Side Note: The new sketchbook I'm using is one that has repeating backgrounds (as you can see in the scans below), and is one of those "draw every day" books with day numbers and everything. It doesn't make much of a difference, but if you're wondering why everything got a little weird... that's why. The silly backgrounds will be gone after 365 doodles... or so...
Part of me wants to write an entire post about the practice of pitching, or speculative work. It's something that artists of all mediums have to deal with at some point in their life, so I think it's an important thing to think about. However, I figured it might be a bit too much "shop-talk" for its own post, so I'll put it here instead.
There's always a lot of discussion in social media spaces about artists and the value of their work. A quick google will bring up a bunch of people talking about whether or not "for exposure" is a legitimate form of payment.
Although, this debate has been going on a lot longer than the social media circle jerk of today, and applies to just about any form of business. It gets down to the fundamental transaction of paying someone for a product they have created, or a service they have provided. Except for some reason, there's a higher expectation in creative industries, for work to be completed free of charge, which really puts a bee in my bonnet.
I think it stems from the fact that most other people would never chose to pursue anything artistic as a career, because of two reasons. First of all, there's little to no guarantee that you will ever make any money in an artistic profession. There's no doubt that creative services are at the whim of popular opinion and critical discrimination. It's not just a matter of remembering the formula and applying it later, there's a big subjective question mark hanging over the perceived value of any creative product.
Secondly, we're taught in school and society that artistic pursuits have a lower status than academic pillars like science and maths. This is a relatively recent development, as our times have changed and we’ve moved away from the ideal of character and humility, to a world of charisma and personality. The modern measure of status is often wealth and celebrity, which are not easily attained via artistic means. Of course, the ones who do become a best-seller or critically acclaimed artist, manage to enter the realm of stardom, but everyone else is left to pick through the scraps.
It's an interesting shift in the way we value certain attributes in society, but it's not often considered. To be an artist, a musician, a writer, a dancer, an actor, or any other creative, was once held in esteem. These were worthwhile pursuits and the sacrifices artists made to assist the evolution of culture, was a respectable and honourable vocation.
Now it seems that the only measure of success is wealth, and perhaps fame/notoriety. If you don't make much money doing something, you better stop doing it. That's the message I've always been told by the society around me, because everyone assumes my interest in art is only a hobby.
Ironically, when you start trying to make money from art, you run the risk of selling out, or losing your edge in favour of commercial gain. I've created commercial graphics for a long time, but it never brought me much satisfaction as an artist. I don't for a second regret any work I have done, and I'm happy to have had the opportunities I've had, but it never really fed my creative needs very much at all.
In the cross section of commercial interests and art, there's very little room for pure creative freedom and expression. It ends up being more art-by-committee, which is entirely understandable. Art as advertising, isn't art at all, it's advertising. Sometimes we can forget the difference, but commercial art will always be a slave to the sell, no matter how much freedom is applied.
Don't forget, there's nothing wrong with any of that, and the saturation of the graphic design industry is a perfect example. There are plenty of artistic people out there, earning a living by creating images for commercial purposes. I've done the same, so I get it and have no qualms with anyone who's found their place there. The thing that eventually turned me off commercial creativity, was everything about it that makes it akin with advertising and marketing.
I'm a terrible self-promoter, which perhaps goes hand in hand with my dislike of advertising as a whole. I understand the arguable necessity of advertising to exist in a large free market economy such as ours, but I often find myself actively avoiding it when I can.
So I can see why a lot of people might consider artistic pursuits to be ultimately pointless. The closest analogy I can think of is my own attitude towards sport. I have no interest in sport of any kind, and I often catch myself rolling my eyes at how much money is spent on sport in our society. However, I stop there, because even though it's not for me, I can see the beneficial role that sport can play in a society. The only time it actually annoys me is when the arts are not given the same benefit.
Sure a lot of people are not into going to the theatre, and most people don't read books anymore. We live in a world were music has been devalued, and artistic representations are everywhere online and on the walls that line our streets. I get that a lot of people wonder why any arts organisation gets funding, in the same way I wonder why millions of dollars get spent on a new football stadium. I get it.
The problem with the way art has been devalued, is that many people expect to have access to the product of artistic industries without any trade taking place. It's a relic of the shift into the cult of personality that is still with us today. This is why pitching exists, and precisely why any artist with integrity should refuse to take part in such a barbaric dance for attention.
If you're not sure what pitching actually is, then let's form an example. Pretend that you're a business owner and you have the task of contracting a graphic designer to help you establish an effective branding suite for your company. Obviously you don't have the skills to do it on your own, because you're a smart business person who does what they do well, and enlists others to do what they do well.
So you get some recommendations and find some portfolios online, but can't decide which designer to hire. You might then be tempted to give every designer you find a call, and ask them if they're interested in the job. The ones who say yes, could all then come up with an idea for your branding, at which point you pick the one you like most and hire the designer who made it.
