The Art Biz Horror Stories

[toonMom]

Have any horror stories about working with clients? Tell us about them here.

[corky]

toonmom, permit me to share some of my horror stories. i've done a few parties and conventions. i deal with people who ask me to stay "just for one more cartoon" when i'm only getting paid for a three hour shift, and i'd have to stay longer than that. i've had people toss their cartoon at me and tell me it didn't look like them (that's only happened a couple of times). once, i had a drunk guy hit on me and then tell everyone what a lousy artist i am, because i told him that i was working as an artist, and he should perhaps find someone else to talk to. when i've done street festivals, i've had people walk away without paying anything for their cartoon. (i don't mind if it's a little kid, but it bugs me if it's an adult who should know the value!). here's the ultimate horror story: i had a woman, last christmas, who hired me at an art fair to do caricatures of her staff. there were about seven women to draw. she brought photos to me, we discussed prices. i offered a discount, since she had hired me to do the fair and this cartoon. i finished it, she picked it up and said it looked good. two days later, she phoned me and said she wanted two of them drawn over. i asked her what the problem was...she said two of them were two goofy, she couldn't give this as a present (all seven were on one paper; she planned to make copies). i told her i understood that she wanted the best product, but i'd have to redraw all seven. i offered to charge her for one hour labour to do that. she freaked...said she wasn't happy, she didn't want to pay anymore for this because she'd already paid too much, and she hoped i'd be more "reasonable" about this. i said that as an artist, i worked very hard to achieve a good product, and it was unfortunate that she wasn't satisfied. she yelled at me about how unreasonable i was, what a bad cartoonist i was, and she'd already paid too much. i reminded her that she'd already paid less than what it was worth. she hung up on me. i don't know if she ever gave that as a present or not. i don't care. i just wish people would let me know they're not satisfied, without making it personal insults.
tooned, you ever have something like that happen?

[toonMom]

Not too much of a horror story, but I'll tell it anyway.

When I was 16 years old, I got asked to do an airbrushed painting of some tiny toon characters on the wall in a health club. We agreed on a price and I did the work. When it came time to get paid, they gave me membership credits. I got 6 free months to the gym instead of cash money. We only had a verbal agreement so there wasn't much I could do about it. The did ask me to do more work for them later, they wanted the entire place done. Something different for each section of the club. When I asked how I would get paid, they said in membership credit, I didn't take the job that time.

stoon - I think it is just some peoples nature to complain even when they are actually happy about something. I know a few people like that, my husband for one, he will complain about something, but when I say, "so you didn't like it at all", he says no, it was ok.

[broomhelga]

poor you, i suppose its very difficult as an artist to make people pay for things up front.

which is most of the problem it seems if people are unhappy with the end result.

it must also be very difficult to correctly interpret what exactly it is people want.

[corky]

that's why i always have a contract, in writing, of what they expect, and what i expect. i tell the client i get 25% of the total fee upfront...i explain it's to cover materials, and they're okay with that. i am very detailed, when i talk to them, and when they read the agreement, about what it is i'm doing.
i've sometimes done a job where they've offered to pay a portion in credits, or product. i'm okay with that, as long as we both know ahead of time. it sounds like they took advantage, toonmom, of your lack of experience. when people say to me, "i can't afford that...we'll have to do it this way" i reply, "you see if you can find anyone else to do it for that price, and if you can, feel free to hire them." i'm stunned by how people like to take advantage of artists. they don't go into wal-mart, and say, "i'll pay a portion in cash, and then i'll give you membership credits for these shoes." but they think they can get away with it with artists.
broomhelga, it's not all bad. i've had lots of clients who love my stuff, understand it's worth, and tell others about it.

[toonMom]

I knew right away they took advantage of me, that's why I didn't do any more work form them after that. The place I did it for just got bought out by a company that wants the land. They put a note in the employees pay checks on Thursday telling them that Friday would be their last day. A little off-topic, but it shows the type of people that are out there. I think most artists are taken advantage of at one point, I'm glad it happened at a young age for me.