What Does It Take to Be a Freelance Artist? | Career Crush

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0:50Kelsey Alpaio:I'll like sit on my chair like this. Like I'm kind of on my toes, but my back is braced against the back of the chair. And like something about this sort of like the gravity of this position makes it easier for me to feel like I'm really like attacking the thing that I'm making. That's Kit Mills. He's a professional illustrator and comic artist. And like him, I also do my best work while sitting like a gargoyle. In this episode, Kit and I break down what it actually takes to be a professional illustrator. It can be a delicate balance between whether they wanted you specifically because of some personal spirit that you are bringing to the piece or if they hired you because you are a pair of hands you can draw.

1:33What does it actually take to be a professional artist?

1:42Kelsey Alpaio:I love that it's basically problem solving with pictures. They're like each project is different and there is a different goal and type of communication involved in each thing that I do. Kit specializes in illustration and full disclosure, Ascend has commissioned him to do some work for us before. Let's throw it up on the screen.

2:06So you wake up in the morning, it's time to work. What does your day look like? Like spell it out for me.

2:12Kelsey Alpaio:I focus best if I have done some kind of physical activity before I start working. So I like to go for a little walk around the block or do some yoga or something just to like get my blood flowing and make sure that my brain is functioning properly. Unfortunately, I usually sit on the couch like a little gargoyle and like sketch away with my knees up and like hunched over. In probably the worst posture position, I allow myself to indulge in. I like to work from like 8 to noon or 8 to 1 and then I take a break in the afternoon because for some reason my brain just like can't focus for a couple hours in the afternoon.

2:50Kelsey Alpaio:But then like a magic switch, 4 p.m. rolls around and then suddenly I'm focused again. I can think, I'm like ready and raring to go. As a freelancer, he's not only doing the illustration work, he's also doing all of the project management. So yes, art has deadlines, workflows, feedback. I'll have an initial interaction with a client where they give me a brief on what sort of thing that they're looking for, what the turnaround time is like, what their budget is for the project. And I negotiate around all of those things on what I'm capable of doing, how much I want. After we have our initial agreement and contracts are signed and everything, I will do some initial sketches or designs for what I think is going to be.

3:38Kelsey Alpaio:that the project should look like. And then the client will look at them and be like, I like number two. Or I don't like any of these. Please start again. And so then I take that and I do a more worked out. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason. With SUVs made to move with your rhythm. The versatile Equinox tackles your entire day. The spacious Traverse fits your crew and your whole weekend. and tracks bring style with value you can count on. All infused with tech that has your back. So your drive always hits the right chord. Chevrolet, together let's drive. When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

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4:50Kelsey Alpaio:A sketch type thing, and then we take it incrementally from there. Kit went to Syracuse University and studied illustration there. But kind of an age-old question here, do you need a degree in art to be successful in this field?

5:11Kelsey Alpaio:Honestly, no, I don't think so. No client has ever asked me if I have a degree where I went to school or what my GPA was. No one cares as long as you can produce good work and you are reliable. That said, I learned a lot from getting a degree, learned a lot about technique and about working and about discipline. So if you have other ways of attaining those things in your life, I don't think that is necessary. Kit said he only ever went to one class about the business side of illustration. And he learned the rest of it just through trial and error in the early days of his career. We didn't really learn very much about what it's like to actually interact with clients, how to get jobs, how to advocate for yourself, how to negotiate.

5:55Kelsey Alpaio:undersold myself a lot until I figured out how unsustainable as a practice that is. I think I should have probably tried to earlier in my career, tried to build more of a community for myself out of fellow professional, like creative workers. Because when I started, I had friends who made art, but no one who was really working as an illustrator the way that I was or was trying to. and so I didn't really have anyone to ask for advice on that kind of thing but I do now and that is super valuable. How should you go about valuing your work especially when you're just getting started and what have you found helpful for you as you've kind of grown throughout your career?

6:42Kelsey Alpaio:There is actually a decent formula that you can use in order to figure out how much you should be charging hourly. There's a way to calculate this. The, oh my God. I know that there is a stereotype about artists not being good at math and I am sad to say, but I fit right in there.

7:04Kelsey Alpaio:All right, so you think about how much money you would like to make in a year and think about how many hours per week you would like to work or find is a reasonable amount to work. So let's go with 40 and you multiply that by 50 for the number of weeks in the year that you'll probably be working because you should take some time out for sick days and vacations. You know, just be kind to yourself. If you multiply that, that comes to 2 ,000 hours of working per year. So if you divide your yearly earnings goal, so let's say 60K, by that you get about$30 an hour. You should also, 30 is pretty low, honestly.

7:46Kelsey Alpaio:I usually start at at least 50 an hour. Often clients will want to buy the commercial rights to your artwork, which means that they can use it and reproduce it as they see fit. You should charge a lot more for that, at least twice. You've brought up kind of this concept of advocating for yourself a few times. Can you talk about, first of all, like what that means in this industry? And second of all, how do you go about actually doing that? Yeah, so it all comes down to self-respect. So if you are negotiating with a client and they quote you a rate that is much lower than the figure that you're looking for, push back on it.

8:29Kelsey Alpaio:Don't just accept what they're offering you. I think most people forget that negotiation is and should be a part of all of these contract agreements. How do you go about getting jobs and attracting new clients? I have gotten most of my jobs through networking, which networking is less of a formal structure than people think of it. I don't really go to networking events and hobnob with people and be like, I'm an illustrator looking for work. networking is basically about making friends in your field like people that you actually genuinely enjoy being around and enjoy having conversations with about your work and about your perspectives as creative workers and if your friends are working chances are they are working with clients who have other gigs that they need to give to people and so if you are friends with people who are working, they will pass the jobs on to you.

9:35Kit works for the clients that he takes on, but he's also his own boss. He doesn't go into an office. He doesn't report to anyone. He sets his own hours, which means that it's up to him to stay accountable and to make sure he makes his deadlines. So what's it like to manage yourself?

9:53Kelsey Alpaio:The thing that I immediately thought of when you asked that was remembering to take care of yourself and take care of your body. There's like a culture of procrastination and then crunching when it's time for a deadline to happen and time to get all your stuff in and finish and ready for the client. And I think that kind of cyclical procrastination and crunch work style is very harmful. It's easy to forget to take breaks and actually take care of your body. like I'm in my 30s I physically can't draw for as long as I could when I was 25 my back hurts my hand hurts I have to take breaks and stretch so if you start doing those now when you're young that will put some great practices in place for you when you're older and starting to get creaky art is obviously something that you're very passionate about how do you avoid that burnout out when, you know, your work is your passion, when you are creating and, you know, using your creativity to, as a job, how do you then use your creativity, you know, after hours for yourself and for your, for your passion?

11:04Kelsey Alpaio:Yeah, that's a tough one. And I think about it a lot. I've definitely gotten better at managing that kind of thing in the last couple of years, but I do a lot of sketching and making art and then not showing it to anyone, which I think is really helpful for reminding yourself that the creative impulse is for you and not worrying about what other people think about when they look at your work. Just allowing it to be purely about process and about letting something flow out of your head and whatever is in here out through your hand and then it's done and you don't have to show it to anyone and no one is looking at it and no one is judging it or making any kind of value assessment of it.

11:50Tell us about them in the comments and we'll see if we can talk to them for you. Subscribe to our channel to see more interviews with people actually living the dream. Bye!

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