(Artwork copyright © Joe Bluhm. All rights reserved.) (Artwork copyright © Jason Seiler. All rights reserved.) I love a good caricature. Some artists have an innate ability to really sqaush and stretch a person’s features while still retaining a dead-on likeness. Personally my brain doesn’t work that way. My attempts at caricature are mediocre at […]

I originally posted this on my blog back in August. However, my blog traffic has increased five-fold since then and I’m guessing most of you haven’t seen it. So, an encore… For a freelancer, a website is an essential marketing tool. It proudly displays your work to potential clients 24/7. It trumpets your accomplishments to […]

Hey kids! Today’s phrase is “Spec work”. In the creative industries (advertising, publishing, film making, etc.) doing a project “on spec” means “work done on speculation”, in other words doing work for free in the hopes that you’ll get paid later once the project “takes off”. Young artists just starting out are especially vulnerable to […]

I love a good book. My wife and I have five large bookcases filled with books and four more boxes of books in a hall closet. A surprising number of them we’ve actually read. But life gets busy and I’ve got less time to read than ever. Thankfully, there are audiobooks I can download and […]

Some freelance projects have tight deadlines. Others move at a slower pace. Way back in Spring of 2005 I was contacted by a publisher to illustrate a series of children’s books designed to help kids understand various Christian concepts. Since there was no real rush our understanding was that I could set it aside to […]

After reading my recent two-part post entitled “How To Bid Out A Project” (Part 1 and Part 2), artist Mike Dashow emailed me with a question. He writes: I really enjoyed your blog post on bidding out a project….Once you have spoken with a client about needs, time-line, rights for image reuse, etcetera, you generally […]