manbirdexperiment wrote: 
Thanks for encouraging me to keep the higher ground.

I think I might see if I can do this illo really fast in 1/2 hour... just to see.  Well, I'd better check on the WFH first...

 rosedraws wrote: 
That a BS fee. I wouldn't encourage cheapskates by going along with it. That's just me - and I'm not saying I haven't worked cheap before...

 rosedraws wrote: 
Relative to how much you need the $$$!

 hippiechick wrote: 
it's all relative isn't it. 

 rosedraws wrote: 
That sucks!

Of course, I've been scanning and color correcting for a client for $10/hr.

Trace this illustration in Illustrator.



$45. 

Forty Five Big Huge Dollars!  Wooo.  Can't wait. 

At first I was going to just say no... but how desperate am I?  Can I do this in half an hour?  If yes, then it's worth $45.  If there are 20 of them, and they each take an hour, they might be worth $45 each.  Most importantly, if there are very limited rights, then it might be worth it.

It's probably work for hire.

It makes me so mad.

 rosedraws wrote: 
Unfortunately, many MANY clients/potential employers are looking at the bottom line instead of what someone with experience can bring to a project/job. It's something that I'm facing myself.
 
I wish you the best of luck, and I do hope that you get the gig.  

I'm bidding against illustrators who post their stuff on DeviantArt. 

Lets see if experience and professionalism can win over the bottom line.

What I really hate is that I spent 3 hours preparing a professional and thorough proposal to compete against a guy from DeviantArt. 

 manbirdexperiment wrote: 
That too!

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Ahh, the good old days.  I LOVED press runs.  Felt so important and powerful.  Loved the big machines and the smell and the quirky nervous little press guys.  And a free trip to Bumpville, Nowhere and free meals for a day or two!  I convinced one client to spring for a trip this year.  I mean, it was just a drive to Maine, but I got to hang out with the machines.

My clients choose their own printers these days.  Takes the responsibility off me for the final quality. 

 phineas wrote: 
... or severe banding in a blend or screen...

/voice of a crazy person 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I've seen PDF "proofs" that are so far off the mark when it comes to the actual output that I wonder what use they are at all. There are also other things that just can't be checked in the pixel world — e.g. is that picture properly faded to white or is there 1% K left there. Looks great on the PDF, shows crappy immediately on a print and would have been caught if the proofing was done on a hard copy.

/ voice of bitter experience

The Hucksters is on TMC right now.
A movie about the advertising business in the 40s. in creative black & white!

 phineas wrote: 
How many times have you eaten a color proof and blown your deadline and said, "Let's stop here, I'm going to bump the magenta 7% in the 3/4 tones on this photo"? Because sure you can make them give you a contract proof, which may or may not reflect what the final job will look like but your odds of getting them to eat a print job—well it's pretty good on a business card but do you want to use your one free hissy fit on a bunch of business cards? Sure, you could go with Vista Print and wish to god there was some way to not pay them but in general, on the smaller stuff and even big jobs where everyone knows what they're doing, I don't care about a hard copy proof. I check their PDF proofs to make sure nothing disappeared or got imposed wrong but I look at the numbers on things I send off —and often as not I send RGB photos these days— and let them do their thing. 
 
Sure sometimes I see a hard copy and think "I'd sure like to fix that" but if it's the customer's cost it never gets fixed and if it's my cost I don't bring it up. If it's an actual mistake that should have been caught before the color proofing stage, like a typo or something dumb... that's a different issue (and I always seem to find a couple of those in the hard copy!) ... If the print job is abominable you don't need a contract proof in hand to say "this sucks, do it over." 

 hippiechick wrote: 
44 cent stamps? and can they print mugs with wedding invitations on them? 

 phineas wrote: 
You don't. They have a 30 day guarantee. They also print postage stamps with your picture, if you would like your mugs on your wedding invitation envelopes.

 phineas wrote: 
yeah, cookies. With no bleed though. Oh, And a happy ending if you upgrade to for priority mail. 

 hippiechick wrote: 
How do you colour proof?

 Leslie wrote: 
I just got double sided biz cards from Zazzle.com, digitally printed, and they look awesome. Double sided, I think I paid $50 for 200, that includes a paper upgrade to higher weight. Very professional.

 manbirdexperiment wrote: 
Cookies too?