My specialist area of illustration is freelancing, a freelancer is a self employed worker that is not committed to an employer for a long term but can be represented by a company or agency. I think that path would be a good route for me because i get to have creative freedom over my work but also working within my own time schedule. The down side to being a freelancer is you are not always gauranteed work, so as an illustartor you would have to stand out to attract clients.
I have looked at different websites and agency that show different freelancers and what they specialise in. I cam across a website called "http://www.illustrationweb.com/artists" that showed various illustrators and illustrations.
This website is an agency that samples various award winning illustrators for clients to work with. when you click on a profile it shows there illustrations, what training they've had, styles, and the clients you've worked with.
Looking at this website i have concluded that if you are a freelancer just starting out, you are better off building up a portfolio working with any client and entering competitions before joining an agency because there will be other freelancer that have had more experience and have worked with big companies thats going to bring them more clients. So even though you work for yourself as a freelancer it isn't any different from applying for a job for a company long term because there is still going to be people just like you trying to do the same thing.
To go more in depth with research about freelancing i watched a few videos about starting out as an freelancer and the do's and don'ts of freelancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nk8ES9Kc4
In the first video i watched titled "Freelance 101: How to start freelancing" by Mason Hipp
he talked about the planning side to your freelance business. He gives you examples of things to consider E.G the services you offer, who your target market is, who your competitors are and the services they offer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXUOCNYRIuQ
The second video i watched titles "How to be a freelance artist (Do's and Don'ts)" by Draw with Jazza which discusses the do's and don'ts of the freelance business which talks about different topics like dealing with clients and payments as shown below.
Continuing with my research into starting out as a freelance illustrator i came across a blog by Nate Williams that covers different points and questions you might have if you starting out as a freelancer which i thought was useful. Nate Williams is an illustrator and picture book author working with clients such as Cartoon Network, New York Times, coca-cola and many other well known establishments. On Nate Williams website he says "I think having a successful illustration career comes down to the following: Unique consistent style, technical skills, marketing, tracking work and attitude". On his website he explains in a little more detail about the following, and i especially read into 'Tracking the Work' point because i think its something i could improve on. Adding point i could consider and even suggesting programs you can use to keep track of work, Nate Williams highly recommends using google calendar.
Nate Williams Reference: http://www.n8w.com/newweb/about.php?more=t
Within my specialised area of freelance i want to work with the music industry, working with music artist that want to involve me in there projects whether it would be animation or artwork. For my research i have looked up different artist and illustrators that have had there work used for music artists that reflect on what i hope to achieve.
I first looked up illustrators that have worked with in the music industry and found an illustrator named Ruth Rowland. Her illustrative style is based around hand drawn lettering, calligraphy, and experimental typography. Her clients include "Coca-cola, BBC, Virgin Records...amongst many others" within the music industry she has worked with John Lennon, James Blunt, UB40 and many others using her calligraphy lettering style to produce album titles, track list, and logos for music bands and artists.
Ruth rownland reference: http://www.ruthrowland.co.uk/248605/info
http://www.ruthrowland.co.uk/248603/2843895/music/ub40-promises-and-lies
http://www.ruthrowland.co.uk/248603/2648302/music/james-blunt
Where Ruth Rowland uses lettering as her specialist style of illustration i reflected back to my own style as lettering isn't one of my strong areas which makes me think how my style could be used within the industry i want to work in. Looking at my previous illustration i realise i don't have a consistent style and just experiment as a try to create pieces of illustration that relates to what i am trying to achieve.
Going back to Nate Williams blog theres an external link which he talked about styles of illustrations titled "Does a professional illustrator need a "style"?". Nate Williams says "A lot of artists have trouble committing to one style because it goes against an artist’s nature of exploring, being curious and not limiting their expression to one voice". Nate subtitles 'When an illustrator is approached by a client what is the client usually looking for?' answering with a bullet pointed statements like;
.Feeling- visual, tone, mood
.Thought- creative way to visualise a concept or idea
.Subject Matter- expert in a specific subject matter like illustrating famous people or medical illustrations
"As an illustrator, art directors hire you because they want to give a project a specific tone, feeling and they need to be able to count on your work being a certain way for their project, campaign, etc."
Nate William tackles the issue of having consistant styles by doing illustrations under two different names. Apart from just Nate Williams where he uses his usual hand drawn naive style he also goes by the name Alexander Blue where he uses a wacky, colourful, aimed towards children style of work. In my opinion i think the idea of two identities is clever because you can show off more than just one style without effecting the clients you attract.
Nate Williams style reference: http://www.n8w.com/wp/2043
The main subject I'm interested in, if i were to work with the music industry would be album covers. I have researched some of the artwork that has inspired me and the illustrators behind them. Something i have noticed with the illustrations that inspire me is they look complex and interesting to look at like they would have a deeper meaning to them which again might have something to do with their "style".
