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A Serious Topic - Making Free Request Offers More Fair
14 years ago
Ladies and gentlemen. Let me make something perfectly clear: This is my opinion! It is not meant as a sudden rule or guideline you feel you must follow. If anyone chooses to use this idea, it's because they feel like it; not because I told them to.
I've been thinking about something, and I hope this reaches a lot of artists who have offered free requests in the past.
Offering free arts is a kind and exciting thing for an artist to do. Unfortunately, it's also a major double-edged sword. While it's a chance to get something for nothing, it still comes at a price...and that's being at the right place at the right time.
Time and time again, I come online at an 80% chance that if someone had offered free art, it was while I was away at work or still in bed. My work schedule is such that I work late into the night and sleep late into the morning. Most people tend to post their offers in the morning, often early on.
And when the offer is made, the journal fills up faster than a line at a job fair. By then, the artist has to quickly close the offer so as to not be bogged down with too many of those requests. This usually happens in the space of an hour.
Which leads me to the aftermath. Far too often, I see people (I'm guilty of this myself, admittedly) stopping by expressing their pained disappointment in not making it in time. The disappointments have even been made worse by artists using a lottery system to choose one or two winners out of hundreds, while being able to leave the offer open a lot longer (days even). And while this is nice for those who are pressed for time, it will just lead to even more frustration and disappointment. Because out of that many more people that desire to get something for free for once, many more will feel it (not everyone, mind you) because like Highlander, there can only one....or two.
My point is, there needs to be a way to have your cake and eat it to. And I think I have found a way to do that. If you're going to offer free requests, then you oughta only do so if you'll draw for several people, even if they are just very simple and basic drawings that don't take long at all. Obviously, the lottery method won't do. There's just too much frustration with that method. And posting a free request offer to all who reply within a single time frame won't cut it either.
What you oughta do is split up an hour into four 15 minute segments. Post a journal in advance (like the day before) telling everyone when each time segment will begin, be sure to space them out evenly over the course of the entire day, and be willing to sacrifice a little sleep to do it. Be willing and able to get up early in the morning (around 6-8 AM) for the first 15 minute segment, around noon (11 AM-1 PM) for the second segment, well into the afternoon for the third segment (4-6 PM), and then late in the evening for the fourth segment (10 PM-12 AM).
This way, there are less disappointed people and more fairness to the whole thing. And if you get a lot of those requests by the time it's all over, then it'll simply be that much longer until the next time you offer it. But the fact is in this day and age, free is rare. And when someone comes on only to see that he completely missed out on such an opportunity, it only leads to disappointment, regardless of what they might say otherwise.
Yes, this means more requests to do. But seeing as they are free, you are fully entitled to take your sweet old time if you want. Even something free comes at a price...and that price is patience, and lots of it. I'm still doing my 50 free story requests, and it's over half a year later now. But I know I'll have them all done eventually.
So please, for the sake of those you offer freebies to, I urge you to give this method a try and see how it works out. It may mean more for you to do, but these aren't paid commissions, so there's certainly no rush. I said my piece. I hope you'll all take it to heart. Thanks for your time, and comments on the matter would be appreciated.
I've been thinking about something, and I hope this reaches a lot of artists who have offered free requests in the past.
Offering free arts is a kind and exciting thing for an artist to do. Unfortunately, it's also a major double-edged sword. While it's a chance to get something for nothing, it still comes at a price...and that's being at the right place at the right time.
Time and time again, I come online at an 80% chance that if someone had offered free art, it was while I was away at work or still in bed. My work schedule is such that I work late into the night and sleep late into the morning. Most people tend to post their offers in the morning, often early on.
And when the offer is made, the journal fills up faster than a line at a job fair. By then, the artist has to quickly close the offer so as to not be bogged down with too many of those requests. This usually happens in the space of an hour.
Which leads me to the aftermath. Far too often, I see people (I'm guilty of this myself, admittedly) stopping by expressing their pained disappointment in not making it in time. The disappointments have even been made worse by artists using a lottery system to choose one or two winners out of hundreds, while being able to leave the offer open a lot longer (days even). And while this is nice for those who are pressed for time, it will just lead to even more frustration and disappointment. Because out of that many more people that desire to get something for free for once, many more will feel it (not everyone, mind you) because like Highlander, there can only one....or two.
My point is, there needs to be a way to have your cake and eat it to. And I think I have found a way to do that. If you're going to offer free requests, then you oughta only do so if you'll draw for several people, even if they are just very simple and basic drawings that don't take long at all. Obviously, the lottery method won't do. There's just too much frustration with that method. And posting a free request offer to all who reply within a single time frame won't cut it either.
