Author: Cedric

12 Dec

Posted at 00:00h in Uncategorized

It's crunch time on 3-2-1 Penguins!, and after several months of work it looks like this week I will finally wrap up my character designs for the last episode of the season. It's been an absolute blast, and one of the most enjoyable projects I've worked on in a long time. But also one of the most time-consuming. I didn't...

11 Dec

Posted at 00:00h in Uncategorized

If you do a lot of graphic's work with your computer, like me you can easilly sprinkle your hard drive with dozens of applications and drivers. The recent release of Leopard (Apple's new opearting system) got me wondering about all the junk on my computer and how much of it is really up to date. Obviously you want your computer to...

10 Dec

Posted at 00:00h in Uncategorized

The Christmas season is upon us. In America, as the saying goes, there's pressure to buy stuff we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like. But Christmas can also be a time of genuine, heartfelt giving to those truly in need. After all, Christmas is a day to commemorate the generous gift God gave...

07 Dec

Posted at 00:00h in Art & Business
Continuing yesterday's post on tips for pricing your freelance services.... 7. Talk about money at the very beginning. You may be tempted to put off talking about money, perhaps with hopes that the client will eventually bring it up or that you can just figure out a price when the project is over. This is a huge mistake, and very unprofessional. The sooner you can negotiate a price, the better. The worst thing you can do is keep a client guessing about what the project will cost them. Discussing the price up front will help you to appear more confident and professional, it will keep you from potentially wasting valuable time on a dead-end project, and it will help you weed out clients who have tiny budgets or who simply want to take advantage of you. Under no circumstances should you begin doing work without having first negotiated a price.

06 Dec

Posted at 00:00h in Art & Business
Recently I was approached by a potential client to illustrate a coloring book. The artist she had originally chosen had backed out, so the deadline was now very tight. Since I was already committed to several projects I wasn't available to help, but I gave her the name of a talented, up-and-coming illustrator whom I happened to know was in-between jobs. A few days later, I received an email from the illustrator asking for advice. He had started writing up ideas for each page of the coloring book, and even did a few thumbnail sketches. The client liked his work and decided to hire him, but said she could only pay $10 per page! (A laughable sum, considering it would take the artist several hours to illustrate each page. She was essentially asking a skilled professional to work on a rush job for a fraction of minimum wage.) The artist was understandably upset and asked me what he should do. I felt awful for having handed him a lemon, but decided the whole experience would make a nice springboard for a blog post. It's an extreme example, but it illustrates the difficulty many artists have (especially those just starting out) when negotiating a freelance project.