Mercenary Artist's rant

So apparently I'm 'uncivil' because I want MONEY for COMMISSIONS. Seriously. I am such a crook, I know. Our convo went down sorta like this:

  • Him: I want you to draw a character for me
  • Me: Awesome! I do paid commissions unless you propose an art trade. In which case the artwork must be near my level of art ;)
  • Him: I was thinking something more civil. I want you to draw at least one character from my story and in exchange, I could write either a character for you or help you with a new work
  • Me: Could you elaborate? what does "write a character" and "help you with a new work" mean?
  • Him: I could become an adviser on the next art work (or any future piece) you draw. And I want you to draw my oc.
  • Me: That doesn't seem fair. What could I get out of having an adviser? :)
  • Him: I would advise you on the next 10 works you do
  • Me: No offense but 'advising' me on my next ten works doesn't sound like a lot. what do you mean by advising? like just giving me feedback on my newest art?
  • Him: like you come to me for instance and say, "I wanna draw something this way" I could give suggestions to help with the finish product. Or I could just pay you.
  • Me: I prefer payment. My art differs in price depending on what you want so tell me what you'd like drawn (full body cartoon, realism, anime, etc.) and I'll give you an estimate. Sound fair? :)
  • Him: Such a mercenary artist. But we all must do what we can

"I was thinking something more civil" and "I could give suggestions to help" Oh pardon me, sir! I was being unreasonable to even think that getting paid to make art was the fair thing to do!
I'm actually not mad, I find it sort of funny. I just don't appreciate being told that I'm a barbarian for wanting to get paid for the art that I make.

End