by Kanachi
I recently hijacked another posters thread with this topic, but that was neither the time nor place so decided to place my views on this issue in a thread of its own with a view to ultimately getting something a little more concrete made as a sticky.I wanted to start a debate concerning the rights and wrongs of requesting free artwork from artist. For now I’m going to lump all requests which offer kudos (including: Credit on the rulebook/box) and other offers of promotion by the client as “payment” in this as well.
I’m excluding tiny pieces of pro-bono work from this as most such requests are brief mash ups and take an extremely limited amount of time to complete. Small freebees or rough and ready mock ups from charitable artists are a nice element which should not end as they help share ideas and methodologies between designers.
EDIT: I'm also excluding pnp games which can be seen as good fun for everyone on the project. This is specifically about profit making games.
Are such requests damaging for the medium? or to artists?
Is it ethical to make such requests and how should the community at large respond to it?
I personally would like to see an offer of “I will give you a % of my profits” as being the bare minimum which is acceptable. Even this is something i personally dislike.
my thoughts...
Personally I find the “I can’t afford to pay you argument” very weak and I struggle to understand how people can participate actively within this hobby (spending money on games) and yet not find finance, no matter how small, for their own games. Sometimes even a token offer is better than nothing at all.
In my view if you really don’t have the money to fund any art work for your game (for whatever reason) then it’s time to a) pick up a pen yourself or b) get a piggy bank or c) rework your design.
My personal fear is for young artist who enter the profession often eager to cut their teeth and sometimes this willingness sees them do any job, even those which offer them nothing. This I believe ultimately does neither them nor other artists anything but damage in the future.
I suppose ultimately I believe that not all dreams are meant to happen and sometimes you have to work bloody hard and make personal sacrifices to see those dreams come true. It won’t happen easy and it won’t happen quick, but I believe that it’s the right thing to do.
The world cannot be expected to take the hit when it comes to your dreams.
Anyway, please share your thoughts below and let’s see what people think!