People don’t like talking about money. While it’s something we all inevitably need to live, knowing your worth in the context of the world of work is largely viewed as a murky topic that makes many of us clam up. The creative industries is no exception to this, having historically relied on the idea that creatives should be grateful to be doing something they enjoy, rather than be appropriately paid. This lack of transparency has a knock-on effect when it comes to figuring out what you should be earning, particularly early on in a creative career.

As Jelly’s joint MD and global head of artist management, Nicki Field has witnessed the money dilemmas that many illustrators, animators and other commercial artists go through first hand. While she acknowledges that there are more financial resources available for creatives than there used to be, she suggests that it’s becoming increasingly challenging for those who aren’t in the know to get paid fairly.

“I feel like as the cash has fallen out of the industry, there’s a prevailing sense of a race to the bottom and the value hasn’t upheld,” she says. “Because creativity at large is so undervalued, I believe as a community we have a responsibility to share that information and knowledge more widely so that people can have more access to the tools that they need to learn how to value themselves correctly, because it’s just a Wild West. The antidote to that is transparency and visibility on realistic fees.”