The Casual Webcartoonist

In the comments of the previous article, The Ninth Artist asks:
What are yout thoughts regarding promising showcases such as Youtube vlogs and such? Do you think those johns aren’t worth the trouble of giving them a freebie as a promotional thing?

Good question.

Freebies are a thorny issue. Yes, I mean that even in the face of the free culture that is the very base of the e-conomy.

Why work for free? Well, there’s several reasons for this.

* Because you want to. <— the most important, really.

* Because it’s good promotion. <— careful!

* Because it has added benefits.

Now, the first one is a no-brainer. Sometimes it’s a gift for a friend. Sometimes you’re bored. Sometimes it’s for charity, or for the fun of it. Sometimes you just want to be nice. Fanart, a comic that’s meant to showcase your opinion, a good joke you can’t resist to make, a sketch duel with other artists. These are all good and of COURSE you can and should make as many drawings as you’d like without having constantly to worry about if it’s making money for you.

But as a pro or semi pro, you’ll find yourself wondering about the last two.  The “added benefits” one is not so complicated -although technically, one of the benefits could be promotion, and then it’d be the other reason- but mainly I mean things like a comic strip you’re doing for “free” but earns you money because of your ad networks or merchandising. This is of course the most obvious reason, but other benefits are more subtle. There is the aspect, for example, of good PR, or simply tightening your bonds with other cartoonists, feeling as part of a group, practice, expanding your skills, and all that. The only thing to ponder about this one is: are the added benefits worth the time? If you’re feeling yourself dedicating time from paid projects to free ones… probably not. Remember, your time is valuable. But it is more valuable when you have little of it!

So this bring us to the second reason and the question: is it worth it?

As always, the answer is: it depends a lot. If you’re starting, the answer is almost always yes. If you’re “established”, the answer is most likely no. If it’s something you can do in an hour and you DO have an hour to spare and the promo you can get out of it is reasonable, go for it. If it’s going to take you a whole day and the promo value is so-so, then no.

Sometimes people who are not your friends, but acquaintances, or friends-of-friends, will ask you to make artwork for them for free. Ordinarily you should say no. A lot of people think drawing is so much fun, you shouldn’t be paid for it. Well… no.

Don’t be afraid to say no. Like I said: your time is valuable, and those hours you’re going to be working for these guys you can spend it doing stuff that pays, or resting from working on the stuff that pays. My rule of thumb is: if it’s something they’ll be making a profit from, always charge for it. If it’s not, then they get ONE freebie, tops. Otherwise it becomes an endless strings of favors, and seriously, screw that.

As for doing things when there’s a good promise for promotion, well, do your homework. Snoop around to see if they’ve got the audience that will make it worth it. No? Maybe they have potential? No? Well… shrug and move on.