Independent Artists, Unite!

As a Generation-Y artist, I'm going to be directing this post mostly at my generation, but this really goes for any independent artists out there. Anyone feeling dispirited, or unsure of themselves, or worrying about fitting into corporate or freelance culture, this post is for you.

You've heard it a million times, at least since 2008: we're in an economic downturn. Jobs are at a low. You graduated, or are graduating, or will graduate with a truly unfair amount of debt that you have to carry for years. You've come out into the working world, to find there's no work. It's bleak. It's depressing. It downright sucks.

But you do what the rest of us have done: you start forging your own path. While you're job-searching, trying to get a "real" job, you're taking commissions. You're doing freelance. Some of you may have decided to start your own business, because in the age of the internet, it's just that easy to get a business front up and going. You have all the contents of a business degree at your fingertips with just a click of the Googles. You don't need a storefront -- just a Shopify or a BigCartel. You have the talent. You have the tools. All you have to do is market it.

This is an age of innovation. This is an age where we are taking control of our lives and steering it in the direction we want it to go. But the process by which we get there steals the thunder from what should be a powerful move. We, especially as creatives, are plagued by the idea that we are not doing this because we're the captain of our own ship; we're doing this out of necessity, just to get by, to scrape along until "real" work comes along.

Guess what?

It is real work.

The rallying cry of the past has been to get out of the 9-5 lifeless suck of the cubicle farm to do something you really love. To stop farming out your soul to a company you don't care for, to make a living doing something you love instead. And guess what? It is highly likely right now that if you're hunting for jobs, you're not going to get your dream job; many of us would just take any job, so long as it pays. But if you love art, if you love creating, if you have the drive to make it happen, guess what? Your dream job is at your fingertips.

It won't be easy. God knows, running your own business is hard work, and it takes perseverance and it takes mistakes and it takes gumption and drive. You won't get it right the first try, and that's okay.

But what I'm really getting at is this: you undervalue what you have to sell. You, yes you. You undervalue your skills, your creativity, and your ability. You are a commodity. Treat yourself like one.

If you're like me, maybe you grew up around communities like deviantArt, where everyone is taking commissions. That's just what people do. It was not until very recently that it hit me: not everyone can do art commissions. Not everyone was doing art for money at 14. I had thought that my resume was paltry: just a long stint of freelance work, with two "real jobs," one of which being a temp job that lasted three months. But in reality, I was an entrepreneur from a young age, earning money in bits and pieces as I could find it, even when I couldn't get a job.

In reality, not many people can do what I can do -- and not many people can do what you can do, even if the internet makes it seem like you're just another drop in the ocean. Take pride in your talent and give it the status it deserves. If you're freelancing, that is a real job. It's even more of a job than a "real" job, because you have to market yourself, and work weird hours, and separating work from home can be Hell.

So what have we got? We have a generation of self-starters, building their brands on the internet. Are you freelancing design? Because there are thousands of businesses now who need it. Are you a comic artist? Because independent comics are more popular now than ever. Are you a painter? Because thousands, millions of people from all over the world can buy your art now. Are you a writer? Because getting your work out there in a consumable format has never been easier. It doesn't matter what you do: you do it, and there's a market for it. There is! There really is!

You have something to sell. You have something so uniquely you, and you can't let your perceptions of what is work and not-work change it. You need to understand that you have the power. The market doesn't hold the power, you do. Part of being a self-starter means going out there and finding your own clients. Ask yourself what kind of clients you want, then market to them.

If your style won't attract stern-faced businessmen with fancy law-firms, then ask yourself: do I even want to work with stern-faced businessmen? No? Then stop trying to turn yourself into something they'd want. (They're probably going to a design firm for their work, anyway!)

There are so many people out there looking to work with someone who understands them, and understands what they need to market themselves. There are thousands upon thousands of different desires on the internet. There is a market for your style, and it's probably a lot bigger than you think.

If you stick to who you are, with all these thousands of self-starters and home businesses, with all these thousands of art-lovers and consumers, you will find plenty of people who want to hire you. Set your rates and stick to them, and you'll get paid what you think you're worth. So really think about what you're worth. Your skills are rare, and if someone is hiring you, they want what you're selling, as is, no changes to your style. Your work is what led them to this decision. So the answer is, honestly, that you're worth a lot.

I know that you, like so many of us, are desperate for money. I can tell you that desperation sells a lot less than confidence. So be picky. Be exclusive. Market yourself like a madman and don't look back.

Be confident, truly confident, and you'll be rewarded with gratifying work and clients you enjoy working with. No one can decide who you work with or what you do but you. So don't sell yourself short!

