When to say no

[MissLillyArt]

I'm having a bit of a dilemma at the moment and I was hoping some of you guys may be able to help me out. I'm a freelance illustrator/animator, but I'm pretty new to the whole thing and I've found myself in a bit of a tricky situation.

I'm still in contact with the animation school I studied at, and they keep e-mailing me about potential freelance jobs, which is awesome. But the jobs they're sending are either poorly funded or they're a lot of work for very little money. I know we all have to start out with crappy jobs, and that I also have the right to turn the jobs down, but I'm stuck between taking these bitty, poorly paying jobs in order to earn a bit of extra cash and turning them down and trying to get a better paying job. Seeing as I don't have a lot of experience these jobs are good things to put on my CV and are good experience.

I suppose my question is, at what point do you stop taking the rubbish jobs and start hunting down the better ones? How do you create better connections in the industry when you don't have any?

[EduardoGaray]

Daarken was talking about that a few days ago in his blog:

http://daarken.com/blog/2013/09/11/low-pay-no-way/

He basically says that everything that matters is your portfolio, so you dont really need to start doing crappy jobs for "experience" But read the whole post if you have time.
With that said, he is talking from the perspective of an illustrator and concept artist, i'm not sure how different the situation will be in animation.
Still, i hope it you will find something useful, cheers!

[JonHop]

That Daarken post was a really good read, thanks for sharing Eduardo.

As for your dilemma MissLillyart I think what daarken is saying relates to you as well, why do people/companies expect and artist to work for less than minimum wage when in reality the skill they possess is one gained through years of study and not something you can learn in a day.

Something that really grinds my gears is when ;people post jobs and say something like 'it will only take you a few minutes' or a 'couple of hours' like that justifies them paying you next to nothing. Well no it wont, it will take all those years of study and hardship we spent learning + however long it takes to do that piece of work, that is why they should pay you a fair rate (which btw you can negotiate with potential clients).

Anyway sorry for the rant lol IMHO I think you should concentrate on improving your skills and command a fair rate for what you bring to the table or try to negotiate with the ones that you'd like to do and get them to pay you at least minimum wage if you REALLY want to do the job.

[MissLillyArt]

Thanks for the advice guys! That article was really helpful