You know what they say, don’t turn your hobbies into work because work it becomes!

Is this true for artists?

I guess the answer depends if you prefer to see art as a passion or a hobby.

I can’t see myself working another job and loving it as much as I do being an illustrator.  I guess I have to admit that art is a passion for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  For someone else, art may just be a hobby.  Something you do to relieve stress or it’s just a creative outlet.

Here are a few signs to determine if you find art to be a passion or a hobby.

Passion:

• You tend to spend your free time browsing art websites, researching artists and art history…
• You can’t put a pencil or stylus down and constantly draw- even when you shouldn’t be!
• You view critique as a challenge and you feel it makes you a better artist.
• You are willing to research what it takes to start and run a business doing art full time.
• You can’t imagine doing anything else with your life.

Hobby:

• If you have any hang ups about selling your work or putting a price on the effort it takes you to make a piece of artwork.
• You get frustrated and severely discouraged if anyone critiques your work.
• You get half way through a tutorial, then easily get distracted or bored.
• You find it hard to ever finish a piece- the ambition to start a piece never follows through to the end.
• If your artwork always takes a back burner to other important things- you just can’t ever seem to make it a priority.

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Do you feel you do art as a passion or just a hobby… or somewhere in between?

Rebecca Latham
http://www.lathamstudios.com/rebeccasblog/blog/

Rebecca paints in what is known as a “miniature” painting style- creating rich, realistic paintings.  Read more about painting in miniature (which doesn’t mean making tiny paintings!) here.

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Do you know someone whose art you would like to see featured on Colourisma? Suggest in the comments or email me!

It’s every artist’s first instinct to say “yes” when offered work.

But have you stopped to think, “Can I actually do this?“

What is it that you do, exactly?

This is a pretty important question to ask yourself.  It could be the difference between success and failure.  Not just in this one project, but your overall career as well!

For example, it’s sorely tempting if you are an illustrator to accept graphic design work.  Someone asks if you can make a business card or do a logo and you think, “Gee, I can draw people, dogs, cats, buildings, whatever.  How hard can a simple logo be?”

But then you get that assignment and a slight feeling of dread washes over you and suddenly you feel like you are drowning in a sea of uncertainty.  You don’t want to find yourself looking up tutorials on how to use a software program you’ve never cracked open before to do a simple project.  A project that’s probably not monetarily worth the time and effort that it’ll take to learn a whole new software suite.  It’s a terrifying prospect to feel like you are lost in a project and your confidence is waning because you were too quick in saying, “Sure!  Not a problem!”

Here is a checklist to defer to before accepting an assignment:

Have I done this before?
If the answer is “no” then you are asking for trouble if you decide to accept the assignment anyway.  You may want to turn down any work in this field and do some “practice runs” before accepting payment.  If you become familiar with the process and comfortable with the prospect of working on a project for someone else, then ask someone whose creative opinion you trust if your work is any good.  Just because you and your mom like what you come up with, doesn’t mean paying clients will.  If you are interested in getting opinions from other creative professionals, check out Please Critique Me for graphic artists and ConceptArt.org for illustrators.

Is this similar to what I already do?
It’s possible a client is asking you to stretch your skills, creativity and artistic abilities.  The client may know your style and think you could still do the project.  If this is the case, it may be beneficial to take the opportunity.  While a challenge, it could enhance your portfolio and you may just find out that you like it!

Is it worth it?
Maybe a project is a little out of your current skillset and the client is offering you an amount that’s lower than ideal.  While some money is better than no money, spending 3 weeks on a $25 project, with the added hassles involved of trying to learn extra skills may not be worth your time.  Consider the pros and cons of the project before accepting it.  You are allowed to ask for more time to consider the offer, don’t forget that!

Do I know anyone who I could recommend instead?
Ok, so you aren’t the professional the client is looking for, but do you know who is?  Recommendations go a long way in the networking world.  You look like you know what you are doing if you delegate the job opportunity to an expert instead of pretending to be the expert yourself!  This would be a good time to reiterate to the client what it is that you ARE really good at so they might remember you for that type of work in the future.  A recommendation to a fellow creative might lead to a recommendation in return, so pay it forward!

