> What would be a great scenario is having fellow students contribute art for the sake of putting it on a portfolio, and, in the case of larger side-projects, I

> What would be a great scenario is having fellow students contribute art for the sake of putting it on a portfolio, and, in the case of larger side-projects, I could offer % stake in the project [...] Ask yourself whether you'd want to/be able to work on these conditions. A portfolio does not pay for your food today, neither does a stake in a project. What worked for me: Get some money to pay immediately (say $500) for a very limited graphics job. YOU put in the time to define precisely what you need; you PAY the artist for that. Figure out whether there is something you could do for the artist instead of a proper payment (e.g.: hosting his/her website for 5 years, including domain costs; scripting his contact form etc). And it really helps to have the artist nearby - if you meet in person you will save both of you a lot of time when it comes to fleshing out the details.