Letters

Editors vs. Artists, and the Struggle for Creative Freedom

Steve Friedman’s feature, “Dangerous Liaisons,” on the inherent struggle between the priorities of editorial art directors and their editors [Magazine Report, Oct. 23] failed to mention the real victims of that struggle: freelance photographers and illustrators who are forced to create imagery for those publications that both parties will approve.

Creative freedom is the primary reason most self-respecting, successful artists even consider doing editorial work. Historically, that freedom combined with quick payment terms and the exposure generated by the publications helped offset the low fees that editorial clients paid for imagery.

Now the dichotomy between art directors’ and editors’ diverging interests often results in visual solutions that show the effects of too many masters—creative processes that bleed the life out of the artist, defeating the creative purpose of doing editorial in the first place.