It’s important in the creative world to know your strengths and weaknesses and be honest with yourself.  Otherwise you may just end up being unhappy and worse- making the client unhappy.

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Have you ever found yourself in a position where you took work that you weren’t really prepared for?  What did you do?

Denis Gonchar
www.goncharden.deviantart.com

I love the expressive realism of this piece by Denis. It’s amazing!

Do you know someone whose art you would like to see featured on Colourisma? Suggest in the comments or email me!

What if you sent a client your rates after they requested them, but you haven’t heard back yet?

Do you follow up?

I thought this was a good question for a post from @lilmissmachete aka Marcela Vargas via Twitter.  I thought more people might like to know what to do in this situation, so I posted my truncated response.

As for myself, I always try to initially understand the client the best I can, which sometimes can be really hard if you’ve only had one or two email messages exchanged with them.  Things I do to assess how I should speak to and quote a company are:

• Pay close attention to how professional or casual they write to measure how you will respond accordingly.
• Check and see what their website looks like and how professional is it?  This can be a quick indication as to what their budget is like.
• Are they a reasonable person?  This is hard to assess over text as interpretations can be mixed up, but try to assume the best.

Here are a few tips I suggest you should do before you respond with a quote that I have learned from hard-earned experience:

Be Aware
What kind of business it is that is asking you for your rates?  Know what field it is that you are trying to work for.  There are wildly different industry rates for graphic design, illustration and comic work.  Check out what your peers are charging by doing a simple Google search.

Consideration
Take into consideration as to how big is this company’s business?   Is this a start-up or Amazon we’re talking about here?  If you want this client, you have to price yourself within their means.

Numbers Matter
State real, workable numbers while knowing the absolute lowest you will go and state a price range or list off what you will do for what amount.  If a client wants to know your rates, they want an answer, not a question shot back at them as to what their budget is like.

Reassure
Let the client know that you care about their business and that you are willing to negotiate and work with their company budget.

Follow-up?
After you send off an email with your rates, I’d leave it up to them to contact you back.

However, after 1-3 months, if I still haven’t heard anything, I would follow up with a simple inquiry for work, almost as if you hadn’t previously emailed them- though be sure to keep the same tone as you had in your last response. I wouldn’t mention your previous email after several months have passed.  Leave it to the company to either ask again for your rates (giving you a chance to reassess the rates you will charge the company) or give you the work you are inquiring about.

The bottom line
Just make sure to properly assess the company you are dealing with and hope that you’ve judged them correctly and they should get back to you in due time.  If they contacted you, then they may be filling a list of potential artists to contact in the future.

If you contacted a company for work and they ask you your rates, I usually get the feeling they are shopping for a deal, so why not give them one?  Confident companies assert how much they are going to pay and have less wiggle room for negotiation.  It’s great that there are industry standards, but if you go quoting those industry standards to a small business, they will baulk at the figures.  Know the company you are dealing with and price yourself within their budget.

If you never hear from the company again, don’t fret over it.  Do you want to work for a company that doesn’t keep in contact with you?  It’s never fun to have to cut some companies loose, but just consider how much the aggravation would be multiplied
if you went into business with them and they wouldn’t sign a contract or wouldn’t pay you.  You are better off without them.

What is your advice on following-up on clients after you’ve quoted them your rates?

Welcome back!

It’s been quite a while!  I’ve decided to resurrect this blog back from the depths of the internet.

A lot has happened since my last post.  I quit my day job, in it’s stead I have started freelancing full time and I’m in a bit of a shuffle between multiple continents.  Currently I’m in the US, but I may very well end up in Norway, the UK or even Australia later in the year- who knows!

I feel that in becoming a freelancer full time, I’ve learned a lot since 2008 and I feel this information would be great to share with everyone.

