Urgent Charity Illustration Projects.
Posted on Apr 23, 2008 in weird
Right up there with people who steal my art, “Freebie Seekers” are second-closest to my heart. Not a week goes by when I don’t get someone looking for me to donate my time and services to their great project.
They aren’t totally cheap though… they often offer to put a link to my blog on their project or website, which at least 11 people will see.
I wonder if these people go into the grocery store and ask for free stuff: “Can I have these Twinkies? I don’t have any money to pay for them, but I’ll tell my friends about your store where I got them for free so you can have even more people asking for free Twinkies… plus you’ll have the great feeling of having helped someone in need of a snack.”
Here’s a classic that arrived in my inbox this morning (emphasis mine) … not only is there no chance of getting paid, it’s a rush job!:
Dear Brad,
I came accross you’re Cartoon Beer illustration while searching the internet and was wondering if you would be willing to produce a simple logo incorporating this design for us… in this years … Rugby tournament. Unfortunatly we are not in a position to pay for you’re services at the moment, however we would be willing to include you’re logo on our (shirts). I have attached a draft copy of our (shirt) which will be produced shortly. Please get back to me with you’re decision as soon as possible as all images to be included in the (shirt) must be submitted within the next week.Kind Regards,
Douche Von Broughton.
My response:
Hi Douche,
Thanks for thinking of me for your urgent charity project but I am not currently taking on new assignments at this time, especially non-paying ones.
Cheers,
~B
Tagged: beer, charity, free, Illustration, logo, rugby, twinkies
4 Comment(s) so far... Don't be shy, join in!
By Matthew on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Actually, people do ask for free things at grocery markets. Last month my family was helping run a non-profit event. We had a budget for food but it was not very large, and we asked several large chains if they might be willing to donate. What we found out is that most stores receive constant requests for free stuff, and we were just adding ours to a large stack of them.
By Fitz on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Hey Matthew, thanks for the thoughtful comment. Since food is such a basic human need, a grocery store probably wasn’t the best analogy to a logo design. I should have used something besides Twinkies that isn’t such a need.
By Matthew on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Oops. I actually meant to confirm your point, not defend freebie seekers or poke holes in the analogy. My grocery experience made me think that whatever you do, there will probably be people trying to enlist your services into their cause. Even though I’ve been one of them, I think it’s kind of funny and I completely sympathize with your side of the situation.
By Burt on May 1, 2008 | Reply
Not to play devil’s advocate but I’ve been on the flip side of that coin. I’ve sometimes asked for free stuff but as a trade in services. While 11 links wouldn’t be worth much, several hundred views of your link per day might be (if I said how much traffic my former site got it would sound like a lie, so I won’t say) but I was able to trade link and banner placements for free products for contests, books and software in exchange for reviews and even got some free programming done by people who wanted to have co-op stores on the site. Even then there were a few people who would have loved to get the free advertising but would get mad if I requested a copy of their product.
In the end it has to be an equivalent exchange of value for value. So if they sent you a years supply of beer it might have been a good deal.