I think I'm about to get my first freelance opportunity and I'm very nervous

[taydemcdonald]

A friend of mine messaged me to say that she was about to make a blog about black women, she was wondering if I would be interested in drawing some sort of graphic for her.

The thing is, I really have no idea to approach this. I know that as an artist I should expect to be paid but I feel sort of uncomfortable telling her that I want payment since she's a friend of mine. Even if she says she's fine with paying me, what do I charge her? Should I give myself an hourly wage or should I think of an overall price for the product? Do I ask for payment up front or do I wait until I've shown her the drawing? How do I ask for payment? When I'm communicating with her, do I try to sound professional or do I let myself be relaxed since we know each other? Since I'm creating a drawing that she'll use on one of her projects, am I supposed to have a copyright or something? Do I need a contract? What do I do if I show her the drawing and she doesn't like it? What if she changes her mind? How do I make sure the drawing looks good enough to be seen on her website? How do I format it so that it looks good for her? Should I be worried that I messaged her that I would be interested and she hasn't gotten back to me in two days? Ugh!!!!!!!

I was wondering if anybody else could give me advice for this? Maybe people could share their first freelance job and what it was like, and some lessons they learned along the way. That would be extremely helpful for me, thank you! >.<

[brohawx]

I'll try to help.

what do I charge her?
$100. Seems to be the magical number for some reason with small jobs.
If your not comfortable with that. Do it for half.

Should I give myself an hourly wage or should I think of an overall price for the product?
Price for the product. Hourly wage comes with huge projects with multiple assets for a project.

Do I ask for payment up front or do I wait until I've shown her the drawing?
Show her your drawing and then hold it ransom.

How do I ask for payment?
If you haven't asked yet....Its like any other negotiation. Just straight up say it. "Hi So'nSo', I started working with your graphic for the blog, I worked out the price for my time and its going to be $75." Period. See what she says.

When I'm communicating with her, do I try to sound professional or do I let myself be relaxed since we know each other?
If you know each other relax. I've done work for friends before, we talk and relax, as soon as we talk about money, we do it for 2 or 5 minutes, and its over.

Since I'm creating a drawing that she'll use on one of her projects, am I supposed to have a copyright or something?
You get that automatically in America. Sign it. You own it. You can tell her that she is buying the internet usage rights for the image. You dont have to tell her that you retain the right to use the image for anything else that you want to use it for. Sell it to other people if you want to be a hustler..... Anything she wants to print or make with your image on it though she pays again. See that's the difference that a lot of young artists don't know about. What companies are actually paying for is the "one time printing rights." or 'Exclusive Rights' Meaning if they print it again for a second run, or another product, they have to pay you AGAIN. Or they own it and can print it on whatever with exclusive rights privelage, but guess what, they have to pay more for that.

Do I need a contract?
Do you think you need one? If not don't worry about it. You know her, she knows you, she'll throw you the $100, and be done with it.

What do I do if I show her the drawing and she doesn't like it?
Dont give it to her.

What if she changes her mind?
Your still friends right?

How do I make sure the drawing looks good enough to be seen on her website?
Look at other website formats that use the same template, ask her what she's using to make her site. Blogspot? Wix? Etc, look up other sites similar to see what she needs.

How do I format it so that it looks good for her?
Scan it at high resolution and color correct it on a computer.

Should I be worried that I messaged her that I would be interested and she hasn't gotten back to me in two days?
Nope, move on or work on it. And then keep drawing those faces.

Cheers.

[taydemcdonald]

aaaahhh thank you so much!!!

[thunderdumpling]

Even If you don't get paid, designing a graphic for a website will still be a great source for publicity if you friend gives credit. Which is very important when is comes to being a freelance artist.

[karidyas]

1. if you value yourself never work for free, it opens you up to exploitation to the point that working for "exposure" is a joke within creative communities - people always fall for it and it's never worth it. If you say yes to one thing it becomes a lot harder to say no later on, so put your foot down to start with, even if it's not for much - You Deserve It

2. I agree with pretty much everything BroHawx said, except to expand on

   Do I ask for payment up front or do I wait until I've shown her the drawing?
   Show her your drawing and then hold it ransom.

and

What do I do if I show her the drawing and she doesn't like it?
Dont give it to her.

Hash these things out with her beforehand, nothing builds bad blood like differing expectations. Tell her that obviously she won't the final version of the drawing until she's paid you, and I'd recommend you set an hourly rate for revisions (say $15/h) so that if she's not happy there's an avenue to fix it, but you'll be compensated accordingly and it will make her really consider what changes are necessary.

Hope that helps

[kigerneko]

I agree with @karidyas. Better be clear about everything. But I don't totally agree about the hourly rate. Often it's better to come up with a price you find suitable for your own art, because sometimes an hourly rate doesn't pay much or enough for the work and quality of your art you're delivering. Of course if she's a good friend or family you can give her a discount or do it for free if you want.

[taydemcdonald]

Yes this is very helpful, thank you! I'll try to be upfront with her about these things, it's just that I tend to feel intimidated when it comes to stuff like this

[taydemcdonald]

Thank you, I'm thinking about starting with a price of 50$ and then leaving room for negotiation if she feels like that's too much. Hopefully it goes well if she ever actually gets back to me about this (it's been 3 days now...)

[karidyas]

Just to be clear I agree that an hourly rate generally isn't a good way to go for this scale of work, but I was suggesting charging a flat rate for the initial piece, then an hourly rate for any changes after the fact. This way you're getting paid proportionally for any extra time you put in, and the client isn't left with a product they're not happy with - and it should also prevent them stringing you along with endless little edits if you do make changes an available service.

Other options would be charging a flat rate per round of changes wanted or including it in the base price but I feel like they both aren't flexible enough. I suppose you could also come up with a price on a case-by-case basis but I feel that adds unnecessary stress, especially if you don't have much experience. Also I don't work in American dollars so the amount is completely ballpark haha.