Don't undervalue your work.

Don't undervalue your choices.

You're the captain of this ship. Now steer it.

Time is of the Essence

So, it's late. I should be asleep but I had to drink caffeine for my headache so I'm still awake. And you know when's the best time to write a blog post? When you're blearily incoherent thanks to sleep dep! Hooray!

Mostly, I've been thinking about art a lot lately. I'm accumulating everything I need to apply for Pixar, but it's slow going. Do you know how hard it is to write a comic-ized cover letter? It's like as hard as a cover letter times two. But I'll figure it out and I'll knock it out of the park when I do, because that's just what I do. Take that, self-doubting naggery!

I have now improved enough that I'm looking back at some sketches I thought were amazing less than a year ago and now wrinkling my nose and going, dear lord, get that girl some lessons! That's a pretty cool feeling. But then, that's also what I wrote about in my last post, so I don't think it needs another repeat.

No, instead, I think I'm going to talk about time management.

One of the biggest problem that faces freelancers is time management, you know. Especially when you don't have a separate office to go to, delineating between home and work can be very difficult. Or even non-existent. Doubly so if you work in the comics industry, because comics take a lot of time, work, and effort, and I know most comic artists work day and night, seven days a week, sometimes without sleep. Because we're crazy people! And if you work in comics you have to love what you do, or else...well, you're never gonna make it, kid! It's grueling work. I can't imagine doing it if you don't love it. Eep!

But time management! Right, let's get back to that.

So, with no clear line between on- and off-work hours, being a slave to The Deadline rather than The Workday, and silly things like 'remembering to eat' and 'sleep? what's that?', it can be difficult to keep your time managed. Now, recently, I learned that the very hard way. I worked myself way too hard for too long and wound up making myself sick. After working a few 13-hour break-free days in a row, you know, it kind of takes a toll.

Part of the problem is I love what I do so damn much that, left unchecked, I will happily run myself into the ground if I get to keep drawing. The other problem is that I am absolutely dedicated to meeting my deadlines, and if I forget I already have too many and take on another freaking project, I will sometimesusually pick deadlines over health. This is obviously a problem!

So, I spent my enforced week-long vacation figuring out how to better organize my work day and my work flow so this doesn't happen again. First, I laid down a list of goals:

1. Get at least 2 pages done per week; optimal: 3 (one for buffer)
2. Make sure there's time to do non-page work like thumbnails, or advertising
3. Take breaks
4. Work "normal people" hours (i.e. try to stick to around 8 hours a day -- not 14)

I already work mostly on a schedule, getting up at the same time and starting work at roughly the same time, so that wasn't a problem. I went and asked for advice from people, and was told to aim for a 40 hour work week, and take breaks every two hours.

First off, the breaks every two hours thing did not work well for me. It broke up my creative flow and made it hard to get started again. However, I've discovered a nice little schedule that works well:

1. Try to stick to 40 hours a week.
2. Alternate inking days and coloring days.
3. Take breaks whenever you reach the end of a "stage" or when it's creatively appropriate to put the pen down. Do not skimp on this, do not forge ahead anyways, do not pass go and collect $200.
4. When you've reached 8 hours, you're done for the day. No ifs, ands, or buts.
5. Take at least one day completely off a week. An additional day must be at least partially off.

By alternating inking days and coloring days, I'm splitting the bulk between two days, which should give me about 6 hour days of just working on WoBG. It's also good because I can get at least half a page done for the buffer each week; more if I choose to work six days a week. Plus, the additional hours after inking/coloring is done can be used for those extra tasks of thumbnailing, and so on and so forth.

So far, this has worked beautifully. I'm feeling a lot less harried, and a lot less burnt out. Today, I got to leisurely map out and ink an old secretary roll-top bureau for page 21 without feeling pressured, because I don't feel like I have to finish a page a day. (And thank goodness because these pages are monstrously time-consuming.)

Also, it bears mentioning that we decided to drop the schedule back from twice a week to once a week for this month, while I build up a buffer. I expected criticism for this decision -- lord knows I've heard enough complaining about this in the past -- but actually we got some very supportive comments for it. We have the best readers!

Anyway, that's my thoughts on time management. Have you guys implemented any tips and tricks for managing your time? Freelancing can be so crazy!

On Social Networking

2010 has been an interesting year for me. An interesting, wonderful year for me. For one, thanks to Brett and a handful of others, I've basically fallen into my dream career. (Yes, it's hard, no, it doesn't pay much, yadda yadda, it's still my dream career.) This year was the push I needed to give up the ghost and pursue comics full time. And I'll tell that story sometime, but I'm here today to talk about something else.

