How to Cheat in Photoshop

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Posted on 01/12/03 11:55:47 AM

D@vid
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Freelancing

I was just curious to know how you break into the freelancing circuit (although the passage in the book should be enough to dissuade anyone

).

Do you just send companies examples of your work or is there some kind of network?

Posted on 01/12/03 3:00:04 PM

Steve Caplin
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Posts: 7021

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Re: Freelancing

Well, it is tricky. As a matter of fact, I've done an interlude about just this thing in the second edition.

There's no club, website, organisation, qualification or network, I'm afraid. The important thing is to get some work published so people can see you're able to (a) work to a brief and (b) meet a deadline. So try to get work in local newspapers or magazines, or offer your services to charities or fanzines for free.

Having your own website helps a lot, of course. It's much easier for art editors to click on a link than to find time to see you and your book. But you need plenty of relevant material on it.

One solution might be to identify a publication you think your work is suited to, and illustrate a feature that's already appeared in it - but in a different way to the illustration or photo they originally used.

Ultimately, though, you just need to be in the right place at the right time.

Steve

Posted on 01/12/03 5:32:50 PM

D@vid
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Re: Freelancing

At 3:00:04 PM 01/12/03, Steve Caplin wrote:
Well, it is tricky. As a matter of fact, I've done an interlude about just this thing in the second edition.

There's no club, website, organisation, qualification or network, I'm afraid. The important thing is to get some work published so people can see you're able to (a) work to a brief and (b) meet a deadline. So try to get work in local newspapers or magazines, or offer your services to charities or fanzines for free.

Having your own website helps a lot, of course. It's much easier for art editors to click on a link than to find time to see you and your book. But you need plenty of relevant material on it.

One solution might be to identify a publication you think your work is suited to, and illustrate a feature that's already appeared in it - but in a different way to the illustration or photo they originally used.

Ultimately, though, you just need to be in the right place at the right time.

Steve

Thanks for the info Steve. I thought it might be somewhere along those lines.

It's all pretty academic though as I don't think my skills are up to scratch.

Posted on 01/12/03 5:35:40 PM

Steve Caplin
Administrator
Posts: 7021

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Re: Freelancing

You can only get better with practice! If you're serious about getting into this kind of work - and there's no reason why you shouldn't be - then one way of getting into the swing of it, other than getting real jobs, would be to illustrate a magazine article at the same size and shape as one that's already been done. The more of this kind of work you do, the better you'll get.

best of luck

Steve

Posted on 02/12/03 11:54:44 AM

D@vid
Guest

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Re: Freelancing

At 5:35:40 PM 01/12/03, Steve Caplin wrote:
You can only get better with practice! If you're serious about getting into this kind of work - and there's no reason why you shouldn't be - then one way of getting into the swing of it, other than getting real jobs, would be to illustrate a magazine article at the same size and shape as one that's already been done. The more of this kind of work you do, the better you'll get.

best of luck

Steve

It is something that I'd like to explore, although I have always been wary of the whole self-employed thing, which to me is a little unpredictable. I suppose I'm too 'have my cake and eat it', ideally, I'd like to carry on with my full time job and do illustrations part time.

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