It's Not Easy Being Green

The other day I was at Home Depot. I needed to get some wood and have it cut down. When I was checking out, the cashier asked me if I wanted to them to email me my receipt. I felt a pang in my heart. I like being green, I thought, let's save the planet one receipt at a time. So I said yes and took the extra couple minutes to fill in my email address so they could send the electronic copy of my receipt. There was a line slowly growing behind me, but I thought, don't worry, it's worth it. When I was done they printed out my receipt, shoved it in my bag, and sent me on my way. Face-palm. When I was roommates with my sister we recycled all the time. For a time we had a "service" come pick it up for us. It was really just some guy in the business program, but we were grateful. When that ended, we kept at it. We would save all of our recyclable materials. Filling up bags and bags of it. Since we didn't have a blue barrel where we were living, we had to get more creative. We would load them up in our car in the middle of the night and drive around Provo looking for a blue barrel that had a little extra space in it. We would stealthily unload a bag or two into each barrel and then drive off like the recycling bandits we were. It was very exciting.

My boss at the Provo Recreation Center was awesome. She was very environmentally conscious. She implemented a recycling system so everybody would have easy access to recycling. The problem wasn't getting people to recycle, it was communicating to the custodial staff where to dump each bin. Turns out they put everything in the dumpster and nothing got recycled. Fail.

I try to do my part for the planet. I don't just throw away every plastic bottle or container. I even get the stuff out of the bathroom when I can remember. It all accumulates in a big cardboard box either in our living room or in the corner of the kitchen. We share a blue barrel with the upstairs and somehow they always seem to beat us to filling it up. So our recycling box finds a new home in our garage for another week.

What are some of your recycling experiences? Are you green? Do you take your planet into consideration when you throw that water bottle away? What does the environment mean to you?

3 Mistakes of Charging too Little

As an artist who works on commission, I feel like people expect to pay very little for the artwork they want. Maybe it's because they don't value it as much as something else like clothes or food. Maybe they don't realize that I, too, need things like clothes and food. Maybe they don't take me seriously.

I am an artist. I have a degree. I am a professional. And I'm good at what I do. I am also a mom and my time is valuable! It's time to charge what I'm worth.

Would you want an attorney who charges the same as your babysitter (Assuming your babysitter is the 12 year old who lives down the block)? Why would you want an artist who does? Sometimes it's not even minimum wage. Sometimes it's much less.

The fact of the matter is that making art takes time. It also requires skill. Skill that was acquired and refined in college, which cost money. A lot of money. Some would say you get what you pay for. If you really believe your artwork is only worth a few dollars, then fine, only ask for a few dollars. But if you have spent hours a day working on your craft. If you have spent years of your life learning and growing and investing in yourself and the work you produce. Why would you devalue yourself, your work, and your time?

Don't do it.

I have created several comic books for a wedding company. They are fun to make but they take a lot of time and effort - a lot goes into each panel. First I have to do research. I find my reference images. Then I design a villain. I compose each panel and draw it by hand. Then I scan in the images, put them into Photoshop, and finally finish them off with color.

These are worth a lot, but I made some mistakes along the way. I started out asking what seemed like a reasonable amount. I took into account the fact that the company I'm working with also needs to make a profit (mistake number one). I was not confident in my ability (mistake number two). And I had no idea how long it would take me (mistake number three).

Mistake #1
Cutting into my profits is like paying my employer. I still want them to make a profit, but that is their responsibility, not mine.

Mistake #2
I know I am capable. I should never doubt that. If I don't think I can complete the project to the commissioners liking I shouldn't want the job. And I probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Every artist has a different style and focus. That's a good thing. Don't take work you don't want to do.

Mistake #3
Each panel took more than an hour to complete. I charged what would have worked out to be about $5 an hour. What was I thinking? Now I charge by the panel, which is fair for everyone. I know roughly how long it will take me to complete each image. And I know there's a market and a demand for the product so I don't have to worry that I wont get any more work.

I don't regret charging less at first because it was a learning process. I took more time on certain things that now I do more efficiently. I know what I need and how to do it the best way it can be done.