Another thing that happened this year is that my husband got a job. (Also I got married!) I have been watching him job hunt for just over two years, and it finally all paid off. Between these two things -- comics, and his job hunt -- I have learned something important:

It's all about networking.

It has never been clearer to me that it's not what you know but who you know. I know that in comics, it's the trumpet call of the industry: network, network, network. And in Ryan's field (electrical engineering), it's entirely the same. You put out the feelers and if you know someone, they can get your resume to the right eyes, and put in the right word. You meet, you greet, you make connections, and you maintain those connections.

If you're shy or quiet like I am, you know that making these connections is hard; maintaining them is even harder. The connections I made when I first started out are ones that have fallowed over time and it's hard to revitalize them, especially if they were tentative in the first place. I'm still working on that one. But I digress.

The way to make connections, it seems, is to get out there and get your name out. Make yourself a name, and put out work you can connect to it. I can tell you from experience, it's a lot easier to remember who someone is by their work than by their name. Demonstrate what you can do. This goes for both the art field where a portfolio, a sketch blog, or an ongoing comic can cover this part; but also engineering, where if you have a project going that you can show to potential employers, you become more than your resume. More than your name.

Especially now -- and yes, I'm playing the recession card -- when jobs are scarce and employers are getting an influx of resumes, it's more necessary than ever to be a cut above the rest. I've read a lot of advice on this, and there's been advice to start a blog in your industry (hello!), and to get involved in social media.

Social media is... interesting. More and more I find with the advent of the internet that the playing field has been leveled. I've watched two people who are celebrities to me geek out about meeting each other. I can tweet at someone I idolize and get a response. It's a definite reminder that people are all just people in this world, and celebrities are no different. But with the internet, anyone can become a celebrity. It's a very strange phenomenon!

It has been much easier for me to make and maintain contacts over Twitter than it has been in other methods. A service I initially thought useless and stupid has actually become one of my favorite pastimes, although I still can't adequately explain it to people who dislike or don't understand Twitter. "I don't know... it's like, you talk to people... and you talk about what you're thinking about or what you're doing... and stuff?" or "If you follow the right people, you get a bunch of great one-liners every day!" (I'm looking at you, @rstevens.)

In the limited time I've used Twitter -- and I am far from an expert, seriously -- I've picked up some ideas on how to use it.

• When you first start out, you're going to feel like you're tweeting into a void. That's okay.
• Find people you know, people you idolize, and people who share the same interests as you, and follow them.
• Enter conversation with these people. Twitter is not about talking to wall. Twitter is not about retweeting everyone else (though retweeting is a major part of the service). Twitter is about connection and communication. Conversation. So converse. If you don't get responses at first, that's fine. 
• Don't be a jerk. Don't get upset if no one replies. Don't harass anyone. Basically, be a decent human being. A decent patient human being.
• Hash tags (anything that looks like #this) are supposed to be used for "tagging" tweets with topics. However, at least half the time, they're also punchlines. I think most people use them both ways. (Hashtag punchlines are some of my favorite.)
• Everyone else is trying to get their work out there too. Even if you don't have many people following you, try to RT the things other people are trying to spread around about. Word of mouth only works if people keep talking about it! And someday, someone will return the favor!

So. Moving on.

More advice I've read: pick a handful of social networking services -- maybe two or three -- and stick to them. Don't spread yourself too thin. Update them as consistently as you can. My three main ones are DeviantArt, this Tumblr, and Twitter. I also use Facebook, but as I mostly use it for friends and family, it doesn't see much professional use. Yet. I'm working on that.

Getting into social networking is a daunting task. It feels like all these people already have it figured it out, and already have these circles, and you'll never make it in. It's okay. There's a circle of webcomic cartoonists that tweet back and forth and I often wish I could be "one of the crowd." But let me tell you: I'm also aware I'll be making my own crowd. Their crowd doesn't have contacts like @samanthamathis or @maskedretriever, two of my best friends and most illustrious industry friends. And someday, someone will want to be in mine. So it all evens out eventually. 

Basically, I guess what I'm saying, is get on the horse, and stay on. Don't get too discouraged. Social networking is daunting. Everyone I know who's good at social networking thinks it's daunting, so it's not just you. Just stick with it, and keep trying, and keep working.

And hey, I'll always be happy to talk to you on Twitter.

Some links about Twitter and "tweetiquette" that I've picked up over the last months:

Tweetiquette: or, How Douchenozzles Use Twitter
The Traditional Retweet: The Key to Conversation and Visibility
Dustin Harbin's Etiquette Pep Talk