Vespersongs, LLC Creative Services · | · Illustration and Web Design

Elance is Killing Freelancers.

Posted on 05/18/10

I joined Elance about two years ago, and while I will continue to keep my profile on it under the free membership, I no longer feel it is worth my while to use it as a freelance job search site.

Pricing
My number one complaint is that there is no realistic pricing structure. Let’s say that you are looking to hire an illustrator on Elance. You go to the site, and it asks what your budget is. Knowing little about pricing guidelines, wouldn’t you advertise that your budget is the lowest choice (“Less than $500″) in order to save yourself money? It seems that’s what about 95% of the employers on Elance do. I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen illustration jobs advertised at market rate. People, if you’ve got your nice little children’s book and your budget is $200, go ahead and toss those benjamins to your Dear Aunt Sue. But if you’re going to a “professional” (I use that word loosely) database, do a little homework. Let me break this down. A 40-page children’s book at $500 equals $12.50 a page. I’ll just tell you that my panels take days of work. I mean several 8-hour days. In the immortal words of Napoleon Dynamite, “That’s like 6 cents an hour!”

Which brings me to my next point.

Outsourcing
There are many, many people in certain countries to which corporations outsource jobs that are happy to work for 6 cents an hour. Elance ought not to allow this. It’s unethical. At the very least, there ought to be a disclaimer. I happen to know that a lot of these outsourcees make a living by copying other artists’ work. This happens every day in fashion. Secret shoppers are often designers from low-budget companies that simply copycat. That’s frequently the kind of drivel I see on many Elance portfolios.

Professionalism
Despite 12 years as an illustrator, I qualify for a “Level 1″ status on Elance. It’s because I have not participated enough to gain another level. Why, you ask? Well, frankly, I’m not going to waste my time bidding on a project if its budget is “Less than $500″. Finding work that’s a good match (especially for an analog illustrator like myself) is like a needle in a haystack anyway. It’d cost me about 48 cents to find these cheap jobs.

So in two words: NO THANKS. Or: Buh-bye.

Heading to Norway!

Posted on 05/17/10

Egersund, Norway I’m pretty excited that Ben + Vesper has been asked to play in Norway in July. We’ve got our tickets and hopefully Eyjafjallajökull will be in a good mood and let us fly across the big, scary ocean. Nice Eyjafjallajökull. That’s it. You can control your emotions, can’t you? That’s a good volcano.

I love, love, love Scandinavia and am so thankful that I’ll be there in the throes of July. I hope it’s burning hot back here at home so I can soothe myself thinking about how lucky I am to be in the fjords instead of getting New York Muck all over my face and arms. It had better not be 60 and raining at home, and 95 in Egersund, that’s all I’ve got to say.

Egersund Visefestival is one we’ve been hearing about for a long time. Ben’s got his Canon 7d and will be taking advantage of that awesome arctic light…and probably shooting some of Robyn Hitchcock’s set. Woot! Danielson and Ortolan will also be playing, and I’ll be doing a set of hymns at a church–as well as launching my brand spankin’ new solo project. I can’t wait. July 1-4 can’t come soon enough.

Free Album Download by Vesper

Posted on 03/30/10

CD Artwork by Vesper Stamper

*Note: This is a trial for a service that we’d like to offer on the Ben + Vesper site. Would you like to receive subscriber-only content from us every month? What would you be willing to pay for it on a monthly basis? Please let me know in the comments area below.

Friends,
I’d like to offer you a gift in honor of Holy Week this week (whether or not it’s something you celebrate).
For Christmas this past year, I gave a CD of hymns that I recorded very simply. I am a folkie at heart, and I love what I can only describe as “honest music”–music that just lets itself stand, that’s a little raw and roughly recorded (think of Michelle Shocked’s Texas Campfire Tapes, for example). I had wanted to do an album of hymns for a while, but my only window to do it was the day after I recovered from laryngitis, during the deep chaos of the Christmas season. I didn’t care–I liked that it was that rough. Thankfully, my friends Bekah Sankey, Aaron and Whitni Roche came and smoothed out some of the edges with the most lighthanded harmonies and second guitars imaginable. This set of 8 hymns was culled from about 50 that were very meaningful to me. I dedicated it to my grandparents–my Grampa, who is singing some of these in heaven, and my Grandma, who inspires me every day. Enjoy.

If you’d like to give a donation for the album, you can do that via PayPal.

All Glory, Laud and Honor