More to life
A lot of shitty things have happened to me in 2010.
A lot.
2010′s latest gift to me (a concussion and a cracked cheekbone) caused a friend to suggest that this is the universe telling me I need to slow down.
That I’m working too much, and I need to look after myself.
I thought about this for a bit.
I actually don’t think, as far as illustrators go, I DO work that hard. Do I?
I mean, usually get up and am at my computer by 9. And I’m usually there at 6pm. 7pm. 8pm.
But I DO take breaks. I check the PO Box. I go for a walk. I go out for coffee.
I even spend some time every evening watching some DVDs or documentaries with Seth.
I mean, sure, there’s never a day I DON’T fire up the computer and at least check that no clients have sent me urgent messages. Or maybe just tweak a painting for 15 minutes or so.
And a few weeks ago, when I had a whole weekend away from my computer and work, I almost had a panic attack about it.
I know that’s not healthy, but hey, I’m an illustrator. I’m freelance.
It’s hard!!
It comes with the territory. Suck it up princess and get to work.
Still, it’s been on my mind. So today I asked Seth:
“Do you think I work too much?”
“Yes”
“I…oh. Yes? You don’t even need to think about it?”
“No. Yes. I told you that before. I keep saying you’re spending too much time at the computer.”
“But it’s where my work is!!!”
“I know.”
My initial response was to feel anger.
Don’t people understand what my job is? That I’m a freelance illustrator and designer? Don’t people know how hard that is? Don’t people know what odds I’m up against? Don’t they understand that there are more neurosurgeons about than full time illustrators? Do they know what that means, and how much time it takes to be able to reach that level?
Don’t they care?
And you know, I realise, the answer is no.
No, they don’t care about that.
They care about me.
They couldn’t give a rat’s if I make it into this competition, or that one. But they sure as hell do care when they see somebody they care about hell bent on obsessively working themselves to death.
And while it might not be a heavy workload by ‘industry’ (I despise that term) standards, it is by sane people standards.
I guess I would do well to remember that.
And I guess it might not actually hurt me to unplug my computer one day a week for some rest and recovery and…dare I say it…relaxation?
I’m going to give it a go.
April 14, 2010 3 Comments
How a web design goes straight to hell
A link worth checking out.
How a web design goes straight to hell
I can related both as a web designer and as an illustrator.
March 24, 2010 Comments Off
Talking about photo paintovers
Being a digital artist striving for a certain level of realism in my work, I’m constantly accused of ‘photo paintovers’.
Those other digital artists out there know exactly what this is, but for those not familiar with the term, allow me to explain: a digital painter (like me) paints, but some digital artists pull apart photos, insert them into their painting and paint over the top of them.
Some artists do this to great effect, and some people ruin artworks this way.
Either way, to be accused of a paintover when you claim you have painted it yourself is quite an enormous insult, as a) it’s suggested that you are not telling the truth about your process and b) people are suggesting you don’t have the skill to paint it yourself.
To show I DO have the skill, I created a walk through of my process and uploaded it to my website some time ago.
Now I’m going to show you something else.
The Opposite of a Paintover!
If it is assumed that you do a paintover to cut corners with reaching realism is characters and objects (I know artists who make lovely multimedia work and DON’T use it for this reason, but we’ll ignore this in this instance and discuss just the digital painter who is trying to take shortcuts), then what is it when you put a bit of painting IN to a photo, having not painted over any photo as a base?
That’s exactly what I did for a competition entry for a design school. We were supposed to express, in 25 words or less, why we wanted to win, and I decided to opt for a visual approach.
The design school assumed it was photography. But it wasn’t.
It’s part photography, part paint.
So this image, here, is part photography, part painting. See if you can pick what I photographed and what I painted:
I’d like to think it isn’t too obvious.
So before I show you the original photo sans painting, I’m going to explain why this is different to a normal paintover – I painted the extras INTO the photo without the aide of a photo to paint over.
November 12, 2009 Comments Off
The Important Bit – KEEPING Clients
So! As a follow up to my previous post about finding clients, this is an explanation of how I go about keeping them.
Something I’m much better at than actually finding them in the first place – of all the clients I’ve finished a project for, I’d guess maybe 80%…more?…have come back again a second time. Or a third. Or even more in some cases.
This is good. You want that. Finding clients can be hard.
Having people who know what you do, like the way you do it, and want you to do it over and over is much, much easier.
