Working for free is awesome

Non-transactional community n stuff

I really don’t like when salaried individuals with benefits who work for large companies ask me to work for free. For obvious reasons. This happens at least once a year, because people do not always value creative work or the artists who do it. I’d tell any freelancer to never work for free and never work for “exposure.”

That being said. I just did some free work and it was awesome. A new friend, artist, musician, and fellow full-time freelancer Max reached out asking how much I would charge to make a poster for his concert. I thought about it, felt like it was something I really wanted to do and had energy for, and felt like I wouldn't enjoy charging another artist who I wanted to support.

I offered to do it for free, and said if he wanted to trade me a song we could do that too. He’s working on a song for a new video of mine. I. Can’t. Wait.

Again, I wholeheartedly believe in not working for free when it’s for a company who can afford to pay you as they pay their other employees. But community is different. Free-flowing exchange of work can establish non-transactional community. Not, like, asking your electrician to work for free, but asking your tech-savvy neighbor if they can help you install a light fixture this weekend.

Not attaching a fee to the project allowed me full creative freedom, so I was able to relax and enjoy myself, which reminded me how illustration used to feel before I monetized it as my career. I can’t do this with every project, but it might be a good thing to do every once in a while to remind me of that *magic* feeling. Do you know the one I’m talking about? Like I used to draw for fun, now I draw for money, which is also cool, but definitely different.

I wouldn't make a free poster for everyone in my community, nor would I always expect something to be traded in return. There’s no formula, it’s more about going off a vibe- like yeah, I like you, I have energy around this, sounds fun, let’s do it! The more you give, assuming you actually have time and resources to give, the more you get.

Here’s a bit about the process of making the poster. I love working in this loose, hand-drawn style and have always wanted to make concert posters, so hopefully this leads to similar projects!

Rough pencil drawing. This is the stage where having fun is the most important, because it comes through in the work. Sent to Max. He gave me the green light.

Made the final line work by using a light box to trace the sketch with a fine marker.

Scanned in the line work and brought into Photoshop, where I toggled around with colors and texture until it felt right.

Et voila. Max’s piano solo spot is every First Friday at Madrone, if you’re in SF. Check it!

Oh and then I sent the artwork to Max and he was really really grateful. Sometimes I send people final artwork and they don’t say thank you (or companies don’t ever respond and just publish the work, and I have to send 5 emails like hey can you pay me pwease) and it makes me pretty sad. Emails like this make me very happy. Thank you Max!