Being a creative nowadays is pretty good compared to the old days. The demand remains high for creative work as more and more brands are born and look for ways to present themselves, and new technology not only means that new creative techniques are developed, but also that it's much easier to network and let your talents be known to the world.
Instagram, Vimeo and Behance are all handy platforms for artists to showcase their work and let others find them for commissions and job opportunities. But using a social media platform to promote your work also has its downsides. Yes, you can get incredibly popular and attract hundreds of thousands of followers, but not all of them have your best interests at heart.
Illustrator Jon Arton from England draws incredibly detailed portraits, and he's recently shared some of the hilarious DMs he gets from fans. With his painstakingly complex depictions of people - more often than not drawn only with a ballpoint pen - it's not hard to see why he's got almost 100,000 followers. Just take a look at these:
Ice Cube: Conor McGregor: Bill Murray:They clearly don't look like they only take a few minutes, right? Well, that doesn't stop people from messaging Jon asking to draw them for free. For whatever reason, a lot of people think Jon would happily spend tens of hours drawing depictions of strangers simply because they asked him to. Do they think about whether those hours take away from an actual paid job? Or something else that could be helping him pay rent, buy groceries, enjoy life, etc.?
No. Because some people are either really daft, or they think so highly of themselves that Jon would just do it for free anyway.
But rather than getting annoyed or bitter about it, Jon found a way to hilariously teach these people a lesson. Responding to their requests for a free portrait, Jon usually obliges and plays along with it, telling them it will take a few days. However, the image he hands over in the end is not quite what they expected...
Here, take a look for yourself (and don't forget to scroll across):
In a sarcastic caption, Jon wrote about how "every now and again" he tries to do free drawings:
"I really appreciate all of you for following, liking and commenting on my Instagram. It really means a lot to me so when I can, I like to show my appreciation by accepting some of your wonderful free drawing requests in my inbox.
"As a full time artist who relies on selling art to survive, these requests come as a real treat and it means a lot to me to be given the opportunity to put the years of practice, time and the expensive materials into a free drawing of your face for yourself."
Here are some others (again, scroll across for more hilarious examples):
The girl who said she's "not like everyone else" really takes the cake in my opinion.
As Jon mentions, commissions start at around £150 ($200) per portrait. Maybe try and save up before messaging him next time guys, alright?
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