1. Hook them at the start
For me, my usual first point of contact with a potential client is an email asking about what I do, can I do this, how much does it cost.
First point of contact is when you win or lose them. I almost always win them. It’s ridiculously easy but somehow most people and companies still don’t do this:Answer their questions.
Quickly, accurately and personally.
Here’s what I mean – let’s say I get an email from somebody wanting to know if I can paint a picture for them to use on a business card for their garden business. They want to know how much it’d cost, and if I do the printing of if they have to take it elsewhere or what and can I help explain it all to them? They’ve never done this before but they like my work.
There are a few steps I then take to do my best to turn these people from potential clients into actual clients.
Firstly, I check my email and answer any emails from clients RIGHT AWAY when possible. If I can’t (say I need to research something), I do that right away and answer the email ASAP.Think of times you’ve sent emails to companies and had a person answer right away, and compare the was you felt about that to how you feel about places that never got back to you.
The great failing on the internet in things like this is that conversation happens too slowly, where as if they were to approach you in a shop or studio, you could sit and chat for half an hour and deal with everything in one go.Also, you can bet with a lot of clients that they’ve sent a few emails to a few people to compare prices and service.
Since my prices aren’t the cheapest prices, I make damned sure I give the BEST service. Right from the start. I want them to see right from the first email what they’re paying for – somebody who’ll communicate well, give great service and satisfaction and do the job they want.In practical terms, this translates to sending a friendly email back (as soon as possible, as we’ve mentioned) written directly to the client – NOT a form letter.
They’re real people who have taken the time to possibly offer me work, and that deserves my time and respect.I say hello, use their name, thank them for contacting me. I explain my prices, my terms and that I offer payment plans.
Usually I offer one or two options here (for instance, I keep copyright and it’s this amount, you keep it and it’s this amount, blah blah blah) that I feel would be best for their situation, and explain each.Then I explain what I would intend to do for their individual project, to show I understand where they’re coming from.
Let’s say for instance here that they want one of my paintings for their business card, but they don’t know what they want me to paint.
I’d make some suggestions, given what they’ve told me about their business in conjunction with my personal style.For instance: You mention your business is a garden shop – perhaps we could do something in lush, rich greens with some foliage in the background. How about a greenman? Or a cluster of mushrooms? Or a frog? Or some celtic knotwork?
Something that we can make punchy and eye-catching at a small size on a card, but could scale up if you want to hang the image in the shop.
I also explain that I can have them all printed and shipped to their doorstep in a tidy little box and that they need not worry about it – I take care of it all.My goal here: have them get my email, have me answer all the questions they asked, have me answer some that they forgot to ask but now that they think of it is a good point, make them feel that their project is in good hands (that I know what I’m talking about, that I’m reassuring and inspire confidence), that I get that they’re individuals and I’m listening to them and that they get my email before anybody else’s, thus setting a benchmark that the other responses will be measured against.
Then, while they’re still waiting on other emails, they’re turning everything I said over in their head, considering working with me.Usually they come back because I’ve made them feel confident in my ability to handle their project. I’ve hooked them with one email.
2. Live up to everything. Go above and beyond.
After this project, you want these clients to come back time and time again. You also want them to tell their friends how great you were.
The only way to do this is to make them very, very happy.This means going above and beyond their expectations. Often without extra pay, often in your own time.
I’m not talking about selling yourself short here – I charge a higher rate for my better service. I can’t afford to do a week of unpaid extras, and I wouldn’t suggest anybody do so, unless they want to wind up poor and hungry and making a stew from the innersoles of their shoes to stave off starvation.
I’m talking only little extras from you, but things that really matter to a client.Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say I did the painting that the hypothetical company above wanted for their business cards. I wasn’t the cheapest quote they got, but I won them over with my good service on top of my painting skills. They tell me the text they want over the top of the image (business details), and I have them printed as promised.
Then, instead of that being the end of it, I might do something extra – maybe a larger print of the same (minus the text) to hang in their shop.
Costs me little, since I’ve already painting the thing, but it’s a nice touch that they probably weren’t expecting, and it’s the sort of thing that has them tell their friends how happy they were.I have gotten new work from this kind of word of mouth, on top of the original client becoming a repeat customer.
