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Hiring Artists for Open Source Projects?
MikeFM asks: "What is the best way for an Open Source developer to hire artists to provide graphics, music, and other artwork for Open Source projects? I need to hire such people and I'm not sure where to go or how best to spell out the terms of the contract so that it's okay to release the works for hire as Open Source. I'm willing to pay but can't afford to pay a lot. It seems to me that providing artwork for an Open Source project sounds like great exposure to art students and artists still early in their career but how do I find these people? I've posted ads in the local schools and art stores.. what else can I do?"
I'm part designer, part 3D artist by day, and at night (when I have any energy left) I "just draw" on the old Wacom tablet, usually.
What grabs me? Well, money is nice but frankly, I don't need it. What I'd like to contribute to is a project I see value in. Something that will let me learn the ropes of what it's like to work with other people through the OSS model, because I never have before; I've only ever been a corporate monkey where the dynamics are presumably quite different.
That said, there aren't many projects that have grabbed me by the collar and said, "WE NEED YOU TO HELP US MAKE IT LOOK GOOD." The only apps that I've ever considered helping out with were Inkscape which shows a lot of promise for a vector graphics drawing package -- but isn't looking for designers as their road map is mostly replete with "stuff needs to be reprogrammed"; and Freevo, which blatently advertises that they're looking for (skin) designers. I think I'll be helping design a few skins for Freevo, because they look like they really want it, and I love the package and want to give something back to that community.
Since your project isn't done yet, selling on the basis of "giving back" because people like your project is pretty unlikely. That doesn't mean you might not gain a little interest by publicising what it's all about, though. Worst-case scenario, it's really dull and the requests are few -- at least the people that do volunteer will be in for the long haul, whereas signing up sight-unseen might result in a few people abandoning ship early on.
These could apply to artists too...
Your attempt to deflect blame for your ridiculous offer isn't going to work. I am the only person in this whole discussion who has actually done work as you have described. Let me tell you how this works.
After working in graphics production for many years in LA, I went back to my old university to finish my art degree. I was disgusted at my old employer because they were charging $80/hour for my work but paying me about $10 (this was in the late 1980s), I figured I'd earn more if I finished my BFA.
So one day in the Art building I notice a flyer on the bulletin board. Some guy in the Theater department is doing a multimedia MFA thesis on CDROM, he wants someone to do the interface design and graphics to wrap around his videos and text. It was a groundbreaking project, nobody had ever done a thesis on CDROM before. So I decided, what the fuck, I need to keep up my skills, I'll help the guy out for free. Total time about 10 hours, it would have cost him a thou if he'd contracted with my old studio, but he got it for nothing, all I got was a credit.
So about a year later, I'm reading the newspaper about how a local theater student won a national award for his innovative interface design on his multimedia MFA thesis. Bastard didn't even acknowledge that I did the work, he took all the credit for himself.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to pitch my real artwork to the local galleries. I work in an antique photo process, I'm one of only about 3 people in the world who work in this particular process, it can take me a week to make a color print, it's very labor intensive, and the materials cost hundreds of bucks. I showed them one of my best prints, it cost me about $150 in materials alone to make. The gallery loves the work and wants to sell it, but they want to sell it for $200 and take a 55% cut, which would mean I'd lose money selling the prints. I inform them that prints of this type usually sell for about $2000 and tell them to take a hike.
It is obvious you really do not understand how artists work. They're always getting offers to do work for nothing. They're always doing hugely expensive projects of their own, they'd rather be doing their personal artwork at their own expense than doing someone else's drudgework at their own expense.
Well, my name was in the credits, but it only appeared when you exit the multimedia project. Of course I have copies of all the original files. But the point was moot, the guy got his MFA degree and moved on before the award was given. I could presumably put this work in my portfolio and legitimately claim I did award-winning work, but I'd probably feel like I was just as dishonest as the guy who claimed the award for my work.
You missed the point of the story of the gallery offering to sell the $2000 photo for $200. They failed to realize the market value for this work, and deprived themselves of a cut of a $2000 sale. Yes it would have been more work to find a buyer for a $2000 print than a $200 print, but not 10x the work. So they just screwed themselves out of the profit, and they have to sell 10 $200 prints to make the same money as if they'd have sold my print for serious money.
And yes, I know how artists are always starving which is why I decided to learn computers in the first place, so I'd always have a profession where I could earn real money. But when I tried to integrate the two professions by working in graphics production studios, I discovered I always had to compete with people who were amateurs and had no arts training, they drove down the price of labor because "art is easy, anyone can do it." Yeah right.