Sometimes professional people, no matter how correctly they approach you, or how open they are with the details, have the worst predatory behaviors and possibly are uneducated (doubt it if they have been doing this for years). I live in the worst country that doesn’t value art at all, and the creative process; minus mediocre TV shows (especially gossip ones) and corrupted journalism (newspapers and political propaganda).

How It All Started?

I was approached months ago by them for a Work For Hire, and they didn’t go with details. I was annoyed, so I asked for more clarification. They shared the details and my alarm bells started to go off. I stopped engaging. This week they went through the “trouble” of contacting me via a “contact form” and complained my email was not visible anywhere. They wanted me to illustrate some pieces for some books (educational chapters) for a well-known local company (a subdivision of the main one).

Why I Don’t Have My Email Public?

I received a lot of scams, cold emails about redesigning my website (oFfEnDeD) fraudulent jobs, and lazy unprofessional emails. Because my email is connected to my domain, it usually gets full, and I need to manually delete them via the domain/hosting page. Thus running the risk of losing important offers. I pay for my services and, also, work them manually. It’s a double-exhausting job. I’m just weeding out the unnecessary noise and filtering the targeted potential clients.

How I Identified As Toxic & Abusive?

1. Flat fees started between $25 to $250 maximum (depending on the size and if it was colored or black and white) per piece.
2. I was asked to deliver all preliminary work (sketches and/or color testing samples) and raw files (PSD or AI); including PNG, JPEG, or PDF formats.
3. There could be a quantity between 1 and 25 drawings (depending on sizes and colors or B&W) in a timeframe of 12 to 15 days for delivery.
4. I only had 2 revisions; if I failed after the second revision, the company had the right to cancel the work with no payment.
5. If the payment got approved (the invoice goes through a review process), it takes 30 days to be deposited to me, regardless of when I delivered the deliverables.
6. Besides the illustration formats, there are other protocols to deliver the work such as RGB, Grayscale (black and white pieces), CMYK, individual files, and specific mock-ups (for each piece).
7. If the company decided to cancel the work, under their specific conditions, I was not entitled to any payment, regardless of my progress.

Our federal minimum wage was $7.25 USD and now is at $9.50 USD, let that sink in… The fact that these conditions were part of the contract gives me the impression that they don’t honor my work and are all about control and money. They could’ve given an extensive detailed contract to look “transparent and serious” but honestly it lacks integrity and respect for my work. So much hassle for a miserable payment.

Conclusions

I have never, in my chaotic and piña colada life, been disrespected with such audacity and entitlement with a sugar-coated “professional email”. And in between those blurred lines, I could see the red flags. Unfortunately, I see 2 problems with this:

1. Artists get excited because it is a well-recognized company (I believe the main branch is international) and think this is an open door to new opportunities.
2. Or they have no choice but to submit to it and be able to survive (that is if you don’t fail the second revision of course).

I may have been their first/priority on their list, but I can guarantee they will never forget me or my email response. Also, they even asked me to recommend them other artists. I have lately been seeing this a lot and consider it a red flag. I’m not going to be part of this scheme. I will stay true to myself and stand my ground, time is money and I don’t have the energy or patience for this.

Thank You For Reading!

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