Illustration career GAME CHANGERS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video I'm going to talk about 5 things that had the biggest impact on my Illustration Career. There're probably not what you might think. I've worked as an Independent Illustrator for the past 12+ yrs. I've Worked with Clients like Cartoon Network, Google, Lego, Nike, Nickelodeon and tons more
I can't make a list of the top things that have impacted my illustration career without including my daily drawing project. If I didn't start doing daily drawings I would have never even considered illustration as a career. Posting a new drawing everyday made me better and faster, it's pretty simple, if you want to get better at something-do it a lot. All that said, I didn't include my dailies on this list because they made me a better illustrator. Posting my work on the internet every day I vastly improved my chances of a potential client seeing my work. That's what started to happen. After about a year I started to get project inquiries here and there from people seeing my dailies and wanting something illustrated in a similar manner. As time went on this happened more and more. I kept posting daily drawings for 14 years because I too scared to stop.
The next thing that had the biggest impact on my illustration career was drawing what I like as opposed to drawing what I thought might get me hired. Making illustrations about the things that I was interested in led to people who shared similar interests finding them. I did a series of drawings about different bicycles I had throughout my life. These ended up getting seen by other bicycle enthusiasts that wouldn't have otherwise seen my work-This led to a bunch of projects for bike companies. It's a lot easier to get your work noticed this way as opposed to just posting illustration work and hoping it gets found by someone looking to hire an illustrator.
Incorporating lettering into my work added a bonus level of flexibility in the kinds of projects I could take on. One of my first client projects involved making sticker sheets for a lunchbox company. They hired me because not only could I draw little monsters and fun characters, but I could also make words and letters that were cohesive aesthetically and allowed kids to customize their lunch boxes. Lettering also led to me working with one of my dream clients, Cartoon Network.
Number four has nothing to do with the illustration process-and it's pretty simple: Asking if there's a specific budget for all project inquiries. This one has been huge for a few reasons-early on when I didn't know what I was doing I priced way too low. I worried about pricing too high and losing potential clients, or pricing too low and undervaluing your work.
Learning how to add some motion to my illustrations probably had the biggest financial impact out of anything else I've done throughout my career. I started playing around making animated GIFs and weird looping morphs. I started to get project inquiries to create little looping animations for clients wanting content for social media. Social Media advertising has since gotten massive which is amazing for people like us. Brands need cool, engaging content so that people will engage with them online. And they need us to make that stuff. Because Social Media advertising can be laser focused on specific demographics and audiences there's much more creative freedom since the work doesn't need to appeal to a very broad audience. On top of all that, it's still advertising work so it still pays very well-in most cases dramatically higher than other areas of illustration like editorial, publishing, etc.
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5 Things I Learned From 14 Years of Daily Drawings! th-cam.com/video/G4WLk6IVyMg/w-d-xo.html
This became my favorite TH-cam channel overnight. Now, I can’t stop drawing.
Wow, thanks so much!
Same! 🙌
Me tooo
me too :)
It WAS a good talk! I’ve watched like 5 of your videos in a row today.
I have a successful ish art career, but I’m grappling with some major life changes and a move to a new continent, and am needing to revamp what I do as a result. Your videos have been so helpful. I feel a bit less lost now. Found you through the ADHD one and hyper focused from there :)
Oh thanks so much, glad you’re enjoying my videos!
Chris, I think I am solely responsible for getting you to 4000 hrs. I have been letting your videos play while I am working in the studio. I really enjoy your style and humor. I’m also starting to use Fresco instead of Procreate. I would like more videos on using illustrations overlays in videos. With the animation and transparent background …bla bla.. thanks.
☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️❤️❤️❤️
Fine Chris. I’ll start a daily drawing project
👍👍👍👍🤓
Good talk! I sold my first work to a small publisher recently and it was such a huge boost to my confidence. I appreciate talks like this because they're perfect for people who are just starting out 🙋🏾♀but who don't know what the next steps are and/or can't afford to shell out a bunch of $ for courses from licensing experts. I really appreciate it.
