Bring your project to life with a freelance illustrator

Key quotes:

• "Ideally, your name is one that comes to mind when someone asks, “Do you know any illustrators that can do this job?” Being present and staying relevant will help people remember you."
• "So, I told you I’m organized when it comes to work, right? When it comes to finances, the story is quite different… Having your finances organized will help you know how much you earned, your main sources of income, where you spend money, how much you will need for taxes, etc."
• "If you’re a freelancer, you have probably heard of passive income and how important it is, especially in months when client work is scarce."
• "Having something tell you they like and trust your work enough to want to work with you is one of the most precious things you can have."
• "And there are a lot of designers capable of delivering a project with results just as good as yours, so you need to find something that makes you unique, explore it, and let people know about it."

Key quotes:

• "In the days of encountering people quitting their jobs and stepping on their own path, I’ve decided to shad the light on freelance life."
• "Since the object of the work is so complex and compound itself, it’s only a matter of time when you start exploring other domains different from the visual design of those interfaces, called UI."
• "I understood this on early stages of my freelance journey when I wasn’t able to articulate my design decisions, thus, the communication with clients were suffering from that."
• "🤔 It’s still uncertain whether it depends on my personality or it’s really working, but learning staff hard way is more efficient and here’s why."
• "No matter whether it’s a freelancer or an employee it’s good to try out different learning approaches to define the best to one’s personal taste."

Transcript: Hi everyone this is carlos castillo knows i am a freelance humor illustrator and i am also a syndicated cartoonist and co-creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip baldo which appears in over 250 papers nationwide the reason for this video is to answer tens very specific questions from Melissa razzaq from the art institute of pittsburgh the online division in a graphic illustration class so here I am hi Melissa a attempting to answer and give my best answers to these ten questions so here it is question number one can you describe the process you go through when working on an illustration from start to finish um that's easy i usually get contacted by a client and what I'll typically do is have after my initial conversation with the client about the project I'll generally do about three sketches from there we'll talk about three options and they'll usually have a strong feeling for one or two or maybe a combination and will then go to a more tighter final sketch of one concept and from there we'll make whatever tweaks need to need to be made if it's not right on the money and I'll take it... See more →

Key quotes:

• "When I get a referral from an old client in this way, the new client comes to me already respecting my expertise and experience, trusting my process, and eager to work with me."
• "In fact, I’ve had word of mouth clients delay their project for months until I become available, because they consider working with me essential to their project’s success."
• "Over the last few years I’ve been doing more and more work designing web apps."
• "Here’s what I do to make those long but ultimately fruitful projects remain interesting all the way to the finish line: If you can balance all of those things, taking on steady, high-paying, year-long projects with clients who completely trust you is a great step towards making bank as a freelancer."
• "If I’ve solved a similar design problem 10 times already, I’m well equipped to know what potential solutions may work again."
• "If I’ve designed a similar sized app many times before, I’m familiar with the process and potential pitfalls, and can confidently navigate myself and the client through them."

Key quotes:

• "Recently, I have finished reading a story of an unknown person about his journey to a successful professional life, where he described, how he started and how he got his dream position."
• "Maybe I am not a top successful person in my profession, but any newbie or same professional soul may learn something from my struggle life and fault I did."
• "It is good to take time (1–2 month) for knowing the passionate and leading for the future thing before starting to learn."
• "Additionally, after some days, I tried to get other jobs, and I started to get some of the projects from the next month."
• "Actually, I have to be successful and I started to take design as a full-time job."
• "I wished I would be a professional designer first, then I will start working."

Key quotes:

• "Here’s a professional’s perspective on it: “When you look inward and push yourself to come up with ways to serve your clients, you end up redefining what you do and expanding your services.” ~ Mike McDerment and Donald Cowper: Breaking the Time Barrier — How to Unlock Your True Earning Potential I like what is said here — push yourself."
• "Here’s one of the best ways I’ve found to put it into words: “You are selling yourself, your skills and experience — how do you put a price on that?” ~ Benjamin Tollady, http://uxmastery.com/how-to-estimate-a-ux-project/ There are differing opinions that strongly encourage selling solutions and impact versus just billing hours to the client."

Transcript: Dodie cheering it's my senior hey it's me Lee and you just watched a whole week of work for me the studio box is a little different from my usual ones I wanted to share kind of a whole week of work instead of usual the usual three day span that I share this was kind of an exciting week for me I released a new pin the Strawberry pan which is my second a nail pin which is in my shop if you wanted to check that out and then I was also working on ten to five by seven pieces for a show I'm gonna be in in February in San Francisco I won't actually be there but Mara will be there the show is called send me across the sea so this is our second time doing the show and this is also my second time being and it's also the first one as well it's a collective of artists from all over the world and every one of those five or seven pieces and tries to make them really affordable so they're not super in-depth pieces but I think they're supposed to range between 25 and... See more →

Transcript: For the last couple of weeks There's been a trend going on and a couple of you guys want me to talk about how to start with illustration or how to start as an illustrator and the truth is there's that's a very very tricky question because if you want to be an illustrator, and you don't know how to start you might just Say hi. I am an illustrator. And that's it. You kind of started being one. But if we define being an illustrator a professional illustrator as Someone who's making money out of it, I'm here to help. So if we pretend that being an illustrator is Defined by you are making money out of it, the first step of starting something is to get a job. And how the hell do you get a job as an illustrator? I don't know honestly where to start Because I feel like there's so many things that I need to tell you and talk to you about So I'm going to do my best to give you the tools that eventually can help you. Not only being an illustrator, but being um independent professional as well, so if you're... See more →