One of my clients is DecoPac, Inc., a company that specializes in novelty birthday cakes. Most of my work for them involves licensed characters from Disney, DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, etc. but every once in a while they hire me to work up an original cake concept. In this case they wanted to create a jumbo "Happy Birthday" cake design. This would...
One of the best-kept secrets in the freelancing community is the HOW Creative Freelancer Conference. I've attended it several times and always come away with my head swimming with new thoughts, ideas, and advice on how to work smarter, treat my clients better, and as a result boost my income. It's not an exaggeration to say my income has gone...
As I write this, independent creatives from all over the country are gathered in San Francisco for the Creative Freelancer Conference, which is part of a larger event known as HOW Design Live. I've attended several times and it's always been worth my while. I've learned a great deal, made some valuable connections, picked up lots of tips for working...
I'm working on a Kickstarter project that I'm planning to launch soon. I don't want to say too much about it yet, but it will be a tool designed to help other artists strengthen their poses and put more life into their drawings. One of the exercises related to the project is to take a mood or an expression and explore...
One of my regular clients is Goldfish Swim Schools. A little over a year ago they hired me to design a mascot for their company, named Bubbles the Goldfish. Recently they asked me to do a couple of jumbo window clings of Bubbles to hang in their facilities. They wanted something fun that kids could stand next to and have...
I've decided to dip my toe in the water at Kickstarter and back my first project. A gent named Jason Tagmire has come up with a creative idea called Storyteller Cards, a fun, versatile game designed to encourage creative storytelling. Campbell Whyte is the illustrator and he seems to be doing a pretty great job. They are 90% of the...
