Should I Work For Free?

A friend of mine posted this on facebook, and I thought it was good enough to post over here for people who might just stumble upon my blog.  I know that as a young artist and animator a good way of getting established is by doing internships, and working on as many kinds of projects as you can to build skill sets. However I do get annoyed by people ( many of whom are not in the industry themselves) who think that art must just fall out of the sky , and expect the work they want done to be perfect, fast, and free.  I'm an artist, and I'm also a human being which means I have to put a roof over my head, food in my gut, and clothes on my back just to name a few basics. I love being an artist, and I've followed my dreams to get where I am and it's the only thing I ever really wanted to be since I was a little kid. I also deserve to be paid for my time, expertise, and insight into projects. So I wanted to share this with everyone on here who is considering what they should be paid, or indeed if at all. http://www.shouldiworkforfree.com/  

Remember if you are an artist you have value, and deserve to be paid a fair wage. Don't let people take advantage of your time, talents, and generosity. And if you aren't and artist then you should at least consider supporting living artists, after all Van Gogh doesn't have to worry about paying bills anymore, and because Hitler couldn't go to art school he ended up killing a whole lot of people.