I spoke to an Italian man at a Bristol Comic Expo (2010?) who was shocked that creators were asking £10 or £20 for a sketch. "I've never come across this in Europe" he told me -and he'd know as he produced a lovely hard cover book (very limited and NOT for sale) he had published of all the sketches he had gotten. He actually gave me a copy because I TALKED to him. He wasn't fluent in English (I know no Italian -other than "Figurini non depinti") and everyone had ignored him or fobbed him off to someone else. THAT was feckin disgraceful. The book is lovely.
Anyway, even some "non names" are asking for money for sketches (some for charity which is good) BUT you are asking people who basically keep you in work to pay for (in some cases) a VERY rough sketch.
Okay, the convention organisers pay for the big guests but I've seen people complain that artists ask $20 or so for a sketch and they get really nasty and bitter and use terms such as "money grabbing scum", etc., etc.. but let's look at how it works.
I've seen Neal Adams and others asked to sign five copies of a book -"for friends" which is okay. People do that but you then get "can you sign this poster, too? Oh and a quick Deadman sketch!" An artist can deal with a couple hundred fans each day at a show and the "excessive ones" may number 5-7. So its a lot of sketching/signing.
Now I've heard and spoken to artists who point out that (1) they use up a lot of paper and ink doing these things -but a lot get free sketch sheets and markers so ...meh. (2) These events and sketch cash are extras because they need to pay bills like everyone else and unlike regularly employed people they have to pay for health care. Fair point but in the UK we have the NHS which is free. (3) Now this one I do understand. I have seen people joke about this on forums when I used to go on them. It was quite a big 'joke' in fact. These 'ardent fans' would ask for 4-5 comics or poster to be signed and the same or next day they were up on ebay for $50 each...and a LOT higher. One actually 'joked' to me that he was keeping hold of his multiple signed copies until the creator involved "croaks it -then I can clean up on ebay!" In some cases there were people running comic shops who paid $20 on a Saturday for a sketch and got books signed and put them up for sale in their stores on Monday at $60-$100.
Yes, I still think a free sketch is okay for a fan(s) but bitter artists (and writers) can see thousands of dollars being leeched from sketches and though it might not affect the bank balance of the big stars, it does those who really have to struggle to balance their accounts.
It is very, very much like an episode in the BBC TV comedy series "Inside Number 9" where a celebrity dies and everyone begins to immediately start working how much they could get for a balloon in the collectors market -the celebrity was blowing his "last breath" into the balloon when he died.
When Jean-Michel Charlier the writer of the Blueberry series died in 1990(?) prices for his books suddenly rose and traders even used the sales pitch -"he died recently". The same with Kirby and Moebius. Recently I walked past a shop specialising in autographs and memorabilia. In their window, in pride of place and on black board and frame (very tasteful) was an autographed photo of James Garner who had died two days before (the photo was now at a MUCH higher price than before).
Is it wrong to charge for a sketch in an industry (as we'll call it here) that really does not give a shit when a creator is ill, hospitalised or really, really needs the help of his 'community' of fans and colleagues?
I think it is up to who ever the creator/artist is.
On a more humorous note...someone introduced me to a friend at the 2010 comic expo. Before I had even said "hello" the, uh, comic fan spouted out: "You're a comic artist, right? Draw Batman for me!" uh, no "please"? Anyway, I pointed out that I did not work for DC Comics, had never worked on Batman and at that time had no interest in the character. I did point out there was an artist who worked at DC (I forget his name) two tables away and he had drawn Batman in a comic. "But he charges!" I was told. Conversation sort of died there.....
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