Hopefully you will continue to follow this blog and I hope to meet many new friends, colleagues and hey, maybe even a couple of clients!

What steps have you taken this year to follow your dream career in the arts?

This week I had the pleasure of babysitting a friend’s pet ferret. If you are unfamiliar with ferrets, they are a small carnivorous mammal, related to and about the size of a weasel. They are known for being absolutely crazy! I have been thinking lately about getting more into the art industry and I realised there were quite a lot of things I could learn from this little ferret!

#1. Never stop trying

If you know nothing about ferrets, know this first: They never give up! My grandma had a ferret who, whenever she got out of her cage in the morning, beelined straight for the refrigerator and tried to move the thing. Ferrets will always try to go where you don’t want them to be, and they will always go there no matter how many times you pull them away and move them somewhere else. They are determined little creatures!

And this applies to art… how?

Even if you feel like you’ve been knocked around or prevented from going where you want to go, never give up. No matter how many times it feels like you have been blocked from your goals, you have to get up, keep marching on and try again. This applies to yourself and your art as well. Even if you are frustrated with a piece, stay course and don’t quit. That frustration is a way of learning, once you get past it, you will be so much more knowledgeable and thank yourself later for not losing focus.

#2. You always have more fun with friends!

There is nothing more sad than a lonely ferret. Even if you do nothing at all, your very presence in their vicinity brightens their whole little world. It was hard to resist spending all of my free time in the evenings in the playpen with the little animal, as she used me as a human jungle gym. If I wasn’t playing with her she seemed to get lonely and despondent.

And this applies to art… how?

Like ferrets, humans are gregarious. We need the company of our fellow man. Without them, we also get lonely. With encouragement from your friends or online pals, you can do anything. If you are ever feeling down about your artwork, be sure you are making strides to let people know about your work. Post your work online or show your sketchbook to fellow artists. Nothing can be more uplifting than a someone giving you a good critique on your art.

#3. Bite and if that doesn’t work, make a little noise!

Ferrets are known for being quite feisty. They will play nip (and sometimes get a little zealous about it- OUCH!) to get your attention. And when that fails, or if they are being held too long, they will make all sorts of noise to let you know what they want!

And this applies to art… how?

If you never put your stuff out there, you will never become famous. Regardless to what some may say, you won’t get famous for your artwork after you die. That is the exception, not the norm. You have to bite! By which I mean, you have to get people’s attention by aggressively showing off your artwork. You have to self promote. The internet is a wonderful medium for such, but it is also an immense ocean. You have to try really hard to get yourself seen above the crowd. Make some noise if you have to!

#4. Be on or off

Ferrets have this peculiar habit of resembling a light switch. They always appear to be one of two ways, on or off. When they are on, they are 110% playful, in your face, loving life and having fun. When they are off, they are almost in a state of comatose. They sleep a lot and hard. Some people even have ferrets that are such sound sleepers that they can be picked up and moved around without waking up! Now that’s what I call out like a light!

And this applies to art… how?

When you are at half energy, it’s really hard to produce good quality work. Take care of yourself, get good sleep, exercise and eat healthy. When you do these things, when the time comes to concentrate on art, you can be at 110%, at top gear and enjoying yourself immensely. When you are sleepy, exhausted and only have the power of coffee keeping you awake, you can hardly concentrate on your goals in art or otherwise. Make sure to take care of yourself so you can be “on” when working on your art!

#5. War dance!

Ferrets have a move called war dancing, where they frantically jump around in pure joy, huffing with their mouths wide open in what can only be called a grin. They have a pure joy of life that you will be hard pressed to find in any other animal. It almost seems like nothing can get their little spirits down!

And this applies to art… how?

No one can make you get excited about art, you just have to reach from inside and find the love for it for yourself. You really have to be passionate about it. There is an inner joy I believe all humans posses that inspires them to want to create, you have to find that tap and let it flow. After all, art is what you want to do, right?

Is there an animal you think you can learn artistic lessons from? Feel free to share in the comments!