freelancing Tag

15 Jan

Posted at 00:00h in Art & Business

I'm under the gun with some projects, so no time to write a blog post. But don't go away empty handed! Here's three blogs loaded with great info on freelancing: Freelance Switch Freelance Folder Wake Up Later In some cases their content is geared towards other types of freelancing besides illustration (i.e. freelance writing, freelance web design, etc.) but much if it can still...

10 Jan

Posted at 00:00h in Art & Business, Uncategorized
Yesterday I listed some of the "Con's" of freelancing. Please read that first if you haven't already. Now that that's out of the way I want to focus on some of the "Pro's", the terrific and exciting aspects of freelancing which, in my opinion, far outweigh the negatives and make the whole adventure worthwhile. If they didn't, I wouldn't have stuck at it for ten years and counting: Pro #1: You are your own boss. You decide when to work and when to take a break. You decide which projects you will work on. You negotiate the deadlines. There are no superiors to report to (just make sure your clients are happy). No boring meetings. No annoying co-workers. You enjoy a great deal of freedom compared to your cubicle-bound counterparts. You can buy groceries at 10 am when there is no traffic and no lines at the checkout. You run your own show! I can't think of a career choice that offers you more personal freedom.

09 Jan

Posted at 00:00h in Art & Business
Recently I wrote a two-part post entitled "How To Bid Out A Project" (Part 1 and Part 2). One of the first things I mentioned was that, to cover expenses, a freelancer needs to charge much more per hour than he/she would normally make as a salaried employee. There has been some discussion of my article on another website, and someone apparently misunderstood my comments to mean that freelancing is a great way to get rich quick. I can assure you, it is not. That got me thinking, there are probably a lot of misconceptions about freelancing out there. So I've decided to list a few of the pro's and con's of freelancing, straight from the horses mouth. I've been freelancing for over ten years, so I know of what I speak. I don't want to start positive and then end on a negative note, so I'll cover the "con's" first. Tomorrow I'll touch on some of the "pro's". If this post is a bit of a downer to read, I don't mean it to be. I enjoy freelancing very much! In my view the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. But I want to paint a fair and honest picture for anyone who may be considering freelancing as a career.

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.