For my research i have looked up different artist and illustrators that have had there work used for music artists album covers that reflect on what i hope to achieve.
Looking at this website i have concluded that if you are a freelancer just starting out, you are better off building up a portfolio working with any client and entering competitions before joining an agency because there will be other freelancer that have had more experience and have worked with big companies thats going to bring them more clients. So even though you work for yourself as a freelancer it isn't any different from applying for a job for a company long term because there is still going to be people just like you trying to do the same thing.
Time: 3:25
Time: 6:44
.Feeling- visual, tone, mood
.Thought- creative way to visualise a concept or idea
.Subject Matter- expert in a specific subject matter like illustrating famous people or medical illustrations
"As an illustrator, art directors hire you because they want to give a project a specific tone, feeling and they need to be able to count on your work being a certain way for their project, campaign, etc."
The main subject I'm interested in, if i were to work with the music industry would be album covers. I have researched some of the artwork that has inspired me and the illustrators behind them. Something i have noticed with the illustrations that inspire me is they look complex and interesting to look at like they would have a deeper meaning to them which again might have something to do with their "style".
For my research i have looked up different artist and illustrators that have had there work used for music artists album covers that reflect on what i hope to achieve.
Mark Ryden is a well known artist who has a collection of album cover art as he has had his artwork used on (1) 46 different albums and singles including two different Michael Jackson projects and his first album cover being used back in 1988 by Supersax and their album ‘Stone Bird’. so its obvious that the artist Mark Ryden has had over 2 decades of experience and with every one he has managed to give a very unique input but keeping his artistic style. I first noticed Mark Ryden’s work when i recognised the style of art on one of my favourite music artists Tyler the creators deluxe edition album ‘Wolf’ (2013). I feel as if Mark Ryden’s work has become well known in the music industry, that the music artist will use his artwork for their deluxe version of the album adding value to the piece as a collective because he is well known for making album covers for previous successful artist.
other artist with a unique style that have worked with in the music industry;
. Jesse Kanda - FKA Twigs - LP1 (2014)
(2) Jesse Kanda comes from a 3D design and animation background which he incorporates into his project to create unique ‘hyper-real’ pictures. He was notices for his short film ‘Dutch Wife’ which got him success and noticed in the fashion and music industry to then work with Kanye West and FKA Twigs picking up his first Grammy nomination for his artwork on the breakthrough album ‘LP1’
. Ron English - Chris Brown - F.A.M.E (2011)
(3) Ron English also well known graffiti artist for designing covers for some known rock acts such as ‘Slash’ (guitarist), but was commission by Chris brown to create artwork for his 2011 album ‘F.A.M.E’
. Will Prince - Alex Wiley - Village Party (2014)
(5) Will Prince is a London based artist who uses sketchy rawness to his artwork, his art is usually of urban music icons creating exaggerated yet real portraits. These less known music artists have seen and used his artwork for their own music projects, which in decades to come could be a popular well known collective of cover arts used by successful artist following Mark Ryden’s footsteps for their creative artwork. I found a YouTube video of Will Prince being interview by ‘Complex’ a blogging sight and they were asking him similar questions i would ask if i were to interview him myself. Such as how he first got started, his drawing style, the use of his colours and what inspired him (6).
Here are a collective of images i have taken an interest to on my Pinterest web-page which again is abstract, psychedelic, surreal images.
I decided to make an illustration using similar abstract techniques, coming up with an idea as i start to draw not knowing what the outcome could be. I tried to make it look as interesting as possible by adding shapes, symbols, colours that go well together and colours that clash to get the best possible outcome.
If i were to work in the music industry i would want to work on project to create something that looked weird to some people but still looked interesting to create "Art" as an outcome using my own consistent style i have not yet come across.
- interview with artists
As a freelance illustrator if i were to ever get in contact and interview them shortly as a part of this Professional Practice module there are a few things i need to consider to get the best information possible out of the few questions i ask them.
i have also considered about the artist time so i have decided to keep the amount of questions i ask them down to 4 which should be enough to get the required information i need.
Questions i need to consider;
. Roughly how much do they get commissioned for/ How do they price their commissions?
. How they started out?
. How they promoted themselves?
. What is their inspiration/ How do you generate ideas?
. Have you missed deadlines?
. Has a client ever cancelled a commission after they have started the artwork?
. Do they have an agent?
The highlighted questions are the questioned i have considered to ask the artist, i have also researched and listed ways to try and contact some of the artist to ask the questions.
I was only able to acquire two of the artist contact information to ask them questions i am still currently awaiting replies from both artists which is understandable.
Will Prince http://willprinceart.com/contact/
Jesse Kanda jesse@jessekanda.com http://www.jessekanda.com/
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