Throwing scraps to the puppies


Kooshtika's avatar
I find better gigs on craigslist. There has got to be a better way to conduct freelance commissions on Dev Art.  This is like watching a pond full of Parana fight over a small puppie, and rip it to shreds and rip each other to shreds. Good news for yall kids, I quit looking for work here its nauseating, people asking too little for work and people with one novice skillset wanting to be paid top dollar its a good illustration of the fucked up economy we live in...Does anyone know of a better freelance website that isn't so sickening and for is designed professionals not children?
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numinox's avatar
Well, can't say I disagree with you :/

I've moved to a foreign country for my partner and since I'm not fluent in the language, my job prospects are limited to assististing an English teacher in a school (or my favourite, the teacher won't show up and you have to teach a class you can't speak the language in) for below minimum wage and excessively long hours which most aren't even paid for so, as much as I agree with what your saying, this puppy pool IS my income :/

What makes people fight for the commissions is that there are so few and far between for some and the commissioners only offer a small amount of money even for real professional artists. So people will allow themselves to be exploited or they will raise their prices high either because they're greedy for money or what they consider their art value to be :/ either way it is a fucked up economy. 
ViciousMassMurder's avatar
Nope. But hire me please. This is the only one place in the universe where i can exist.


Moe AF by ViciousMassMurder NIKE by ViciousMassMurder WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? by ViciousMassMurder
CypressDahlia's avatar
As much as I agree with you, you can't tell artists how to price their work. It's entirely based on their personal lifestyle. I've gotten plenty of high paying jobs on here. I pretty much take 50% of all pixel art listings. You can make DA work if you are skilled enough to stand out and aggressive enough to ask for $$$.
FrankieAA's avatar
Any art walks in your neck of the woods where you could paint live and show yer stuff
SirBonbon's avatar
I'd love to know good websites for freelancing as well /: It's not that simple to just google it.
ropeturtles's avatar
I mean you could have just googled what you were looking for instead of insulting this website and everyone on it. 
Unlike you he has 13 years here, so i think he is entitled to speak his mind. and those of us who have here around the same time know what he means perfectly. if you feel insulted it's maybe because you  know he speaks the truth and you are part of the problem he describes, because if no that i see no reason to feel insulted.
FrankieAA's avatar
yes if he gets work on craigslist he must really know his shit
FrankieAA's avatar
aw u beat me to the answer

i wuz totally gonna say that
Hessra's avatar
I'd suggest Upwork.
sushy00's avatar
I think it would be a good idea if potential clients were required to post their budget in their threads, and that there should be some kind of minimum amount for the budgets.

Edit: I agree with you shetlandwhat!
Yeah this forum is hardly moderated.

Also agree with nouveauogre, we as artists should form a more solid community instead of being individuals only.
it's the only way we can make things a little better. DA has shown no interest in moderating the forums.  we had asked help in the past, and DA has shown no support, only the collective backup of DA members have solved some bad issues over the years.
sushy00's avatar
yeah. I would love to have moderation privileges on this forum. I would get the topics of scammers removed ASAP.
but yeah if we have no moderator, I guess we have to do with collective backup indeed.
shetlandwhat's avatar
There needs to be some kind of 'no insultingly low budgets' rule, oh and mods would help. Can anybody tell me why there seem to be no mods at all?
because maybe they  profit of the chaos? i seen more moderated fb pages than this community. people come and say racist things, bully people,make sexist discriminatory requests, and  make un proper comments and rarely have they been
really dealt with properly.
Things would work better for everyone if everyone acted more like members of a community, and not just individuals.
More than once have a brought to light scammers, and made legit posters follow the proper work methods, but i still get flamed by other artists when i point out a bad conduct  in the forum. and i do nothing but pinpoint what is already established on the forum's rules. and believe it or not things have  slightly changed for the better, there are less
scammers than  7-5 years ago, when we were plagued by pro scammers.
weremole's avatar
Eh. Digital art and analgue art uses the same fundamentals. So neither is harder or easier, just different working methodologies.

Anyway. Some people use elance. You can also try personal networking, mailing to editors/art directors and see if you can get an agent.
Kooshtika's avatar
nooo.....One of the old men I learned from said to never accept less than 200$ for a job especially with what he showed me. I will go as low as 20$ an hour (I'm super fast) fot at least 2 hours 40$ and that rediculas even if I love the project.. for what some rich assholes get for a commission....after a while your name becomes whats worth$ and skill and originality and that creative fire go down the toylet but you make big bucks $ I wonder if we can get a new page made for professional offers and non professional offers separate: class systems socialist, Illitist..lol...weather you are making or accepting the offer some of us on both sides don't have time to bother with those who have neither the knowledge or ability to create on a professional levle. With an application process etc...I do mostly traditional work anyways but I get plenty of work traditional Illustration and painting is far more difficult than wacam digi stuff thats why i do it..Im an art warrior not a bitch..lol sorry getting a little firted up...I do both but a painting has an original physiacal treasure to it...and anyone can become a professional with commitment and stuff...bahh I get most of my work locally but I would like to get more international and work from around the world..I'm famous in Missoula MT alredy but blah blah Im rhambling on sorry time to get back to the day of the dead pieces i'm doing peace sister.
sushy00's avatar
yeah I was stating the bare minimum there... but indeed it would be better to charge way more.
I am really sad about this race to the bottom.
I am glad to hear you get more work locally, actually I would love to get more work locally too, but it seems to be quite hard where I live.
sushy00's avatar
yeah seriously interested in other websites.
I have seen a bit too much low offers here lately.

Just so you all know, anything under $5 for a drawing is not acceptable at all at any time. Not even for a sketch. Do you know how much PayPal takes from that? And do you know what your material costs are? There is a very good chance that you are making a loss.