Difficulties of Being an Illustrator
-
@Aaron_T I'm with you on the getting distracted by everything that needs doing at home. I also do (fairly) well with the isolation element of freelancing, but I end up at a coffeeshop a good number of days out of the week for the exact reason you mention.
That said, what I do in the coffeeshops is mainly writing on the laptop. Haven't busted the iPad out for drawing yet. (I'm shy about trying to draw in public ... especially since the time I overheard some coffeeshop employees talking about a "creepy guy" (not me) who was always sitting in the corner and staring at people so he could draw them. It became like an immediate complex for me.)
Jay Douglas Rumisek
-
@CosmoglotJay One of my favorite things to do is go to a bar (usually a brewery any more) and draw. Not usually people, but sometimes, but not being creepy is definitely a challenge. The cool thing is that sometimes those places end up becoming clients because they know you!
-
@Aaron_T well now, that's a cool idea. Some brew might allow me to loosen up a bit and just freaking draw!
-
One of the subjects I was kind of hoping for in the discussion was how do you handle requests, or maybe jobs or even clients, that you just don’t really want to do/work with, but you’re on the hook for? I understand that at the beginning there’s some “paying the dues” work that you just end up doing, mostly for experience, and you just have to power through them, but It’s starting to sound like there may be more of that than I originally thought.
As a designer, many of my peers double down when clients come back with changes to their precious design babies...don’t know if it’s ego or what, but there’s much “which one us went to design school” grumbling. I’ve long subscribed to the “design is a job” mentality, as opposed to design as art, and if the client is paying for my services I feel they deserve to get what they want, even though I may try to steer them a different way. I was kind of hoping that professional illustration was less like that, but the more I am exposed to the business side of illustration, it seems like the same rules apply here? And if you really want to do what you want, you’re looking at gallery work or personal passion projects?
-
@Aaron_T interesting question. I might have something to contribute to this discussion based on my past experience. I worked as a designer (both in-house and freelancer for 10+ years) and now I am doing my first picture book. One of the huge difference between these 2 industries in my experience is that:
-
Designers in most of the situations dealing with clients who know very little about the design profession (I worked in the software design industry mostly). They are not good at articulating what they need, and they often do not understand what they think is good often are not good for their customers. So when I work as a designer, I often spend a lot of time trying to understand what the client actually needs, and I often do this with the involvement of the clients - so they feel like we are making the decisions together. Depending on the complexity of the project, this step can be a very tricky, but if it is done well, the rest of the project will often sail more smoothly.
-
Illustrators often work with clients who know a lot about illustration (art directors are often illustrators themselves).
So the starting point for designer/client relation and illustrator/client relation is very different.
I do believe in both design and illustration world, you can do what you want, but you need to be working with the right kind of project for you, and with the people who you work well with. For some illustrators, they get to do that right out of the gate from art schools, and for others, it takes a decade to land in the ideal situation. That is just life, people are different.
One thing I realized lately - also Will has mentioned in one of the podcasts - you often have more freedom than you think. Have the courage to take that freedom is something that needs to be learned.
-
-
Over the last year and a half I've been dreaming of going back to art school and going into art-making as my full time job (I'm currently in a creative job, but it's a very jack-of-all-trades kind of role). Leaving the stability and community of my current job to pursue this dream is one I've approached with a lot of discernment. So much time has gone into research and doing my best to learn what the road ahead may realistically look like.
The 3-Point Perspective podcast has been an INVALUABLE resource for me this past year, and this episode in particular. I desperately want to go into this transition with my eyes wide open to all the hurdles and pitfalls and not romanticize what's in store for me.
Laurie Santos's recent episode of The Happiness Lab (Ep 7: Don't Accentuate the Positive) reinforced to me how important these honest conversations about the negatives actually are to achieving success. https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-1-episodes/dont-accentuate-the-positive
Thanks for spending some time dealing with the downsides, we're better for it!
-
Oh, I definitely need to listen to this. Cause I am struggling with the same doubts and am spending currently so much time researching and every single day, I come up with a new idea then the day after I say no that's stupid!
Going to listen to the episode right now 
-
@Whitney-Simms I totally, totally get you! You get the opportunity to do develop your business but not enough time... I sooooo get it. Good luck with your journey of becoming a full time illustrator, who can pay their own insurance!
-
@CosmoglotJay yes, I can also work with my laptop, but I have always been shy trying to draw in the public. I just don't feel confident about it at all. And people always get so curious when someone is drawing!
-
I left a long comment on the YouTube video, so I won't blather on more here other than to say you guys never cease to entertain as well as inspire and inform
️
