Where to begin? 2010 was one mixed bag, but in hindsight it was pretty eventful
professionally. It's two years on now since I went fulltime freelance.

From a personal achievement point I've been so lucky to have a good amount of card work from Fantasy Flight Games, and worked on new product lines. Working on IPs that I love like Warhammer reminds me what's so cool about being an illustrator. I was also fortunate to add a new property to my CV at the last minute, Catalyst Game Lab's Battletech. Hehe. And finally, I received my first job through my agent, Advocate Art, for a very cool publishing job that's right up my alley. More on that later!

I also made a step forward in licensing my photographic art, in the form of a
2011 calendar published by Heel Verlag. I've got to say, it's a sweet, sweet feeling when complimentary copies of a product arrive which are about you, the artist, rather than being a product you've contributed to. (Don't worry, I'll be getting to all my shortcomings and mistakes shortly!). Let's hope it actually sells, or that's the end of that!

And of course, I must say I'm behind being involved in the art community online
more than ever. It feels a bit like starting to push a boulder uphill when you start off, but as time goes by you make friends, raise your profile, learn and give back to the community. I can't stress enough how beneficial it is - if you're starting out, get out there and get stuck in. Linkedin Groups, Twitter, Facebook, blogs like ArtOrder, there's so much out there to do. And please, give as much as you take.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

As the year went on and the deadline for my calendar approached, I realised just
how much I'd rested on my laurels over the years with my photo-art. I had to produce a fair amount of work in a short space of time, and it was enjoyable. At that point, I was still unsure about how to reconcile my painted illustration and the photography - I assumed I would eventually bring the two together. I was strongly looking out for various licensing opportunities as well. Feeling confident, and seeing the need to start producing a fair amount of photo-art, I started planning like mad and booking various models towards the end of the year.

A number of jobs started coming in, including the aforementioned agency job, and
some last-minute work for a good client. In the middle of it all, I took a couple of lucky opportunities to book time with models who were generally unavailable. So maybe you can see what's coming - I quite simply bit off more than I can chew in several ways. The first issue is that since paid freelance work comes before my personal photographic work (and I'm up front with models about this), I've ended up with a backlog of photos to process, which I always vowed I'd never do.

It may not have become such an issue, except my family and I were also struck down with a major bout of flu from the week before Christmas - I was almost completely unable to work for two weeks. Combined with our kitchen pipes bursting in the cold weather, this was a massive lesson in taking on too much work, since you never know what life is going to throw your way.

CREATIVE CRISIS

For a while I've been pursuing two type of art - the first is digitally painted
illustration, and the second is heavily manipulated photographic art. It's an issue that comes up often for artists, what to do when you have more than one style or technique. For a while I thought I would try to paint more realistically, and use photographic elements, as well as 3D, which I developed a taste for years ago before I got into the computer gaming industry, to combine them.

However, as 2010 went on, I found myself flailing around, increasingly unsure of of my identity or place in the art world. Eventually I sort of snapped. I realised I'd failed at reconciling all those disparate art techniques, and was failing myself as an artist. A certain Mr. Jon Hodgson (cheers Jon) said that perhaps I should pursue two seperate techniques after all, and it was like a bolt out of the blue. Whatever my decision was going to be, I stared at the screen and realised I hadn't truly enjoyed myself artistically in a fairly long time. I'd forced myself into a cerebral, artificial position, putting myself under intense pressure and confusion and never really gaining anything.

Time for a turn around I think! Back to basics. More craft, simplicity and enjoyment. I've introduce Artrage to my workflow and am gaining a great amount of pleasure from it. And as for the photographic art, I think, at least for now, I'll be pursuing less complex work, and taking more enjoyment from it as a (at least slightly) more pure art form. I've realised that I've gained nothing from having each blade of grass or bead of sweat in an image, except grey hairs. A very valuable personal lesson. I'll also hopefully be starting to use photo sessions to create painted portraits, something I've been wanting to pursue for a while.

WRAP-UP

My aims for 2011 are to improve my health, simplify my lifestyle, and focus on
my art. I'd like to overhaul my portfolio and hopefully, with some hard work and a bit of luck, I'd like to get more regular work for WotC, and find new outlets for my simplified, more expressive photographic art. I also aim to start painting traditionally again - looking forward to getting into water-soluble oils!

Thanks for all your support.

Promotion:

Self promotion is partly about proactively finding work, but it's also about being active in the community, and about the facade you present online. I've seen someone I know struggle painfully with both work and friendships, and eventually I had to remove him from my Facebook list, because every one of his posts was negative in some way. If I was a prospective client, I would never have considered him because of the immensely negative vibe coming off all his online presences. You may be going through hell, but only your close friends care - make sure you always have a professional, friendly and reliable attitude online and in personal dealings with clients. I can't stress this enough. Be nice, and keep busy. You will reap the rewards somewhere along the line.

