I attend an art school and I am surrounded by insanely talented people. Even my friends back home are mostly art students. The one thing I've noticed all art students have in common, despite their vastly different personalities, is that they struggle to make money off of their work.

I get it, we cannot always expect someone to shell out $1,000 for an original painting, but that is not the issue. The issue is that people ask us to design a logo or a website and then assume we'll take $20 or do it for free because they are a "family friend." There are people who "hire" us to paint a picture for their child as a birthday gift, but then act confused when you send them an email about pricing. I had a friend who spent $80 to get a poster printed and have someone offer her $20 for it because "he'd hang it up where people could see." That's not OK.

I am not trying to be mean, but this has to stop. Artists deserve to be paid a fair amount for the work they do. It does not take five minutes to design a website. It is not cheap to get the posters we designed for your event printed. "But you can put it in your portfolio!" is usually a quick excuse I've heard to get out of being paid. Sure, we can put it in our portfolios, but we won't have enough money to get through school and show off that portfolio if we keep doing things for free.

If you would pay good money to an accountant to do your taxes, an interior decorator to furnish your home, a caterer to provide food, why not pay good money to an artist? You must care about whatever it is you are commissioning, be it a logo, Christmas card, graduation photos, or a website, so why on earth aren't you considering it an expense? Some people will pay a kid to pull weeds more than they would pay a student photographer to take graduation photos and that is absolutely criminal!

Of course, there are some exceptions to this trend. I was lucky enough to have a family friend pay me more than I asked for when I did her Christmas card. There are kind people who understand, but more often than not it is because they have an understanding of the art world.

Before the Renaissance, art was considered a trade not an intellectual "activity." Yes, it takes creativity and brainpower to be a great artist, but it might be time people start seeing the hard work that goes into it. To any art student reading this, do not let people walk all over you. If they won't meet your price, don't take the job. That's the only way we can win this.