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No magazine should be paying illustrators rates that are 30 plus years old. I refuse to work for any publication until they stop exploiting artists and compensate fairly. I’ve worked with all the majors so I know their insulting numbers.
Further, they often pay emerging illustrators less. Some publishing companies have 2 tiered contracts: one for established artists and a more erroneous one for emerging artists. I know this firsthand.
Emerging artists: whatever bullshit number they give you, ASK FOR MORE. They can always pay you more. Even if it’s a small number, squeeze everything you can out of them.
Some companies will drag their heels and send you the contract after they get the art. They will force you to sign if you wish to get paid. They can’t do that. Know your power. Who cares about their crappy deadline, draw NOTHING until you have a signed/fair contract first.
ADs and designers will tell you they have no power. As if we’re supposed to feel sorry for their plight of a small budget. Then use less art in your mag and pay fairly. If ADs are not pressuring their bosses to pay you more, they’re not on your side.
10 years ago, Entertainment Weekly commissioned me to do 3 full pages for their final issue of the year. They offered $2k a pop but I wouldn’t do it for less than $2.5k for each. A year later, AD plays dumb and offers me $1.5 for a full page. They all play these games.
Watch out for their unfair terms. I had a 6 month back-and-forth with Rolling Stone all over an indemnity clause. If they’re giving you photo reference, make sure the contract protects you in case the photographer’s copyright was infringed. No magazine is on your side.
In 1990 (when I was still an art student in Toronto), I did my very first illustration in the USA for Penthouse Magazine for the letters page. It paid $750 for a 1/4 page spot. That could’ve covered my rent for the month. Magazines today will pay even LESS, as we all know.
The power ADs wield over artists is an illusion. They’re nothing without us. They need us to make their bosses happy, win SPD awards so they can pad their CVs, and then they act like gods. I have no respect for magazine art directors who don’t fight DAILY to get us paid fairly
No illustrator should ever feel guilty for accepting low rates if they need the work. Many emerging artists have to survive. All of this exploitation is 100% the fault of the magazine and the complicit AD. They need to act right by the artist, not the other way around.
20 years ago, I flipped out on Business Week and demanded more money. Then they emailed all their artists and agreed to pay us more. Soon after, another company bought them and the old numbers stuck. The point is, we artists DO have power.
This post got a lot of traction yet not one peep from an art director. On Monday, I sincerely hope ADs who read this thread will demand their bosses increase illustration rates. The professional responsibility of all magazine art directors is to do this. Thank you.
Payment schedules: the “standard” 30 day pay cycle has gone to 60, 90, 120 and even 6 mths. The indifferent AD points you to Accts Payable whom, surprise, has no record of your invoice. This power-play scenario happened COUNTLESS times and repeats to keep illustrators subservient
