In most successful animated series, comical illustrations, manga’s, there are moments when the directors take a pause from the motif of a program and fill the daily discussion with, what we came to know as “Fillers.”

I could not stand fillers when I was growing up.

Feeling the programs where only 30 mins long, took forever to lead a story, and some of the best shows never had a plot anyway. What need was there of dragging on the program? I personally believed in keeping the story flowing.

Then I got older and have come to find, “fillers,” are good to keep the artists motivated to work at all. When one is made to draw the same thing repeatedly, I suppose it becomes stale.

Well to fill your need with something besides ink, politics, and my own personal feelings about life, for a moment I wanted to talk to you about, “The Occupation of an Artist & The Expectation of Compensation,” per-request and the disenchantment that occurs when monies for one’s talent is not forthcoming.

 To begin this “filler,” I must explain why my insistence upon compensation for this:

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/adventvoice/love-letter-s-from-adric

 (project) made me feel like a shmuck.

The original idea was derived by a teenage Dr. Who fan who at the age of fourteen has an interesting crush on Adric. Wanting to see him in a cowboy hat, she happened upon my productions and thinking well of my talents, asked me to draw Adric in this manner.

I did not have a problem, fulfilling this child’s desires. I secretly enjoyed the thought that I could in some way be the hand that encouraged a fourteen-year-old girl to build a shrine of over charged, sexually energized, sensations around my handywork.

 Then I thought more about it and rationed that this crush she has with Adric is priceless. I began to wonder how I would have felt if I asked someone to draw Kandice Zimbleman @BlackUniGryphon for me because I happen to have a crush on her and then they charge me, and my allowance is dependent upon my parents, who are not going to fund my “guilty pleasure.” Or what I am able to collect out of my neighbors in the cul-da-sac.

At fourteen it is hard to imagine finding the cash to supply my need for a moment of fancy that no one but myself appreciates.

After feeling this empathetic moment, I quickly remember how I am the “starving artist,” and if I agree to an arrangement, request or commission, no matter how small the task their should be some form of compensation.

I felt I was being fair when I asked, her to appraise my effort and pay me as she see’s fit.

 That way a “request,” for art remains professional and not a mere trade of data.

So then I have to worry about the people that say, “She can just print it and not pay you: thanks to the internet she can always steal.” My response would have to be, “I am sure many have stolen from me, does not change the fact that I have given them something they felt was worth stealing.”

My name is on it. I feel a certain amount of pride in the idea of being or becoming infamous for the ideas of art I am able to pass on.

Remember, this century is nearly over the 22 century is coming and I want to be one of the voices to lead it. Keeping this in mind I hold onto the words of dear friends, “You need money-lots of it- to make a dent into the future.”

Part of me hates the thought that the crush of a fourteen year old can in some way be marketed to aid what ever dream I hold dear.

It’s really sad.

I did not even want to touch the project. Then their was a side of me that wanted to be able to say, “I can do anything a person askes of me with my pen.”   

To me that is always something worth paying for.