# Have you been paid for your "Art"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956 "2010-01-06T20:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/21 "2010-01-06T23:17:57Z")
My band plays paid gigs at nightclubs, $750 - $1,200 a gig. We use the money to pay for gear, pay for beer at practice and for a big band party at the end of the year - just us, our spouses and kids - the next one is in a couple of weeks! ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/22 "2010-01-06T23:25:04Z")
I’ve been paid to play flute and to transcribe/arrange music. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/23 "2010-01-06T23:36:32Z")
I sell handspun and hand-dyed yarn online. I think I’ve earned enough to keep me in yarn-making supplies, but I doubt I’ve made much more than that. I often think I’d like to try doing it as a serious business, but I wonder if that would take the fun out of it. Also, I’m frequently bewildered at what people snap up (nubby tangerine cotton yarn) and what they absolutely refuse to buy (bulky violet-rose-bronze merino wool). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/24 "2010-01-06T23:43:22Z")
Great stuff, guys - keep 'em coming! > [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I’ve made a nice living for the last decade designing videogames. Hey man - I’ve designed PPT for almost two decades. If we get to call that art, then I _am_ Thomas freakin’ Kinkade. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/25 "2010-01-06T23:47:30Z")
Do contests count? I got paid for a sand castle. More specifically a sand sculpture. I was awarded cash and a medal for my sand sculpture which is shown at 1:27-1:28 of video on[this](http://www.sandcastledays.com/archives/index.html) page. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/26 "2010-01-06T23:50:38Z")
Paid for my performances a bunch, naturally. (played a lot for free, too, just because.) Done some occasional jewelry making, graphic arts projects, typography, writing. Been occasionally paid for it. Does cooking count? Baked to order, catered some. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/27 "2010-01-06T23:57:55Z")
I’ve got some of my commissioned music in two iPhone apps right now, and am working on the music for a third. One of the apps currently in the App Store is technically mine; I didn’t write the app itself, but the app is a relaxation thing with isochronic entrainment features; the developer has a whole line of them and hires musicians to do the music portion, and one of them is mine. It isn’t making me rich, but it’s giving me a bit of pocket change every month, and the arrangement is a straight split down the middle between me and the dev, so it works out well. The other one, and the one I’m working on, I’m doing pro bono 'cos I’m friends with the developer and I know his stuff doesn’t make much money anyway, so I’m mainly doing it for the exposure, which should generate more paid work down the road. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/28 "2010-01-07T00:13:53Z")
I have a degree in Visual Design/Illustration and have worked at jobs that involved graphic design, drawing and/or writing since my first part-time job in 1974. Now, in addition to my full time job, my wife and I publish a small monthly magazine in our hometown. Edited to add I’ve also sold some hand made dollhouse furniture. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/29 "2010-01-07T00:46:19Z")
Lets see. When I was a kid I used to charge my parents a dime to go to a piano concert by me. I have never taken any piano lessions and really it was just me pounding on the keys, but I thought it was high art. When I was in high school I entered a craft fair one Christmas with some friends. I currenly work in theatre as a Technical Director which has a bit of art to it since I also design and build special effects and some props for the shows. And in the last few years I have been doing some set designs. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/30 "2010-01-07T00:53:37Z")
On the other end of it, I spend a lot of my time paying artists and writers. Some of them can be very precious, but most are good to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/31 "2010-01-07T00:55:17Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Hey man - I’ve designed PPT for almost two decades. If we get to call that art, then I _am_ Thomas freakin’ Kinkade. 🙂 Yeah, designing 3-D level layouts, scripting AI behaviors, writing dialog, directing voice acting and motion capture sessions … that’s _just like_ making PowerPoint slides. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/32 "2010-01-07T01:05:29Z")
Back when I was fifteen, I was into making small clay sculptures, and I had an exhibit at the local library. One of my mom’s friends heard about it, and asked me to make some frogs for their Seder table. Then one of _her_ friends decided she wanted a Plague of Frogs, too. I ended up making… forty frogs, was it? It was a lot of frogs, and being the perfectionist I am every single one of them had to be unique and whimsical. Between the size of the order and my short attention span, it took me something like six months to finish them. I don’t remember how much I got paid. They were good frogs, though. I even had a “frog run over by a steamroller”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/33 "2010-01-07T01:05:46Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Yeah, designing 3-D level layouts, scripting AI behaviors, writing dialog, directing voice acting and motion capture sessions … that’s _just like_ making PowerPoint slides. :rolleyes: Yeah, and since you mentioned all of those specifics in your original post, shame on me. And yeah, I _just_ make PowerPoint slides. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/34 "2010-01-07T01:15:35Z")
I worked for several years as a professional singer, and I still get paid for the odd gig here and there. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/35 "2010-01-07T01:24:22Z")
I am a pretty fair photographer. I once had a magazine editor hunt me down so a photo of mine could be used on the cover, though it wasnt the kind of honor that paid anything. Another time a small gubment agency needed some photos and I took a few for them that ended up being used in a promotional/educational brochure, again without pay. And a couple weddings where they didnt have an official photog, or they wanted a backup in case the pro had a run of real bad luck (and I tried hard to stay well outa the way of the pro). And, in my jobs, I was on occasion the official unofficial photog for projects. But no mula has ever rolled my way ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/36 "2010-01-07T01:29:29Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Yeah, and since you mentioned all of those specifics in your original post, shame on me. And yeah, I _just_ make PowerPoint slides. :rolleyes: I never said you “just make PowerPoint slides”. You implied that what I do as a game designer is about as creative as making PowerPoint slides, which is kind of … you know … insulting. Particularly since it’s apparent you didn’t have any idea of what a game designer actually does. It’s kind of like being the director of a movie. (Or, in my case these days, being a script doctor.) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/37 "2010-01-07T01:30:25Z")
I’m in a band. Well, anybody in a band with a gig gets paid one way or another, but this is so common as to be utterly unremarkable. We have an album out and we get (laughable small) royalties for that, also not terribly remarkable. Jeez, I should rename my band Eeyore or something… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/38 "2010-01-07T01:32:49Z")
Does commercial art count? If so, indeed; I make my living off it. It can be quite lucrative. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/39 "2010-01-07T01:35:47Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I worked for several years as a professional singer, and I still get paid for the odd gig here and there. I’m an amateur baritone, and I’ve gotten paid a couple of times for soloing with choruses. Hundred, hundred and fifty or so, two or three times. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956/40 "2010-01-07T01:39:21Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I never said you “just make PowerPoint slides”. > > You implied that what I do as a game designer is about as creative as making PowerPoint slides, which is kind of … you know … insulting. Particularly since it’s apparent you didn’t have any idea of what a game designer actually does. > > It’s kind of like being the director of a movie. (Or, in my case these days, being a script doctor.) Actually, if you read it again, I was saying that I don’t consider software development art, as stated in my OP, and was making a joke at my own expense, not yours. PPT = mass appeal = Kinkade. And I’m a developer for PowerPoint, not an end user. Your implication that what I do in any way equates to “making PowerPoint slides” is equally insulting. In other words, for me to have implied that your work is akin to making PowerPoint slides is the worst kind of insult I could have paid…to myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-been-paid-for-your-art/523956.md?page=3)