Sijun Forums :: View topic - Does it pay to be a member of the Graphic Artist Guild?

Meaty Ogre · Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:06 pm

Is anyone here a member of the GAG? It's only like $120-175 per year but what do you get that really matters? Can it help you get clients? Or just some newsletter? So far almost all I've gotten from reading thier book is high expectations concerning dealing with clients.

Also, what do you all think about organizations like the iSpot? Are they worth it? Does anyone looking for artists actually go to thier site and pick people out?

Sorry if this has been discussed. Couldnt find anything in the search.

goldenavatar0 · Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:31 pm

I emailed the NY chapter several weeks ago, but I never got any response to my question, so I'd like to know the answer to this one as well.
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eyewoo · Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:54 am

Thought I's just bump this to the top to demo my interest in the question as well...

also the question about sites like iSpot. I'm pretty sure I got one job from my portfolio on artwanted.com, but not from a publisher... instead from a person who had written a children's book and had the money to pay an illustrator.
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Mon · Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:14 am

In regards to this subject, Neil Gaiman wrote in his webjournal not long ago:

"Money flows towards the writer, not away."

This applies to artists as well, and I believe it to be a good rule of thumb. The best things around are for free, be careful with the sites/organisations that want your money.
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goldenavatar0 · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:40 pm

Thanks mon, but that really doesn't answer our question. With that logic one could say a labor union isn't worth it, or a holiday club account, for that matter, but I'll shift things back a bit. Is it worthwhile an investment to be a dues paying member of the graphic artist guild?

edit: Being the lazy bum I am, I chose to hit up several other forums to get an answer to the above question as posting it up here was pretty much not going to get me any answers. Here's what I got:

Meaty Ogre · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 1:01 pm

thanks goldenavatar0.

-HoodZ- · Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2004 1:17 pm

yeah thnx golden

aphelionart · Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:48 pm

i'm not sure if it's the same thing but i heard that the "artists' union" up north has a few problems to consider first.. mainly that the work is all dealt out according to ability, so if you're not very good, you won't see much work. not only that, but you have to be voted in, and [it was implied that] the artists can be a little greedy w/their position and won't accept many people. also, it seems certain movies/projects are only available to members of the union.

or maybe we're talking about different things?

-matt

goldenavatar0 · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 3:31 am

aphelionart: I couldn't say if that union up north & the GAG are the same group. Last I heard the GAG was no longer affiliated with the International Union of United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW. You have a link or something we can work with to find out?

As far as what I've found on the GAG, it pretty much comes along as the following from the vibe I've gotten in chats and whatnot. If you can spare the dough to pay yearly dues and need the health insurance, go for it, otherwise, just use the GAG for information on industry standards. Which isn't all that much of a surprise, since my own experiences with the arts pretty much make it mandatory that you not give up the day job.
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culfinglin · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 11:05 am

joining the graphic artists' guild can be useful for a few things:

-the reduced-cost health insurance.
-the networking if you go to the meetings.
-the pricing guidelines can help you estimate a good starting point for your work and negotiate pricing with clients (there's something about seeing the current rate printed in a book that helps legitimize your price for some folks).
-the legal aid available to members for copyright issues and other art-specific topics.
-the referral service to accountants who specialize in accounting for artists.

however, no one's ever looked at my resum�, noticed i was a GAG member, and hired me to do work because of it. :)

goldenavatar0 · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2004 8:49 pm

Thanks culfinglin, but we pretty much concluded the worth of membership in the GAG around two months back. There's nothing really obviously beneficial about GAG membership that would really equate to increased employment opportunities or income for a member. Your posting only confirmed what alot of folks around had suspected about it.
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