What I do every day

When people ask what I do and I tell the, I’m an artist they have this belief or assumption that I just paint pictures and kick back after finishing the latest colouring book. The funniest response I’ve been asked after informing someone that I am an artist was:

“What did your parents say when you decided that?”

First of all, you should never live your life to appease someone else! Secondly, believe it or not, I find that only 35% of the time i spend in the studio is actually creating! Relying on my art as my main income source is a lot more hands on than you think, because essentially my art is just an asset to a business! In this story I’m going to outline the main tasks & duties I preform on a weekly basis along with some things I wish I knew before I started freelancing, incase there’s anyone reading that would like to make the move themselves.

A freelance artist is a self-employed individual that creates art for clients in exchange for a fee. Typically they have multiple clients, work from home, and especially for digital artists, interact with their clients entirely online. The work is made to fit a client’s exact request or description. In regards to me, I’d say 50% of my recent work has been off commission requests, whether that be a portraiture or artwork for album covers or products. Apposed to being employed, you are not committed to an individual employer long-term and generally work for multiple people at once. Because you own your own business, you must handle your own taxes and the cost of maintaining your own equipment and studio. Just like my previous roles in the catering industry you are unpaid when you don’t preform the work. The upside is get to choose whether or not you work with somebody, and get to decide whether to accept or turn down any job that comes your way.

Numerous Companies & Clients in all kinds of industries need art for their own individual requirements, whether to be used in a product itself, advertise it, or to help plan out how the product will look or function. Others don’t need to hire an full time artist for a whole project, so they hire the likes of me for a short period. The kinds of jobs in search of a artist is really broad. Some examples of these opportunities are board-game and card game artwork, illustrations for all sorts of book covers, album artwork, mural paintings for a public space, the list goes on! The point is there are a lot of opportunities out there for organised and independent artists. Chances are if you see art on or in a product somewhere, it was made by a freelance artist.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m essentially running my own business, which means I try on a lot of hats. Every artist must have a portfolio , most preferably on a website with your own custom domain, but then ye’ have to keep that updated and improve it as time goes on. Regularly advertising work on social media and other online communities to continuously find clients. Running out of clients means running out of money, so content creation and social media marketing are a large part of the workload. Then it’s a given that ye’ have to spend quite a lot of time speaking with clients, to see whether your work is suitable to their project, negotiating the transaction, then once they actually become your client, talk with them EVEN MORE to keep them updated on progress and get feedback. I don’t know about other artists but I spend good amount of time before every painting collecting references to help me during the creation process. These might be photographs, or art I feel inspired by, or diagrams of how something functions. Then theres invoicing clients, keeping a close eye on my income and expenses, and file taxes at the end of the year.

I also spend some time researching and developing my own personal projects, like my website. Something to invest my time and energy into when client work is thin, and hopefully earn additional income with. Sometimes if I’m struggling to concentrate or find myself procrastinating too much in the studio, I’ll grab my stuff and skate down to a cafe or this local co-working studio space filled with other artists. I’ve created my own sceduele that I try to adhere to.. try to adhere to! Its can be too easy to put projects off and waste away the days taking things a bit too easy, and suddenly need to cram work to make your deadlines. Self-motivation and discipline go a long way as an artist. Given my previous work history as a bartender, I ’m a bit of a night owl, so I don’t normally start my work day till around 11 or 12 pm. I have a feeling I’m not alone in this one! When I stop working really depends on the day. I may only get 2 hours of work in, I may keep working until the early hours of the morning. Also, I’ve listen to A LOT of music while painting - so send me on what you’re playing on repeat lately, I’ll definitely give it a listen! Working in the studio can often make you feel a little isolated. Ye’ know, sitting by yourself, for hours on end! so having something to listen to while you work is a necessity! My housemates and neighbours alike will testify that I play my music LOUD!

The last but not the least thing that needs to be mentioned is the fluctuating pay. Besides the work itself being irregular and unpredictable, payments can be late, payments can be delayed, some payments take 90 days by default. I am always prepared that pay is up and down. Feast and famine. The type of art I do is a combination of painting, collage and graphic design, but more recently I’ve been leaning more towards the digital aspects of my craft, by educating myself in new areas and familiarising myself with new programs. The endless amount of possibilities with digital art along with the various career paths you can pursue in digital art are outstanding! Recent areas I’ve been dabbling in are sculpting and animating, but they aren't really my expertise so I’m not going to be showing my attempts any time soon!

Anyway, I believe I’ve procrastinated enough today by harping on about my tasks instead of doing them, so I’m going to wrap this up now and actually do some work! Thanks for taking the time to read this story about my rants and ravings. I hope you took something useful or informative out of it.