| how to be a freelance illustrator in the uk | .jpg) |
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| How to be a freelance illustrator in the uk! | |||||
| Occasionally people contact me asking for advice on how to start up as a freelance illustrator. I plan to expand on the advice I have below at a later date, so please bookmark this site for future reference. And to help others llike yourself to find advice, please include a link to this site as I'm sure it'll become a useful resource for new illustrators. Thanks | |||||
| What I did... | |||||
| The text below is from a recent article I did with Digital Arts magazine. |  |
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| Ever since art college, freelancing seemed the way to go – back then, our lecturers used to brag how much they made. I never really considered working as an illustrator for anyone else. One of the most important things to do before turning freelance is to plan it out financially. Usually, you’ll wait between 60 and 120 days for payment, which is a lot of time to have to balance the books. Unless you have a nest egg, you’ll need to put aside at least two months’ living expenses. In the first four years, I worked under my own name from home in a spare bedroom, but I found that renting office space at a local ad agency gave me studio experience, and it’s also cost-effective if it brings you work. Usually you can rent somewhere on a short-term basis, but be careful not to pay too much. The art director at the ad agency and I started a new company, Planet Design, which didn’t last very long, but I kept the name, because we’d invested time and money in it. While freelancing as an individual using your own name does gets your name about, it also shouts “I’m a freelancer”. The downside to presenting yourself as a company is that it sounds like a bigger deal, and clients with small budgets may be scared away. |
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| Deciding how to market yourself is a tough one. I’ve tried lots of different approaches. One of the best – and cheapest – is to knock on doors; you need to let people know you’re there, and meet them face-to-face. I also email existing clients, and keep them updated about new work I’ve done. Honesty has to be paramount in your working relationship, and that’s never more important than when you’re really busy. If work dramatically increases, as it does at times, I’m honest and quick to approach my clients to see if deadlines can be extended. My clients trust me to give them the best possible service. I used to hire other people [during busy periods] on an ad-hoc basis many years ago, but I felt uncomfortable doing it, as I feel that I’m selling myself as well as my services. I think the best aspect of being freelance is the sense of accomplishment – the fact I’ve managed to survive this long, when the odds of survival were five per cent in the first year, and two per cent in the second. I love being an illustrator, and it’s part of me now. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I had to stop – it’s my life. | |||||