First gig

[Bookend]

And that's exactly the kind of thinking that these kinds of explotative "clients" are bargaining for. Just because you love doing something doesn't mean you should do it for free. I'm sure there are plenty of doctors, lawyers and mechanics our there who love what they do, nobody expects them to work for free.

By working on commercial projects without pay, you're hurting yourself and the professional community at large. Don't let yourself get brainwashed by anyone into thinking that because drawing/painting is "cool" or "fun", you don't need to/deserve to get paid.

Well, some doctors and lawyers, and mechanics do work for free-- At least at first. From what I know, anyway. And some simply do it for charity. In fact, the people who do that are probably the ones you'd trust the most.

All I know is that I'm not in a position to be doing this kind of work at my level anyway, so I'm not in a position to make that kind of decision. I'm not at that particular crossroads yet, and I don't expect I will be for some time.

But, it's quite common for people to take apprenticeships and volunteer for different projects of all kinds, across many different careers, in order to get a feel for what they're doing, in order to do what they love, or to decide whether they love doing it, and all kinds of other justified reasons.

I think there are normally exceptions, and while I do agree that the rule: "Only take paid work." is a good one, and really good advice...

I do think that there are exceptions and reasons for doing otherwise, and that just because everyone says that you should do something, doesn't mean you should cater to what others think.

That being said, when I'm in a position to do so, I probably will follow that rule. But, I don't know what will happen, or what reasons I might have to do otherwise, down the line.