Things I’ve personally done in the past include sending a matching greeting card of paintings done as gifts, gift wrapping something beautifully, throwing in some extra little prints and odds and ends, as well as bigger extras like doing serious touching up on all the product images for a site because a photographer fluffed the job and my client was unhappy, re-shooting photos, staying up super late to rush pictures to have them arrive before birthdays, delivering stuff in person (a fair way out of my way) to save my client expensive shipping.
Gift wrap, tie a bow around it, use hand-written thankyous, throw in discount vouchers.Essentially, do everything within your power to leave your client feeling inspired and empowered at the end of a project. They will come back.
And don’t be stingy – if you’re the type who likes everything budgeted to three decimal places written down on paper, figure extras in as an advertising cost. That’s what it is. Only more effective than most other types of advertisement.
3. Be available to help in future and have a long memory.
I’ve had some clients return after a long time not hearing from them. Don’t forget them in this time.
Welcome them back, tell them it’s great to hear from them, ask them how stuff is going, are they still enjoying the painting/website/business cards you did for them? How was the holiday they were talking about going on all that time ago? How is their business going these days?Do your best to maintain a good relationship with these people. They matter. They’re extremely, extremely important to you.
Essentially, don’t stop the good service when the final balance is paid.If a client is emailing because the accidentally turned website text green instead of brown and it can take me less than 10 seconds to re-upload the original file I have? No charge.
Client needs another run of the business cards I designed for them? Discounted charge.
You still need to make money (rent and food is expensive, I know!), but reward loyalty with generosity.
Even if it’s only by knocking $5 off a price, or throwing in a few extra cards, or just being a bit more generous with your time.
4. Don’t get pushed around and learn to cut losses.
Yes, clients are very important to you, as I just said, but sometimes you’ll get a client from hell who has NO respect for you, your work or your time.
You’ll never be able to figure out why they even hired you, since nothing you do makes them happy.In cases like this, I’ve learnt that there’s a time to politely and respectfully say that the working relationship is obviously not working for either of you, and recommend they go elsewhere.
What amount of fees you keep is up to you, and dependent on how much work you’ve already done, etc.It sounds bad, but honestly, it’s better to cut your losses. They’re never going to be happy with what you do, so you’ll never earn good word of mouth from them. In fact, they’ll probably bad-mouth you and take advantage of you any way they can. You’re better off just being professional and polite, but pulling the plug.
Remember you’re not a puppet, but a skilled worker.
Be fiercely loyal to clients who respect this, and don’t let yourself be dragged down by people who want to take advantage of you.You want a reputation as a great person to hire, not a great person to take advantage of.
There are times when you’ll have to both stand up for yourself AND for your good clients (some people will take advantage and rip-off whenever they can), that’s just the nature of working for yourself.
Just remember to respect your clients and yourself.
That all said, luckily that type of customer doesn’t come along too often, but, by god, you’ll know when they do!
And that’s pretty much it in terms of how I go about keeping my clients. I really can’t stress how much this has gotten me by – I’ve worked for very few clients over all, really, but most of them have come back and come back and really kept me afloat when I needed it most.
October 28, 2009 Comments Off
On finding clients as a freelancer
I wouldn’t have written about how to find clients, because I feel myself not expert enough to have anything to say.
But when a friend asked me how I find my clients, I realised that I currently have enough work to turn some I’m not especially interested in away.
So I guess I must be doing reasonably ok.
Not great, since I’m kinda poor still, but in a time of ‘economic crisis’, when supposedly there’s less work about for artists, I’m getting more and more work. I must be doing something right.
So I’ll share what I know, which applies to freelance illustration and website and design work in my life, and may be the same across other areas of freelancing too.
1. Be Findable
It’s all well and good deciding you’re going to be a freelance whatever, but potential clients need to be able to find you. There’s work there to be had, but if you’re out of reach of a client, you’ll never get it.
For me, this involves several things. I have my own website, but to be honest that doesn’t draw that many people. I get a lot of traffic to my website by people searching for my name, which obviously means they already know who I am; they’ve already found me previously.
What has worked best for me is having a web presence generally.
What this actually means is spending time on forums relevant to what you do, maybe having a journal or blog, hanging out in chat rooms where people in your line of work hang out.
Join facebook, join twitter, join as many free galleries as you can. Pop into the forums daily.In fact, at the start, set aside a couple of hours a day just for your social networking.
