Live Tweeting From The Creative Freelancer Conference

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Wed.-Fri. of this week (Aug. 26-28) I’ll be in San Diego attending the second annual Creative Freelancer Conference. The conference organizers are encouraging attendees to tweet live from the conference using the hashtag #CFConf. I plan to do a bit of tweeting but mostly I’ll be furiously taking notes during the presentations. I’m sure other attendees will be tweeting as well, some with great frequency. Just do a Twitter search for “#CFConf” to keep up on everyone’s latest tweets from the conference.

Incidentally, if you want to follow me on Twitter my username is “cedrichohnstadt“.

Creative Freelancer Conference

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I’ll be in San Diego Wed.-Fri. (Aug. 26-28) for the second annual Creative Freelancer Conference (sponsored by HOW Magazine and Marketing Mentor). I attended last year’s conference and got a lot out of it. Even though I’ve been freelancing for well over a decade I picked up quite a few tips and tricks for how to run my business better, and came away inspired to take my career to the next level. The seminars and workshops look to be just as helpful this year, if not more so.

Topics to be covered include:

  • What Will Your Freelance Business Be When It Grows Up? (Petrula Vrontikis)
  • Money-Saving Tax Solutions for Creatives (June Walker)
  • The Essential Rules for Writing and Presenting Proposals (Peleg Top)
  • Effective Presentations for Creative Solopreneurs (Darryl Salerno)
  • Dealing With Nightmare Clients (Michelle Goodman)
  • The Astoundingly Simple Secrets to Making Social Media Work For You (Colleen Wainwright)
  • Freelance Success Panel (moderated by Ilise Benun)
  • Speaker Panel Q&A (moderated by Ilise Benun)
  • Create or Die: Thriving in the Create-On-Demand World (Todd Henry)
  • Workshop: Hands-On Marketing Lab (Ilise Benun)
  • Workshop: The Price Is Right (Lee Silber & Peleg Top)

If you make your living freelancing or are thinking about freelancing as a career, it would be well-worth your time and money to attend. According to the conference website there’s still time to register if you are one of those last-minute types. Hope to see you there!

This and That

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Things are really hopping here at the studio. I’ve recently finished up a packaging illustration and a toy design. I’m currently working on another toy design, three packaging illustrations (each for a different client), character designs for an animated feature film, and soon I may also be designing characters for an episode of another animated series. I’ve also been invited to speak at a conference later this year (more on that later) and I’m still working on finalizing the new mobile version of my website.

I’ll be leaving for a much-needed vacation starting tomorrow morning, but here’s a couple of quick links to keep this blog a-hummin’:

How To Get (And Leverage) Glowing Testimonials – another great post from the folks at freelanceswitch.com.

Twitter Toons – This is actually two items for my fellow Twitter users. First, editorial cartoonist Darryl Cagle has posted a collection of editorial cartoons about Twitter. Second, illustrator Bob Ostrom takes part in a neat feature called Twitter Toons. Every day a new topic is posted, and artists are encouraged to post a doodle about that topic and then tweet about it with the label “#Ttoon”. More info here.

Also, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: cedrichohnstadt

Sorry for the short post. Gotta get some rest so I can take off nice and early tomorrow morning. Don’t want a minute of my R&R to go to waste. Hopefully I’ll come back with some fun sketches to post. (I’ll be back in the studio on Tuesday, July 21).

Mobile Version of CedricStudio.com (Work In Progress)

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Illustrator Dani Jones has posted a great litlte tutorial with instructions on how to optimize your portfolio website for the iPhone. Her article really got me thinking. As more and more people are surfing the web with their smart phones, it seems innevitable that sooner or later a potential client is going to try viewing my website on a tiny 3-inch screen.

I’m a gadget geek so the prospect excites me and terrifies me at the same time. Art buyers can view my work on their phones–how cool is that? But there’s a problem. My website is several years old and when I tried browsing it on my iPhone the experience was more than a little klunky. In fact, it stunk. I’d be very surprised if a busy art-director-on-the-go would spend much time pinching and panning and opening new windows to try and navigate my site with his/her mobile device. More than likely they would just move on to the next prospect.

Granted not very many of my potential cleints are browsing for talent on their smart phones. But it seems likely to me that a few of them are. I do most of my advertising via email blasts so it seems at least plausible, if not probable, that a busy art buyer somewhere might read my latest email and then click through to my site while riding the subway or grabbing a bagel at the coffee shop. When they do I want to make it as easy as possible for them to get excited about my work. The last thing I want is for my website to get in the way.

