Why I turned down an opportunity to write a feature piece for a National newspaper and get my drawings out to a large audience

So after drinking a bottle of wine and chatting with some friends last weekend I decided to reach out to the only National newspaper here in Ireland that I occasionally read to see if they were interested in doing a feature on my recent trip to a refugee camp in Serbia.

So I dropped an email to the Editor and the next day I was discussing the drawings and how to connect them to a relevant narrative. I was interested to see which drawings they would choose out of almost 50 and these are the selection….a pretty poor choice in my opinion but hey ho. Though it has taught me to impose my artistic viewpoint on those who I (wrongly) assumed know better.

So I got the go ahead to write up the article. The proposition:

7 illustrations and 500 words for €200

Now I wasn’t doing it for the money so initially I accepted and got on with the writing.

Though as I wrote up the piece I started to doubt my decision. The piece was all about the value of drawing a situation like the refugee crisis offers. A means to offer a different perspective on the situation and change the dialogue around refugees. The overriding feeling I had while writing the piece? That neither I nor the paper were valuing the drawings at such a price.

So I went back and said I wouldn’t proceed at this price and that any extra money I would have got was going straight to charities I had met on the ground in Serbia. But no moving on their part.

This was the first engagement I had with a National paper as someone who draws so I wrestled with the decision. As I did the usual arguments for accepting a shitty amount of money surfaced. The same arguments and complaints I heard repeatedly throughout all 60 episodes of Escape from Illustration Island podcast, blog posts and books.

The number one and only valid argument put forward by the paper?

Exposure to a larger crowd

There is not doubt that my drawings and ideas would get out to a bigger crowd. There is no doubt that under some circumstances this could be a driving factor but why should I be paying for this privilege by accepting less money?

I dropped an email to someone who does this shit for a living just to get his input. I have to admit to being disappointed with his response but in reading them it hardened my stance. I won’t say who it was as it was in a personal communication but I will tell you what he said and how my responses to his email convinced me to take a stance.

“my advice….to get it published in any form that is possible, that is the point after all.”

Sorry I don’t agree. That was never my intention for starting this project or approaching the paper.

What was my intention then?

I’m glad you asked as it was this sentence that made me circle back around and ask myself WHY?

When I was honest with myself I realised that a lot of it was to do with ego. To show that I could do it and that it was actually quite easy to get them published. Once this melted away I held on to the opportunity with a very light grip. From then the real reason became very clear—change.

“200 is not much at all but they hold all the cards.”

They do now but I don’t think it will last long. I can’t help but feel that until the illustration industry really feels the discomfort and send the right message to the market then nothing will change. As long as the big players know they can pay as little as possible they will continue to do so. They are not going to be the masters with the purse strings for long. Upon first glance it feels as if it is the illustrators, photographers and general creative freelancers who are being shafted I can’t help but feel that this is not a good situation for all involved. One can’t help but feel it is just another, albeit subtle, indication that the traditional newspaper and magazine industry is systemically fucked and not necessarily sustainable in its current form.

“I wouldn’t worry about anyone else or the market being flooded with low prices — it already is.”

I personally can’t stand by and accept the situation and be complicit in the continued undermining or the industry. I felt an overriding urge to stand up and take personal responsibility for the state of affairs but then I always have had an idealistic tendency running through my blood.

I may just be starting out in drawing and selling my creativity but I haven’t forgotten everything I learned working in sales for Cisco and Dell. I know how to value something and when to recognise that there isn’t a true exchange of value happening.

Will my actions have an impact? Who knows. And it’s not up to me to tell you how to conduct yourself, but please don’t go complaining about prices in the market if you’re not willing to take a stance.

All I can say for absolute certainty is that when I made the decision ad sent off the email confirming we wouldn’t be proceeding it felt right and I haven’t looked back.