Freelance Life - Personal Work Vs. Paid Work
Sorry for the inconsistency of my blog posting recently. I've actually been pretty busy with client work (which you can never really complain about). Working on paid work is great but has presented me with a conumdrum. I enjoy sharing my work via my blog and social media accounts, but with paid work you usually have to sign a confidentiality agreement (thus no real posts about such work). Of course paid work always takes priority over personal stuff so the resulting lack of work in progress updates. I think it's safe to mention I'm currently working on illustrations for 3 books in addition to editorial work and a part time job (more on that in a later post). So far, I've been blessed with good clients and I really like the books I've worked on (or am working on). Two books I worked on this summer will be published and available soon which is really exciting! I'll be sure to share product images and links to where you can purchase as they become available.
I cannot stress enough taking the time to create personal work. Even if you only can spend 15 minutes a day to sketch, it's always worth exploring your own ideas. That's why it's a great idea to keep a small notebook and a good pen on hand where every you go, you never know when inspiration may strike! I also feel it's important to use your personal work to explore new techniques, illustration styles or mediums. I've actually landed a couple jobs using a new style that was featured in a personal piece on my website!
In addition to exploration I use my personal work to populate my shops. It's fun to create designs that I love and see them on products being sold online. I've slowly been building up my online shops and passive income streams. In addition to my Redbubble and Casetify shops, I also have opened up a Spoonflower shop too. I'm trying to add more products to each. I was hesitant to open a Spoonflower account because I wasn't sure how that would affect future licensing opportunities but I felt it a shame to just keep those designs in the dark just waiting. I have to admit I love all the designs I have available. Spoonflower requires you to test out the designs by ordering swatches before you can make them available for sale. This is really good for quality control because I already had to adjust a couple of my designs because they did not print as I expected (sizing not right or the colors did not come out as well as they looked on screen).
Here are a few sketches of future designs that will hopefully be available!
