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I had an agent who asked me to do this. It was bad all around. She also rarely found work that was suitable to my style. It was not a good fit. No agent is better than one who does not represent you well, or who does not have your best interests in mind.

TJ and Edd,

I am in the process now of finding an art rep to help me AVOID these very types of job offers.

From what I understand agents are to not only help you get work, but to also help filter out the crap job offers that you get from clients not familiar with the art business. Largely this is because dealing with these types of clients can be a huge waste of time, talent, resources and income. Not just for the artist but for the rep as well.

I’m looking for an agent to get me connected to legitimate profesionals who understand the amount of work that goes into what I and others like me do. Clients that I may lack the resources to find myself. I can get solicitations from clients asking for spec work all on my own. (And have been for a while now!)So an agent sending me those types of jobs would feel like a waste of time and that new representation may be needed.

Now my question to you TJ is, should we as artists ask for a way to get out of our contracts written into them. Maybe a 90 day probationary period that we can use to get out of it. An artist recently told me that he has had a rep for over a year who hasn’t gotten him a single job. If his contract says that the representation is exclusive, he has no way to seek representation with someone else. And he’s stuck! Is there a way for an artist to protect themselves from these types of things?

-Wilson

I had the same thing with my first agent. They seemed surprised when I asked them if it was normal practise. They used the reasoning that even if you didn’t get the job you would have produced new portfolio pieces… but then often sent me jobs that were really wrong for me (black & white line drawings of David Beckham?!) so they were things that I would never want in my portfolio anyway.

Wilson,
Your contract with an agent is just as important as the one you have with your clients. Any time you sign something that affects the way you do business, you have to make sure that the benefits are greater than the cost. So, the first step is signing the right contract.

Without knowing about your friend’s specific contract, I can’t tell you what is allowed for him to do, but I will say that if something isn’t working for you or your business, you can always look into the possibility of moving away from it.

Thomas

I have a different perspective than most of you on spec work I guess. Most of my art experience in the past 30 years has been as an advertising designer. My first job was for an award winning ad agency in a major city. I moved on to owning a design business where I worked directly with the clients. I showed my portfolio to prospective clients. I expected that they would hire me based on my previous work and the samples in my portfolio. I did not do spec work for advertising/design.
Then I started working for a manufacturer that hires licensed art work for all their products. It is an industry standard to submit your design work in digital form or printouts in a 3-ring binder. The manufacturer will choose work from those images for specific use. If they like something you have done they might ask you to do more of the same style. If you want a chance at the job then you do the spec work. I am also a licensed artist and have an agent, I have done tons of spec work, and have gotten a lot of jobs by doing this. Working directly with manufacturers is a different industry than being a children’s book illustrator, or an advertising designer. Spec work is an industry standard. I have worked on both sides of the manufacturing and licensing work for 11 years and have come to accept this practice as part of the industry. It is true that I have been asked to submit design for a project that ultimately weren’t chosen, but I have later sold the same images to someone else. So was it time wasted? I guess this is a question that we all get to answer for ourselves. Thanks for letting me voice my opinion. Best to all of you in your artistic ventures!