What Is “Much”, Really?

About a year after I graduated, a potential client contacted me after finding a sample of my work on my school’s website.

Client: “Hi. I’m looking for an artist who can illustrate a couple of children’s books for me. I saw your work in the online graduate gallery and really liked it! I already have the characters created and everything, so it shouldn’t be much work.”

Me: “While I am currently open for commissions, I am working full-time and have a few other side projects going on. Would you be able to give me more information on the project, as well as your budget and schedule?”

Client: “Sure. There isn’t much work to do! All I want is for seventy-five books to be made, each with ten full pages of illustrations. And we need them ready for print in three months. I’ve attached images of our characters so you have an idea of what we’re looking for. For payment, you’ll have to ask my Project Director.”

I had no idea who the Project Director was. The client had attached eight scanned images of various crudely-drawn characters colored with pencil crayons. 

Me: “I noticed that you have a very short schedule for this project. It is not possible for me to create 750 full-page illustrations in three months while working full-time. The best I can offer you is to complete one book every two weeks, at my base rate of 35$ an hour.”

Client: “Ahaha, that’s funny. We want the seventy-five books done in three months, not two years! [Winking Emoji] Also, we would rather just pay you a flat rate for the whole project. How does 250$ sound?”

I didn’t end up working with this client.