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.

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.

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
Rock of Ages
Jesus is the Lover of My Soul
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
Immortal, Invisible
Nearer, My God, to Thee
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?
Lead Kindly, Light

Download entire album (35.5 MB zip file containing mp3s)

Ben + Vesper at IAM Encounter at Cooper Union

Ben + Vesper Illustration by Stephen Crotts

We started the tour on Saturday night in NYC at the IAM Encounter conference at Cooper Union. What a fabulous night–we played on the same stage where Abraham Lincoln spoke. It was a beautiful room, and beautiful audience, and there were big projections of us on either side. Crazy. We had Tim Cronin joining us on trumpet, and he played marvelously. We wish he could come on tour with us! He did play with us in Brooklyn, and he may join us at SXSW (fingers crossed!) Also, one highlight of the evening was this portrait that Stephen Crotts drew of us! Thanks, Stephen!

Ben + Vesper at Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia.

Sunday night was our first night playing with Danielson and Ortolan, and it was Ortolan’s CD release for Time on a String. The stage is tight, but it was nice and intimate after the huge stage at Cooper. We had a great and enthusiastic crowd.

Ben + Vesper LuvInIdleness CD release at Knitting Factory, Brooklyn

Monday night was our CD release at the new Knitting Factory space in Brooklyn. It’s a great space and it was wonderful to see many of our friends there. We released our new EP, LuvInIdleness, which was produced by our dear friend Sufjan Stevens. You can pick up a copy of Luv and our other releases on SoundsFamilyre.com. Justin Catania delivered our hand-printed woodblock prints, too. Oh. My. Gosh.

And so, after a day off, we found ourselves last night in the back back seat of Daniel Smith’s tour van, Danielson uniform hanging beside me, watching the Hartz trailer bounce along behind us. It was a little surreal. For Ben, especially, it was a dream come true. We’ve really had so much fun playing with Danielson. It was incredible of him to ask us to play, and we’re really trying to live up to the honor…and the challenge. So let’s see…Ottobar in Baltimore…well, it was a show. But we got this great picture:

Ben + Vesper and the Danielson Trailer

And with that, it’s on to Chapel Hill. See you at Local 506 tonight!

To see examples of my work, visit http://www.vespersongs.com and click on “Portfolio” (or look at the backgrounds). Remember, this is black and white work.

Thanks–and see you on tour! Visit http://www.soundsfamilyre.com for tour dates.

Luv,
B+V

Skew Sock by Lana Holden

It’s toooo bad I’m totally burnt out of making socks. But if YOU like that kind of torture, you should knit this one! Wonderful artistry, Lana Holden!