers out there though that think they are hot shit though so it's kinda giving you guys a bad name. It's like that in all occupations though. For example this cat from my city that recently had a myspace bulletin titled "My graphics shit on yours." I have no idea how he can even say that and be serious.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=254555868

i aint gone saying alot about graphics as i didnt do shit for about 3-4 years, but that shit is hella whack lol

 

[Swishersplitter]

shit i bugged out when i called a dentist, expected a root canal for 50 bucks

NO SHIT!

and LMAO at nine side productions, proves the point of this thread perfectly!

Clients dont realize that if your good at what you do, then you had to spend time, lots of time, learning your skillz and refining them. I went to school (BFA in Digital Media @ SJSU), took classes on photoshop, design principals, color therory, and a whole mess of other shit and I try to incorporate all of it into my images so they say what I want em to without having to put text on em. Too many bargain basement graphics designers out there drop the value of the work we do by pushing out high volumes of thoughtless work. It's not entirely their fault, we all started out somewhere. Time is money so the faster you pump out a cover the more you make, especially if your not worried about making it artistic. The problem is the clients who choose to compare the quality of one persons work to the cost of someone else, while they ignore the artistic prowess of the individuals. Then they expect you to match the price of someone who has no credentials to even be working in the industry. If your established and proud of the work you do, I say let em walk if they complain about cost. I dont claim to be the best, but I'm too busy with life to try and negotiate a cheaper rate for the 'spare' time i get to design.