I’ve been meaning to completely redesign my website for years but the task is so overwhelming I keep putting it off. Thanks to Dani’s tutorial, creating a simple iPhone version of my website seemed much more manageable. So I spent a few hours this evening banging one out. It’s still a rough draft and needs a little visual kick, but it’s a huuuuuuge improvement over what my old website looks like with an iPhone.

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Now I’d like to ask you, my blog readers, for a little help. If you have a smartphone, would you please take a minute to visit www.cedricstudio.com and let me know what you think? If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch you should be automatically redirected to the mobile version of my site (the one with the aqua-colored background). I’m not sure what happens if you have a Blackberry, a Pre, or some other non-iPhone device, but if that’s you please leave a comment below and let me know what happens. I’d be very grateful.

If the redirecting doesn’t work, you can visit the mobile version directly at mobile.cedricstudio.com.

Also, since this is a “first draft” of the mobile site I’d love to hear any comments/suggestions on how I could make it better. Is the solid color background too plain? Does it need something extra? I pretty much borrowed Dani’s general layout and just tweaked it but will eventually do more to make it my own. Any feedback you can give me (positive or negative) would be very much appreciated.

This and That

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When it rains it pours! For the last couple of weeks I’ve been juggling several client projects at various stages of completion. I’ve recently finished a marker comp, an illustration for a print ad, and some storyboards for a TV commercial pitch. I’m currently working on a toy design, packaging illustrations for three different clients, and character designs for two animation projects. If all goes well soon I’ll also be co-supervising my first short film! More on that later.

Needless to say I’m barely keeping up with my email much less this blog. But I haven’t forgotten you, my faithful readers. I’m hoping to write some new content soon. In the mean time, here’s a few quick links I hope you will find interesting:

Top 5 Powerhouse Marketing Secrets for Freelancers – Another great article from FreelanceSwitch.com.

100 Awesome Blogs For Your Business Education – Freelancing is as much about business as it is about art. Here’s a list of blogs that are all about helping you be a better business person.

What’s So Great About Twitter? – A nice little article summarizing the practical (and helpful) ways people are using Twitter. The next time someone asks me why they should get a Twitter account I’m going to send them to this article.

Jason Seiler Sketching DVD – This looks pretty cool. Award-winning illustrator and caricaturist Jason Seiler has just produced a DVD in which he shares many of his tips and techniques. Check out the trailer here:

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZCFPB-mps]

My New Facebook Page

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I’ve had a Facebook account for a while now and have found it to be a terrific way to stay in touch with friends, clients, and other artists. It’s also a great way to meet new people and make stronger connections in the industry. While there’s no substitute for personal one-on-one relationships, Facebook makes it possible for me to stay connected to more people in more ways than I could ever do offline.

As great as Facebook is, there’s one drawback: It’s too easy for my personal and professional life to get blurred. All of my connections are lumped into one big network. My family photos and personal comments to friends are mixed in with blog updates and news about my business. In some ways that’s a good thing. Certain clients and colleagues may appreciate getting to know me on a more personal level. But I have a strong suspicion that others could care less about my personal hobbies or what happened on my vacation. From a marketing standpoint I walk a tricky line on Facebook. Often when I post something personal I catch myself asking, “How might this make me look to a potential client?” Whether that’s a good thing for me to worry about or not is another subject, but it’s one of the realities of being a small business owner in the age of social networking.

So I’m trying an experiment. Facebook has a feature called “Pages” that lets you create a page devoted solely to your business. Large companies like Coca-Cola and Disney use them in an attempt to create a community around their brand and to connect with their customers. But thousands of small business owners also use them to have a more professional presence on Facebook while building a more personal connection with thier clients.

So I’ve created a Facebook page for my illustration business to see if I can’t take better advantage of what Facebook has to offer. For starters the page has samples from my portfolio, my latest blog posts, and a couple of links I’ve found interesting. I’m planning to post news, my latest work, and links I think potential clients or other colleagues will enjoy or find helpful. I’ll also be running a fun contest soon (both here and on the Facebook page) so stay tuned for that. To follow my Facebook page just click on the “Become a Fan” link under my photo.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly where the dividing line will be between my personal and professiona life on Facebook, but I’m having a Page devoted solely to my freelance business should go a long way towards helping me make the best of both worlds.

Any thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment below.