I’ve done another commission for the band Heiinghund for their upcoming release Draugkvad. This time around I opted for my primary art medium – photography – and delivered 27 images in total. 11 of the images were selected by the band to be voted on by their fanbase. 4 of the 11 images will appear in the final album booklet.
The album drops on Friday the 13th in April.
This also means I am now able to call myself an artist – for real.
A while back I blogged about doing a commissioned piece for exposure and for a commissioned piece in return. I just finished the artwork last night, and here it is:
I did the album cover for this upcoming release from Heiinghund
You can listen to their previous release here on Spotify
This was a lot of fun to work on, and I hope I’ll get to do more of these types of commissions in the future.
This is a sore subject for many artists, and The Oatmeal summed up the essence of it all.
(Click the picture!)
The other day I was asked to do a commissioned illustration for a friend. The piece is for an album cover for one of his music projects. He was up-front about there not being much in way of money as payment for this (as it is a bit of a niche-album with a fairly small audience, myself included).
I am – basically – doing this for exposure. And I’m fine with that. Why? Well…
As of right now, about 10 people on the planet are aware of my art. I’m not exposed – at all. I have no exposure to refer people to, other than this website, my facebook page, my instagram and my youtube-channel. I am working on changing that fact, but as it stands – right now – I need all the exposure I can get. If I am ever to sell a piece of art, I need people to be aware of my existence as an artist: I need exposure.
Let me be absolutely crystal clear: My friend did not assume I would do this for free / for exposure – at all.
I did – however – suggest a sort of deal for my commission work. A commission for commission, if you will: I asked my friend to make a snippet of music I could use for my YouTube-videos in exchange for me creating album art. And I made sure to say it would be “as payment” for the commission. My art will get exposure, and his music project will get exposure, as he will be credited wherever and whenever I use the music.
So – why is this whole for exposure business such a sore subject for artists? If you ask an artist – who makes a living through their art – to do something, that artist will charge you for it. It’s their livelihood – it’s what puts food on their table. Be prepared to pay for art, that’s all I’m saying.
The artist can choose to do something for free / for exposure, but it’s the artist’s call – not yours.
v i n t e r h e i m : SKS 