The world is just full of freeloaders, isn’t it?
A few weeks after an actor’s tweet commissioning graphics in exchange for a “shout out” moved other freelancers to share experiences with nightmare clients, another post that narrates a similar plight has gone viral.
On Saturday, Facebook page Artheist posted a screenshot of a message between Dianne Melody Feliciano, a casual calligrapher, and an unnamed man.
When translated into English, the conversation goes like this:
Man: It’s just calligraphy, why is there a fee?
Man: And you’re just a beginner, it should be free
Feliciano: If it’s JUST calligraphy, then do it yourself
Feliciano: Then it would be free
Feliciano explained that the fee was to pay for the materials she’ll use for the artwork.
“Calligraphy isn’t that easy to do and do you think art materials only cost a peso? You’re not going to be paying for my skills, you’re going to be paying for the materials I’ll use for your calligraphy,” she said.
But instead of being enlightened, the prospective client got salty.
“Nevermind, your works aren’t worth my payment, besides, you’re just a beginner.”
In a Facebook message to Coconuts Manila, Feliciano, who is currently a Grade 12 student acknowledged that she isn’t a professional and even said that this man was going to be her first paying client. Still, she was hurt by the conversation.
“At first, I wasn’t so affected because I had seen similar requests for free work in [art] groups, so I thought it was normal but when I showed the conversation to my friend, it suddenly sunk in that it hurts too.”
Felciano said the man already reacted negatively even before she mentioned how much she would charge. Apparently, the guy got word of her talent from a common friend she had given a given a calligraphy piece to.
Since it was posted on Facebook, the screenshot of her conversation has gotten close to 3,000 shares and close to 2,000 reactions.
Many of the comments were critical of the client.
“That hurts.. artmats (art materials) are not free,” Facebook user Danielle Alfred D. Lopez said in Filipino.
Juan Horacio Ireneo Bagayaua tweaked Feliciano’s reply so that it puts more importance on her skills.
“It should be like this, it’s not the art materials you’re paying for, it’s my talent and time that I can use for something else that has a price.”
Jefte Macaranas Cartagena referenced actor Jameson Blake’s controversial tweet: “PAY HER WITH A SHOUTOUT HAHAHAHA.”
“Would love to pour ink on him,” Bryan L Caoyanan said, obviously annoyed.
“He knows she’s a beginner, then from the very start, he should have approached a PRO. PRO or Beginner, you just don’t have [the] means to pay!” Rahjer Ey said.
Raphael Ramos explained why this kind of mentality is dangerous.
“They think being an artist is useless but it’s a job too. It’s unfortunate that some of those from this generation who are good at drawing and painting study [courses] like IT, Engineering, Nursing, and other technical or science related courses to be ‘on-trend’ because [those jobs] are in demand or because they can’t get support from others if they take up Arts related [courses],” he said.
Preach, Raphael, preach.