Not only do you learn from other people, but you hear things like “oh, this company is looking for artists”, as well as having people in the business (fellow artists, fellow designers) get to know you as an artist (or writer, or whatever it is you’re doing).
Perhaps they’ll mention you later. Perhaps they’ll send work your way.
A huge project I’m currently working on was sent my way by a fellow artist who thought it was a decent project, but turned it down as it didn’t suit them. They thought of me as a good artist for it, let the client know, and now I’m working on a pretty good job thanks to them.It might seem a bit hypocritical, me talking about community activity in forums and chats and the like since I’m a bit of a hermit with that kind of thing these days, but I first had my work published in 2004 through a project I got involved with through a community forum back when I was very active in online art communities.
Once you get going a bit, you can afford to drop off some forums and devote your time to other things.That said, I am a chronic lurker. I read forums (some daily) that people don’t even know I still visit – that way I still keep myself reasonably up to date with some things, but don’t waste too much time chit-chatting about what I ate for breakfast or who’s cat looks funniest in a Santa hat.
There are still some places where I try to be active, as it’s how you maintain friendships and relationships with your freelancing peers.
And you need them.
Sure they send clients your way, which we’ve already covered, but they are also a great source of advice, strength and motivation.Maintain those relationships!
Simply put, it’s so much easier for clients to find you when you’re out and about.
To give you an idea, I think almost all my clients have found me though a public community gallery like Deviant Art or Epilogue, or been referred to me through a friend I made through a forum, often on the same sites. Off the top of my head, I can think only of ONE who found me through google.
Google won’t get your clients to you. Being visible generally will.2. Be worth seeking out.
A potential client might look at 50 artists before deciding who to email. My approach is to try to make sure my stuff sticks out enough that clients find it hard to just pass me by.
It’s not enough for potential clients to find me – they have to want to employ me.
This part is simple enough in theory, and very hard in reality.
You have to keep improving.
Make your stuff stand out from what is around it. Be the best you can possibly be in the hopes that when a client looks at your work, they say “Wow, that’s amazing and I love it, I’d LOVE to have this artist do something for me!” as opposed to “Eh, it looks cheap, I guess maybe I could afford it.” You want them to REALLY want to work with you.This happens with time, but don’t skimp on trying to improve yourself. In the end, you can have a million people seeing your stuff a day, and if it’s rubbish, not a single person will contact you for work.
Of course, sometimes you find a great artist who can’t get work, and that’s often the opposite problem – all skill and no marketing or networking, and you want to avoid that too.Bottom line is, put time and effort into becoming a better artist (designer, writer, whatever you’re doing) and you become more employable. It pays off enormously.
3. Seek out jobs you want.
Clients don’t always come looking for you. Especially at the start of your career.
I landed my first jobs by hunting them down.
I approached companies and publishers, usually by email, and picking out a few of my best images relevant to their interests to link to in the email, as well as including a link to my bigger portfolio.
(It should be noted that I wrote each email to them specifically too – sending out “Hai I want to work for uz guyz” form letters is a huge mistake. Be professional right from the start.)The next question I get asked whenever I mention this is “who can I email?”.
There is no ‘email these people’ answer.
Do research. Find the people you can email.For me, I wanted to do some book covers, but big companies weren’t going to take a little fish like me, so I googled small e-book publications and send messages to companies there. With success too, I might add.
You could do the same for all sorts of companies – be inventive, and send as many as you like.Emails cost nothing, and although there may be nothing suitable for you at the time, often these places will hold onto your details and contact you for work at a later date. I’ve had that happen more than once with places I’d given up hope on.
And there you are.
Only three things, but these are the things I’ve done and had work for me when seeking out work.
KEEPING clients, though, is another thing entirely, and is something I’ll write about in another post at a later date.
October 27, 2009 Comments Off
Worst shoes EVAR
I stayed up late painting last night. Again.
Which can seriously play havoc with your judgment. So when I found this last night, I didn’t post it. Looking at it again this morning though, I realise I am right.
I have found, quite possibly, the stupidest shoes in the world.
In the beginning (of the end), there were Crocs.
We bitched about how these shoes were the stupidest, ugliest shoes ever and made anyone who wore them look like a garden gnome, yet they only increased in popularity. Somebody actually wears them. For something other than gardening or washing the boat. A whole lot of somebodies.
There was also the fad that confused almost every Australia – Ugg boots as shoes.
