Even though Photoshop World ended a couple of weeks ago, I'm still riding the high of inspiration that I got from attending and I really would like to go again next year. One unexpected benefit from the conference, was that I found it gave me clearer focus on the direction in which I intend to take my career. As a freelance artist, you'll find that you will expend a great deal of energy deciding how to budget your time and money. Early in your career, the reason will be that you have so little of both. But if your hard work pays off, you'll find that even with a thriving business, you just won't want to waste time on things that keep you standing still. This will lead to some tough choices. As my friend Tracey said to me this summer, "If you say Yes to one thing, you must say No to something else."
I found myself turning down a logo design job this week simply because I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. While that isn't always a luxury one can afford, especially when you're just starting out, at some point you will have to decide what type of work you really want to do. After all, isn't that the whole reason you chose freelancing in the first place?
Some people will tell you that you have to take anything and everything that comes along, especially in this economy. I would disagree. Knowing which gigs to politely decline becomes as important as knowing which ones to go after. While there are many types of jobs I
can do, it doesn't mean that I
want to do all of them. Caricature and digital painting are my favorite types of art to create, but I also enjoy the commercial cartoon work for games and other illustration that I've been fortunate to work on. When it comes to graphic design, however, I do know the software and the tricks of the trade, but I really can't stand that type of work.
Fortunately, it's been quite awhile since I've considered myself a struggling or starving artist, but you never forget that time, so turning down work is never comfortable. To take every job, however, becomes a trap. You'll end up taking work you don't like, which creates a danger that you will become known for it, and pretty soon, that's the only work you're being hired to do. If you end up in that particular rut, you might as well go get a regular job, because the course of your business is being charted by other people.
Editorial cartooning, while currently a large part of my business, has been in steady decline for years, largely because of the difficulty newspapers are having with staying current. While the axe has not yet fallen on the industry, it is clearly being sharpened for the task. Newspapers are struggling to adapt and to prevent from being plowed under by progress. To ignore that obvious trend is myopic, at best. The days of having a secure position that will see you through a 30 year career in any field have been over for awhile now. The importance of thinking five steps ahead has never been more apparent, and to simply wait for the end to come, without a plan, is akin to playing Russian Roulette with five loaded chambers instead of just one.
Einstein was once reported to have said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
You may be one of the top artists in your genre, but failing to continually promote your skills, sharpen your focus and educate yourself will ensure that few people will ever know about it. That's where events like Photoshop World and other conferences of that nature become invaluable. There are also more top quality online lessons and tutorials than you'll ever have time to watch in your lifetime. Why wouldn't you take advantage of that?
You must chart your own course to be successful. If you're drifting aimlessly through your career without a thought to what's over the horizon, you might as well just lash yourself to the main mast, because if the ship goes down, you won't know where to swim to, anyway.
