It's no secret that a lot of freelance artists are grossly underpaid for their artwork most of the time. It is especially baffling when the client who negotiated the price actually earned billions in 2021. Fortnite, developed by Epic Games, offered an artist $3000 for an illustration, including copyright. The artist, Deb JJ Lee, turned down the offer, saying that it didn't feel ethical.
I think it’s hilarious that Fortnite, which earned $6b in revenue in 2021, asked me to do an entire illustration with all copyright for $3k
— Deb JJ Lee (they) (@jdebbiel) December 2, 2022
The Side of the Artist
Artists take days, if not weeks, to finish a full-scale illustration. Fortnite not only asked for an art piece but the copyright as well. That simply means that the artist can no longer repost or profit from their work. Deb JJ Lee stated that the WFH (work from home) project would not only be time-consuming but will also barely leave them with a living wage.
Deb JJ Lee broke down the financial implications of the sale. They mentioned the cost of living, including the $700 monthly health insurance, the share of the company they work for, and tax. After deducting, the $3000 fee will eventually shrink to roughly $1400. The artist's yearly earnings with the same payout every two weeks would be $36,000, all while $51,000 was barely enough to survive where they lived.
The artist told Kotaku that it was for the commitment to "the well-being of other freelance artists." Considering the earnings of the game, the compensation for an artist seems to be a little short. Deb JJ Lee's situation has encouraged other artists to speak up about their own experiences with clients' proposed rates that were downright unfair.
The illustrator believed that the bare minimum rate should have been $15,000, which they deduced from their experience with Wells Fargo, a financial services company. In her tweet, she mentioned that some artists even estimated that the payout should be $50,000 to $100,000 due to the company's value, and the fact that they were purchasing the copyright.
Why The Company Could've Paid More
Since Fortnite will own the copyright, they can do with it whatever they please. They can pull in profits using the artwork, use it for ads, merchandise, or even a billboard, as the artist mentioned. The legal freedom that the purchase would grant the company can generate exponentially more than three grand.
Deb JJ Lee even did the math, saying that $100,000 would be 0.0016% of Fornite's $6 billion earnings. The game's art director noted that in a year, they display around 50-75 loading screen illustrations. The artist pointed out that the cost would still be below one percent. Considering that the loading screen is also a part of the game's design, $3000 is far from adequate.
The company justified the price, saying that it was already fixed because they did not have the manpower to negotiate each transaction. That can easily be amended. If the issue is the lack of staff to negotiate terms of payment, then perhaps they should raise it for all the artists they hire, just for the sake of fairness and what the artists deserve.