Ugg boots have been around in Australia forever. Just not as shoes. As slippers. You wear them in the dead of winter, in your own home.
Wearing them outside to collect more fire wood, put out the garbage or check the mail box is acceptable. You may also, on a rainy Sunday, say, wear them to the corner shop when you’ve run out of milk for tea.
And that’s all.
You may not wear them on a train, you may not wear them in the rain! You may not wear them into town, you may not wear them to the mall. You may not wear the upside down, you may not wear them out at all!
Then, tragedy struck, and Crocs fell in love with Ugg.
And they had a baby.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you:
THE CRUGG BOOT!
Everything you hate about Crocs and Uggs in one seriously unsightly package.
And sadly, these aren’t the only WTF shoe hybrids available at the moment.
Take the Ugg boot, a ballet slipper, a wedge heel, mix them with ripstop fabric, suede, and glossy patent leather, then add a twist of Nike Air technology:
It’s scary stuff.
And somebody must be buying these. Hopefully as a gag. Hopefully nobody thinks this is a good idea…
Of course, there’s always the chance that one of you out there own a pair of these. If that’s the case, I’d like to apologise for making fun of them.
I’d like to, but I just can’t. So I offer my sympathy instead. After all, you’re the victim here. It’s ok. Everything will be ok.
October 23, 2009 Comments Off
I am NOT ‘Shabby Chic’
Ok, it’s time to discuss yet another thing that irks me – ‘Shabby Chic’.
Why does shabby chic in particular give me the pip? Why mention it now, when shabby chic has been around for yonks now?
People keep commenting on my taste in home furnishing being shabby chic.
That’s right, my personal taste has been mistaken for shabby chic.
To me, this is about as morally offensive as somebody saying my writing style is like Douglas Adams, or my sense of humour in line with Family Guys – A MORTAL SIN.
Those that know me know that I, while shabby, am in no way chic.
And I would like it known that I have NEVER lime-washed, partially sanded or taken a hammer to the surface of furniture in an attempt to approximate down at heel, old money aristocrats.
I don’t need to. I AM down at heel. And actually, while I do have aristocrats back in my family tree somewhere, I’m in no way fooling anybody that I belong in society’s upper echelons. I wouldn’t want to.
Instead, I am a beach combing bum. A road side scavenger.
Many is the time I’ve arrived home, pockets bulging with sticks and stones, lugging a bit of found furniture with me while Seth rolls his eyes and says “But it’s RUBBISH! People throw it out because it’s RUBBISH!”
Looking around my lounge room/home office, I see only two bits of furniture that I paid for – a $2 coffee table from a garage sale, and a $15 stool from another garage sale. I scavanged the tv cabinet. The lounges were hand-me-downs somebody was going to throw away. Same for a lot of the other items. And the shelving behind me is scrap timber held up on cinder blocks.
Yeah, not so chic now, eh?
The way I want my house decorated? I want to feel like I’m on constant holiday.
But NOT in a French provincial or Hamptons holiday house type way, and it should be noted that most chintz makes me want to hurl.
Instead, I’m inspired by the South Pacific (that is, after all, where I live!) and holidays I took when I was a kid. Beautiful islands past the Tropic of Capricorn, coral islands out on the Great Barrier Reef, stony bays and coves on the NSW South Coast, dusty old cabins in the Snowy Mountains.
I want it to be a beat up place where you can wear your shoes straight inside all over the floor, tracking whatever the hell you like about the place, with rocks and feathers and shells tucked safely on every shelf, collected bits of driftwood by the front door and old saved glass bottles by the back. With maps and bits of dried mud walked into the hallway, and boots by the back door so you can slip them on while still in your pajamas to set off into yard.
It’s an Australian home, filled with things I’ve collected on my trips here, and some things people have bought back from other places. Our stuff from the USA, gifts from New Zealand, a couple of old things my parents bought back from Tonga.
Mostly though, stuff I’ve collected myself. Locally.
It’s not pretentious. It has nasty old green lino in the kitchen, half covered up with a sea grass mat.
It reminds me of old school, low budget holiday houses. Of going fishing with my dad, or collecting shells with my mum. Or the endless hours I spent with Laurie, swimming every opportunity we got and tracking sand into the house, wrapped in a towel and in a fit of giggles. Playing totem tennis in the backyard while we wait for the barbecue to start.
Which is exactly how I like it.
October 13, 2009 Comments Off