This is what pitching is all about. It's an audition of sorts, that asks artists to create work in an attempt to win a contract, and it's one of the main destructive elements in the industry today. Pitching used to be very popular in the advertising space, and to be honest I’m not sure if it still is, but at times companies might end up creating an entire campaign, only to never get the job.
You might be thinking "yeah, well how can I know who's actually any good and will give me the best result", but to think that pitching will solve the problem is false. What you gain from pitches, is a range of options to choose from, but what you lose is any kind of tailored service that would benefit your business in the long run.
Whenever I've taken part in a pitch, I know that I haven't worked very hard on anything, because I have no idea if I'm getting paid. At times I've sent ideas to clients, knowing that what I sent was terrible and undoubtedly not what they're looking for. Whereas, when I work closely with a client and explore multiple possibilities and really get to know what they're after, the work improves exponentially.
Some folks might be thinking "you shouldn't do it ONLY to get paid", and I would agree. However, when I'm planning out my work day, I will prioritise paid work over unpaid work, just about every time. Artists need to pay their bills just as much as anyone else, so I you're only shooting yourself in the foot if you focus on unpaid work when there's money waiting on the table.
Pitching only encourages the work to be compromised, and without nuance or dedication. Ultimately all it means for the customer is that the best work will be from either the artist who has the most time up their sleeves (begging the question: why?), or the artist who doesn't value themselves enough to say no. The only reason I've ever taken part in pitching, has been because I felt desperate at the time and wanted to take any opportunity for work. I understand being in that position, but it never ends up bringing in reliable work anyway.
On the other hand, where pitching really damages an industry is on the perception of how the transaction should take place. I'm sure a lot of service industries know what it's like to deal with customers who won't pay their bill, and a lot of the time it's just because people are people and will push the envelope as far as they can. Thankfully I've only had to threaten legal action on two occasions, but it's a problem that exists in many service industries for various reasons.
When it comes to art though, I often get the impression that these kind of problems only come from clients who have a distorted perception of services in general. It's easy to identify that a table costs a certain amount of money, as there are tangible materials and labour involved in its creation. On the flip side, I've always found that artistic work is much harder to appraise by anyone not intimately familiar with the process.
It makes sense as well, because there's no real set of rules that distinguishes one artistic work from another. The valuable ones tend to be either the popular pieces, or the critically approved works. I say "approved" deliberately, as even though there is a lot to learn from an academic interpretation of art, at the end of the day there is no stick with which to measure the value of something so subjective and intangible.
Hence, a lot of clients might wonder why a certain piece of art took thirty hours to complete, while another took only three. It's why I often share iterations and the process of developing ideas with my clients, as I find that it helps them understand the work I'm doing. The added bonus is that I've found most people are interested in seeing how the sausage is made, at least when it comes to their own graphics.
The way that pitching damages this part of the process, is that it places all the power in the hands of the client. Again, you might think that this is okay, and that a lot of transactions are one sided, but I would heartily disagree.
As customers we often forget that we have a lot of power when it comes to trading our hard earned cash for goods and services. A lot of the time I'm convinced that most people just don't care, but we rarely exercise our power as consumers as often as we could. I mean, at the end of the day, if you decide not to transact with a merchant, then the merchant will get nothing. I like to remember this every time I decide not to return to a business because they were rude to me, or failed to provide adequate goods and services. It's one of the simplest ways we can exercise our power amidst the overwhelming assault of advertising and marketing.
So it's important to remember that both sides of a transaction have power. You can't have one without the other and the best way to protest a bad product or service, is by no longer engaging in those transactions.
Thus, when we pitch for work with a new client, we devalue our role in the transactional relationship. It's a fast way to begin a project with an imbalance of power, and I'm fundamentally opposed to endorsing and perpetuating imbalances of power.
The alternative is to show clients respect, and demand their respect in return. If they ask for some quick ideas, instead of pitching to them without any financial assurance, agree on a small version of the project to test the waters.
By entering into a pitching scenario, all you are saying to a potential client is that you don't value your own time, so you probably won't value theirs. What's more, you're handing them the baton and saying that you're happy to have your work dictated to you. This is a scenario where you can't bring anything to the table, and you're at the whim of an employer without any established boundaries or equitable expectations.
There are many reasons why pitching is bad in any industry, but artists often need a reminder. Of course there are times and scenarios where working for free is perfectly acceptable, as there will always be projects that we want to take part in, regardless of commercial gain. This kind of passion and interest is what makes the arts such a special industry in the first place, as there are many people contributing to projects simply because they love taking part.
Always remember that you deserve the respect of your customer, just as they deserve yours. Pitching only serves to diminish the status of your profession, so you're not only putting yourself in a bad position, you're letting down everyone else trying to make their way alongside you.
You could break it all down to the simple mantra of "be cool to people" and that pretty much covers it for customers and professionals alike. Nothing comes for free, so stop thinking there are circumstances where you deserve the fruits of another person's labour. A fair trade is worth more than the fleeting benefits of exploitation.