Artist clapped back at 'customer' who offered her $3 for a project.

It’s not news that artists online are severely underpaid. With people often asking people to work for free or for ‘exposure’, artists are always having to fight for fair valuation of their work. One such incident happened to artist Kazel Lim.

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A professional painter from Malaysia, Kazel was approached by a user who wanted her to draw a picture for his girlfriend. Kazel later uploaded the exchange on her social media.

The chat roughly translates as follows;

Entitled User (EU): “I’m looking for someone who paints, my girlfriend’s birthday is coming up, I want to surprise her.”

Kazel: “Hello, what kind of painting would it be?”

EU: “A picture from our trip.”

K: “OK, could you give me a photo?”

EU: “There are many on my Facebook, you can choose it yourself.”

K: “Good, but maybe you have a preference.”

EU: “It’s a lot of trouble to choose. How do you choose the size of it?”

K: “It depends on the photo or you can specify it. Most people pick A4 or A5 because it’s easier to match the frame.”

EU: “I don’t know, you can choose the biggest one, but it can’t be too expensive, I don’t have a lot of money and I also will have to give her other gifts.”

K: “Sorry, the prices depend on the size, the larger the canvas and the amount of color used, the higher the price will be.”

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The chat then continues as he tries to ‘negotiate’ the price.

EU: “I want the biggest one, and the photo can be of us from our trip by the sea. At the beach, under the sun, you can find it yourself, I won’t pick it today.”

The shocking thing is that he wasn’t even bothered to choose the picture himself. Kazel was expected to do it for him.

K: “I think customers with a budget should choose a small size, it’s delicate and economical. The painting process usually takes up to several days, so I don’t want to choose it myself.”

Kazel kept trying to bring the guy on track.

EU: “I can name the amount, you could choose it for me.”

K: |How big is your budget, please? I could you help pick it.”

EU: “Initially it was 10 yuan, but I could add 10 more. I want a bigger one.”

How generous of him. No wonder Kazel laughed.

K: “Haha, are you serious?”

EU: “??”

K: “I cannot take this order, I’m sorry, you’ll need to find someone else.”

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By this point Kazel knew there was no point negotiating and decided to end the conversation.

The guy however continued to get upset and demanded that she make the painting.

EU: “What do you mean? Is this a joke? We talked for such a long time and now you refuse to do it. I could’ve found someone else, now you must paint it.”

K: “I can’t do it for this price, I put my time and energy + my experience into finishing something. The time spent and the money paid is proportional.”

Kazel tried to explain why but there was no point

EU: “Now what is this, you can earn some money and you give me this attitude? Most people want to earn money, you think many people need paintings? I have both your IG and your online shop links, so if you don’t paint it, I’ll leave you a bad review.”

He then started threatening her and lording his 20 yuan over her.

This is where Kazel decided to play along and gave him the perfect response.

K: “OK, it’s done, I’ll give it to you for free. Happy birthday to your girlfriend!”

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Here is the $3 masterpiece that she delivered to the 'customer'.

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In an interview with BoredPanda, she revealed that she sees behaviour like this quite often but tries to explain the value of her art with patience.

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“It does happen frequently, which is why as an artist, I try my best to communicate with them and let them slowly understand the value and effort it takes in art.”

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Kazel who is a talented and trained artist said she found the whole thing funny. “I find it funny. There are quite a lot of them who act like this, so I try not to be bothered by them and humorously reply to them. It’s important to not undervalue yourself and don’t work for free.”

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“There are a lot of them who try to undermine artists and make them draw for a cheap price. So I drew a stickman figure, which only took a few mins and was about the amount and effort he was willing to pay for.”

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She also revealed that the entitled guy blocked her after the exchange.

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Other than posting on social media, Kazel does live paintings at events. Her style is realistic with a whimsical twist.

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