Why do people think cartoonists work for free?

[DaD O Matic]

I've been seeing this alot here.

great opportunity,possible royalty,I have no money to pay "but"

You probably can pick up on my snarkyness when I read then post.They sound like Whimpey "I'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today."

If you visit and we're glad you do,if you need work, please know it takes hours, many hours to do cartoons. So free? Many of us already know how to market ourselves.

Just a friendly reminder.

[cartunes-r-us]

Is it just desperation, I wonder?

[Leah-Admin]

One of the requests came from a Superdrug employee, not sure they're desperate? There is a thought in this field amongst consumers that they can get artwork for free because there are so many talented willing newbies prepared to do it. I've done it...we've all done it or will do it at some point, well many of us.

It's just one of those things...

Some offers take the P*** though and those ones I tend to point out the error of their ways, ie 1188 cartoons for free....no...I don't think so!!

[Leah-Admin]

Check this out of you haven't already!!
http://www.cartoonist-forum.com/t1272-are-you-seeking-free-cartoonists-services#6792

[DaD O Matic]

Yes I read it.

I't simply amazes me,I love to draw, but would not offer my work for free.

P/S don't ever send your work to anybody without a huge copyright watermark on it, they mostly just want your Idea, don't want to pay,and will erase your name and add their own.

if someone has alot of work they want done they can contract the artist for the duration of the time,say $1500.00 a week,to start and increase the contract as it becomes nessecary,honestly if you don't have the money you really don't have anything to offer.

This is a business like any other, and if you want your car fixed,dental work,medical attention, or art work. we take ATM,visa,mastercard, or CASH.

Just a freindly reminder.

[Leah-Admin]

All the above is true, but when building a portfolio and a reputation a few good testimonials can help and this is why many do freebies in the early days also it is good practice in learning the ways of the client which always take me by surprise when they change their brief...again...again...and again. It helps with pricing when you do start charging.

I don't encourage freebies but I don't condemn those that do them either.

[flatcap]

We will always get the chancers trying to insert rather forcefully you over i love the one's who say it will be great exposure, I just reply (Don't people die from that.)
that tends to stop the conversation dead.

[DaD O Matic]

Sorry for the rant,I guess this is one of my pet peeves.

I guess when I start selling my work, I'll deal with it then.

Right now I'm just obsessed with marketing the brand.

Number 1 on google,sometimes,page 1 ALWAYS.

[Leah-Admin]

Sorry for the rant,I guess this is one of my pet peeves.

I guess when I start selling my work, I'll deal with it then.

Right now I'm just obsessed with marketing the brand.

Number 1 on google,sometimes,page 1 ALWAYS.

What steps are you taking to market your brand?

[DaD O Matic]

Hi Leah,

Well after I finish a piece, I post it on F/B,Twitter,Blogger,google+ and many seo's,I also post on toonpool, which I really like, it's very international,and when my art is viewed all over the world, seo's pick it up and my page ranking goes up, there is a co. that uses the same name as I and I think they pay for the top slot. I do this so much, sometimes a post I write will show up on google.P/S TAGS,TAGS,TAGS,KEY WORDS,always without relent.

I don't consider it work, 1st I enjoy it,and 2nd I really want my cartoons exposed all over the world.

It is all quite amazing,all this done with a cheap mech. pencil,ink pen,paper,inexpensive laptop,cheap copier.OH and a free blog site.

Just add time,passion and desire, and there is definatly plenty of passion and desire here, time, wish we had more.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell, not boasting, anyone can do it, it just takes comitment, I enjoy seeing artist's succeed, so use some of these tips.

Remember:it's not done till the paper work is done. 3-

[Leah-Admin]

It wouldn't be hard DadoMatic to rank high for 'dad-o-matic' as that phrase is not one people would enter into a search engine and as you say there are only two peeps in the world with this name, if they did..they'd come across you or them guaranteed.
On the other hand if you're showing up for other cartoon related phrases then that is great and of course that is what will help you get you noticed.

But if you want paying clients, you sould be aiming for more specific phrases that relate to searches they do to find cartoonist services.This is harder but will reap you greater rewards in the long run as
clients will be able to find you when searching for cartoonist services. But the phrases you rank high for have to be worthwhile.

I for example am Googles number one for the phrase 'cartoonist services uk' and I appear on page 1 four times. BUT this is pretty useless as so few people would ever use that phrase to search for services. The trick is to find out what phrases they do use and then try to work on ranking high for those.

[DaD O Matic]

Hi Leah,

Accually there are more ,but when I started they dominated all of it,every page,most folks don't go past page 4 or 5,and interest lasts mili-seconds.

No,who would google my blog site? or any site name unless it was specific.

If I was working on work for services,yes my actions would be different.

Perhaps in my odd way this is my portfolio I am creating,people can see the work,read my opinions,see my picture,my profile.

I wish someone had posted some thing like this when I first started,It can save someone new at using the internet months off the learning curve.

Man, am I way off subject.

[Leah-Admin]

As 'dadomatic' is your domain name it will show up on page 1 of Google ahead of other sites where that word is not part of the domain name. This is Googles preferred method of matching sites to phrases. There can only be one dadomatic.com /org / co.uk etc so that leaves plenty of room for you on page 1...always.

Meanwhile

Your Google page rank is 1
Your Alexa rank is 13,081,832 (With Alexa the lower the number the better)
You have 10 sites linking in (related sites) which is very good and valuable (more the better)

I think when it comes to seo it's very important people know which phrases are working for them and yes if you have an obscure name and it is part of your domain name, you'll always be on page 1 of Google for that name, but that is only useful if people know your name and look for it.

Try to expand your phrases beyond the name, exposure is great...but being paid for your passion is better

[DaD O Matic]

Thanks Leah,

Being paid is not high on the list for me.I prefer exposure,I'll tweak what you have informed me on.

Thanks Leah,this is the kind of info. some folks might find important,at least they can get pointed in the right direction.

I am a fan of the artists.

[Leah-Admin]

I thought given your anti-freebie to build your portfolio stance being paid was important to you (ie the reason for this thread...lol)

I've been seeing this alot here.

great opportunity,possible royalty,I have no money to pay "but"

You
probably can pick up on my snarkyness when I read then post.They sound
like Whimpey "I'll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today."

If
you visit and we're glad you do,if you need work, please know it takes
hours, many hours to do cartoons. So free? Many of us already know how
to market ourselves.

Just a friendly reminder.

make up yer mind DOH........