Freelance!

I'm back! I'm still working on the overall look of the blog and it'll probably change a few more times this month but I'll be back to posting regularly.

It's been a hectic summer full of new and challenging opportunities. I'm happy to announce that I've just signed on with my first agency. I'm hoping to sign on with one or two more this year.

For those who don't know what an artist agency is:

Essentially the agency signs on a roster of artists of various skill sets, degrees and specialties. The agency works with clients, staffing any creative positions, freelance or permanent. From an artist's standpoint, the agency finds job leads for us and handles billing and all the potential nightmares that come with freelance billing. Many of the jobs the agency sends to us are anywhere from two weeks in length to three months.

In a typical week I will get between five to ten leads via e-mail from the agency. Generally I have to send a resume and sample packet to the agent who sent me the lead. It makes it easier for them to just pass along the artist's info to the client without having to look at each artist's website every time we apply for a job.

The good and bad so far are pretty much on the same level. The agency has sent me several leads that I am qualified for but, unfortunately, I don't have the samples prepared to apply for these jobs due to non-disclosure agreements from previous jobs I've done. So, I'm busy working my way through previous jobs and re-drawing what I can, changing logos and some ideas, so that I can show some of this work to potential clients.

I've also been teaching myself Indesign and getting better acquainted with Photoshop and Illustrator. For years I've told myself, and sometimes clients, that I didn't need to use these programs but I've learned this summer that being more employable is better than being broke and stubborn.

I am also in the midst of negotiating a pretty high profile freelance job that could start any day now. The art director who has contacted me is very excited to get to work together and we are both champing at the bit. Right now we're just waiting on the client to approve the ideas and budget. Once all of the work is done, the project will go live in roughly two months time and then I can tell everyone what I've been working on.

Until then though, I'll be posting sketches, designs, and samples from old jobs and so on.

I hope you enjoy the new stuff.

Cheers,
Kyle