An anonymous artist has posted an article in Craig's list (an american classifieds list) which has been running through the web, being posted on blogs, forums, etc, respecting the will of the article creator.

And why has it generated such a success? Well, I guess it's mainly because he has wisely approached the controversial theme of the recognition of art as a valuable asset for today's society, yelding several examples of situations where employers clearly show they don't respect your work.

According to the article writer: "Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit."


I bet almost every artist has already faced a job offer where the payment will be something along the lines of a "free lunch", a mention in the work's credits, "free advertising", etc...


After a thorough introduction, the article's writer sums up a "what you need to know" guide in six brief points, being the first two:

"1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid. "



As you can see, this is a very straight-to-the point article. It has generated quite a controversy... If on one side many artists think art shouldn't necessarily be seen as a payable job, others who do it for a living certainly agree with the article.


What one can't certainly deny is that, no matter how you face and deal with art, it does certainly deserve better recognition in our society... and this article probably helps towards achieving it...


You can read the whole article in one of the many sites that mirrored it (before it was deleted from Craig's List) --> [link]

<sup>Note: the original article is copyright free... the writer stated in the original article that "Please copy and repost daily so that our profession may be respected."

Note2: Some people may have already read this news item on deviantart, published by me... it was deleted because it had a verbatim copy of the original article, which isn't allowed by deviantart... as such I've rewritten the news article.</sup>