Thanks! Congrats!!!
Yessss! Was waiting on this!!! Thanks, Chris!
More to come! thxx!
Good Talk!
Thank you!
i really appreciate you Chris! thank you for all the great videos!
Thank you so much! Glad you like them!
Thanks for sharing these tips! I can definitely relate! Appreciate you being so transparent during your process!!
Thanks Greg! Glad you found them helpful!
THIS! Thanks Chris -- loving these videos! Good Stuff!
Thanks so much! Glad you’re enjoying them!!
It was a good talk.
🙏🙏🙏
Love your videos! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thanks for watching!
Definitely a GOOD TALK! Thank you!
Thanks so much!
Great information here Chris, thanks for sharing!!
Thanks! Glad you think so!
Thank you for the great advice!
Glad you found it useful Tiffany!
For an artist trying to make it full time and trying to start a TH-cam channel these videos are super helpful! Thank you
That’s great to hear! Thank you!
I wish there was like a handbook for artist about freelancing/commissions but it feels like a taboo subject to even talk about. Thank you for these tips!
It’s weird how secretive/confusing it can be. Lisa Congdon has a pretty great book called Art, Inc. that has a lot of great info. I think I have it linked in my Amazon shop below.
great video as always chris :D
Thanks Conner!!
Great talk.
Glad you liked it!
Since watching your videos from the beginning, I have attempted to do the daily drawing to keep myself motivated and improve some of my basic skills! I succeed most days, lol
Awesome! Glad my videos inspired you to make stuff!
I have to thank Chris Do from the futur channel about pricing, I learned a whole lot from that channel and I agree, we have to ask what the budget is from the beginning to gauge if it’s even worth our time. Great content 👍🏽
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video!
Yes😊Good talk
Haha thank you! 😁
Great Video!
Thank you!!😎😎😎😎😎
Good talk
😎😎😎
I Like question, "Do you have a budget" I would price too low myself I will try this method next time. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Nice! I wondered where you were going with the split-screen couch thing.
Lol, wait, did it actually appear to make sense?? To be honest, I just wanted to know if it would actually work. It would have been nice if there was an actual reason. Maybe I should have been arguing with myself over pricing.
@@chris-piascik No, I thought it was a very clever way to slip in the "click the like button" message. The whole time I kept wondering if you're actually drawing something or just pretending for the shot. When you flipped it around it was like the punchline to a joke.
@@marklsimonson Oh perfect! I didn't know if that was "enough". Glad it was!
Yeah, I absolutely despise talking about money with clients. I need an agent or something.
Yeah it’s no fun! It gets less awkward though… at least a little bit.
Thanks Chris, great info. Do you ever use the graphic artist guide book for reference on pricing?
Thanks! I used to reference it quite a bit, that said, it has pretty wild ranges. I think it can work as a starting point though.
Good advice 👌 what would you recommend if you can’t complete an artwork per day, keep up a regular cadence?
Thanks! I think it’s less about finishing a drawing everyday, and more about trying to make time to draw even for just a couple minutes every day, or as many as you can.
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Amazing insights, @AlphaDTFPrint! 🚀 Are you into DTF printing for clothing? Share your thoughts and experiences! 👕🌈
Thanks, I do use some DTF for my shop. It can be great when the quality is up to par. I’ve found some isn’t great.
Chris, I think I am solely responsible for getting you to 4000 hrs. I have been letting your videos play while I am working in the studio. I really enjoy your style and humor. I’m also starting to use Fresco instead of Procreate. I would like more videos on using illustrations overlays in videos. With the animation and transparent background …bla bla.. thanks.
Hah that’s amazing, thank you so much!!! ☺️☺️☺️☺️ that’s a great idea for the animations over video stuff. But briefly, I export png sequences and then import those into Final Cut Pro. That seems to be give the cleanest results.