What you oughta do is split up an hour into four 15 minute segments. Post a journal in advance (like the day before) telling everyone when each time segment will begin, be sure to space them out evenly over the course of the entire day, and be willing to sacrifice a little sleep to do it. Be willing and able to get up early in the morning (around 6-8 AM) for the first 15 minute segment, around noon (11 AM-1 PM) for the second segment, well into the afternoon for the third segment (4-6 PM), and then late in the evening for the fourth segment (10 PM-12 AM).
This way, there are less disappointed people and more fairness to the whole thing. And if you get a lot of those requests by the time it's all over, then it'll simply be that much longer until the next time you offer it. But the fact is in this day and age, free is rare. And when someone comes on only to see that he completely missed out on such an opportunity, it only leads to disappointment, regardless of what they might say otherwise.
Yes, this means more requests to do. But seeing as they are free, you are fully entitled to take your sweet old time if you want. Even something free comes at a price...and that price is patience, and lots of it. I'm still doing my 50 free story requests, and it's over half a year later now. But I know I'll have them all done eventually.
So please, for the sake of those you offer freebies to, I urge you to give this method a try and see how it works out. It may mean more for you to do, but these aren't paid commissions, so there's certainly no rush. I said my piece. I hope you'll all take it to heart. Thanks for your time, and comments on the matter would be appreciated.
But anyways, when I stream and there are newcomers to it then I will draw their 'sona if they can wait to watch it happen but if you can't make it to watch for a good reason then I offer you to send a note to me of a ref/description to be done in the next stream session or before that.
But that's how I do it. ^_^
Besides, not many people visit Livestream. And while I can't speak for everyone, a lot of them (myself included) aren't so easily able to just sit there with a window open watching an artist draw while waiting their turn. Not everyone can sit there for hours at a time, unless they simply leave their computer on and walk away to attend to their other matters. We get enough of waits like that at grocery stories or amusement park rides and stuff like that.
I don't mean to imply that an artist's actual drawing-in-progress isn't worth watching. And there may be those who don't mind watching an artist draw, having all the time in the world. But there are others, that unless it's their own fursona being drawn, they're not likely going to care to watch someone else's character being drawn, even if they told they'll get their character drawn later on. For all we know, they may have to shut their computer for some reason.
Sad to say, but no matter how nice people are, nearly everyone has some degree of selfishness in them. Again, I'm not innocent of this, and I'll admit it. So while streaming is certainly a way to control the flow and even keep the overall number of requests low for the artist, it'll likely be ignored by more people despite the free art it offers.
To gather a series of requests via the 15-minute segment method, an artist can work on them at their own leisure instead of hours on end in a steady stream. Again, I'm not exacly knocking your method, especially when you say it works well for you, but not everyone has that kind of steady time.
free art is free. you're at the "mercy" and whims of the artist. if people dont like the free art deals, then buy art. i give away commishes, that I HAVE TO PAY FOR. i run the contest, a winner is picked, and that person gets a "free" commish. (that i paid for) if the lottery system seems unfair. (and in reality, it's the only true non biased, fair way to pick a winner) then i would suggest, people just dont try for free art.
This isn't about justification of an artist's discretion on how he/she handles free art offers, it's about a way to make it more accessible to those who have an uncontrollable schedule that forces them to frequently miss such offers. Also, I wasn't saying what should be. The word I used was oughta be. I know full well that what I have to say isn't going to carry much weight, but it's my opinion and I'm fully entitled to it.
to use any system other than this, would be unfair. people at work, school or whatever, that say "it's not fair, i couldnt enter", are just out of luck.
How is any other system unfair? There are artists who seek to reach out to different people and want to make such offers accessible, even though that's not always the case for some. The way you put it amounts to, "Tough shit!"
Not exactly the attitude I picture others having when it comes to free art. If they wanted to be misers about their drawing utensils and their time, they wouldn't be offering it at all. This isn't about luck, it's about fairness for those who can't easily make it for the offers. You obviously must have dealt with a harsh crowd to be so uptight about how you run things. But again, this is just my own idea to make it easier on both sides.
if the coffee shop gives away free coffee on tuesday, and you werent able to get there, why do you imagine on wednesday you are entitled? the rules are made by the gifters, not the giftees.
A coffee shop is an actual business that MUST follow their rules and guidelines made by the higher-ups, and must adhere to them. Artists on FurAffinity, on the other hand, are people who draw for fun and to make money on their own time. They can make whatever rules they want. If they want to be kind enough to extend a deadline or an offer to someone who had just missed out out of the goodness of their heart, they can. Coffee shops can't. :P
i've never entered a contest for free art anyways. one time i was somehow picked, after just replying to a journal, i gave the slot to the runner up. i didnt want to win, just to comment in the journal. just some thoughts.
So then why didn't you make it clear you weren't entering then when you commented? You just stole someone else's slot with an apparently misleading journal post.