Always actively look for new clients, online, in portfolios of fellow artists, in magazines and book stores, etc. Keep a list of of potential clients, who you've contacted and the result. Many emails will get ignored; some will be rejections. Other clients will file you away for future use, and might even bother to tell you. Some will give you work! Keep trying, but don't chase people. If they don't reply, you'll probably just annoy them. It seems common to send out your latest portfolio quarterly (maybe less if you don't have enough updates due to Non-Disclosure Agreements or something). When I started last year, I figured it would take about two years to establish myself, and I've had that confirmed from other professionals.

I've felt pretty isolated working like this, which I think a lot freelances go through. Fortunately, like many people, I've gotten a lot from podcasts like Ninja Mountain (http://ninjamountain.blogspot.com/), commenting on other artist's blogs, having discussions on Twitter, and so on. You've got to do your best to get your peers to recognise you, and make sure you keep contact with them. Another necessary site is ArtOrder (http://artorder.blogspot.com/) - no fantasy freelancer should do without the Ninjas or AO. Period. I can't thank these people enough. In some ways I owe you my sanity.

It may be because I've just started out, but I feel like we're a bit screwed in the UK. The USA has so many large comic and gaming conventions, but I think fantasy artists struggle to have a good community here. Can anyone tell me if I'm wrong (I hope so)? Anyway, I've also got to recommend sharing as much as possible - crits, tips, techniques, walkthroughs, advice, etc. I once asked someone how they did something, and their attitude was they wouldn't tell me, since they'd worked it out for themselves. I lost a bit of respect for them that day. We get so much help from the internet, it would be pretty lame not to give something back. You won't lose out to the competition, and people will respect you. Never be afraid to ask other artists for advice (within reason), and be free with your knowledge.

Plans:

When I was a kid I used to collect all those old Paper Tiger books on people like Boris, and thought when you bruoght out a book, you'd "arrived". It's not like that anymore, but it's still a big goal of mine that I'm working toward behind the scenes. In 2009 I was also trying to get work on Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering. I'm not sure it's going to happen, with my art heading in the direction it is, but I'll still try - Wizards is a great company to do work for. Catalyst Game Labs was the first company to request my photographic art in a Shadowrun RPG supplement, due next year, and there'll be more (I can't say too much about it yet) - so this will be be a big year in defining my identity as a professional artist. And of course, I'll be always be working towards book covers over interior art. Last year I was also introduced to the idea of licensing, when Anne Stokes appeared in the Ninja Mountain Podcast. Producing my own art and reaching a popularity or exposure point where I can license that art to companies is intensely appealing, so that's another long term goal.

Wrap it Up!

So that's that - a look back at 2009 became an essay! Sorry, I don't get out much. It seems most people had a bad year, so here's to 2010 - cheers, and good luck.

Online Presence Advice:

Have a killer portfolio. No, really. Your website, and indeed most of your online presence, is the the first and most important impression prospective clients will get of both you professionally, and your work. My website currently has too much work on it. It's very easy to be sentimental about older work, but you have to constantly trim your portfolio. An art director will probably never look at about more than ten images if you've managed to hold their interest, and it won't even take that many to chase them away. I've also got a lot of personal photography on it, and a lot of links. None of that will get me work, and just causes clutter, so it's all about to go out the window in my upcoming website redesign. I haven't decided what to do with older work or stuff which doesn't fit on my website - Christopher Burdett (http://christopherburdett.blogspot.com/) uses his blog to showcase work which doesn't fit his main portfolio site - a good idea, and one I might copy. You could also potentially use a DeviantArt account in the same way.

Streamline your website. Use the simplest navigation possible (it should never take more than two to three clicks to get to your art), and avoid flash. ADs also like to save your images to send around or for their files, so make sure all your art has at least your website on it, and don't use scripts or gallery types which prevent it being saved (that's why I avoid lightbox, which everyone uses, but in Firefox it seems to prevent image saving). Contact details are a must, obviously. ADs also look for regular updates to show them you're working, so at least update your blog once a week - I'm bad at this, and am going to have to make more effort this year.

I've now integrated my online presences better. My blog is also the main news page on my site. Small updates are done via Twitter, which updates my Facebook and appears on my blog sidebar. Large updates which might include images are done in blogger, which updates on my site and Facebook. All this minimises repetitive updating. If only DeviantArt could be updated remotely like this.

Prospective clients DO see your work, even you're not promoting yourself (which you should be!!!), as long as it's all over the place, so keep all your sites updated, and submit to as many artbooks as possible - Exposé is free and easy to enter, so you have no excuses; Spectrum is the big one if you can get in.

Business:

Setting up as self-employed is horrible, make no mistake. I think since you have no choice in this and paying tax, the government is under no obligation to help you. It took many phone calls, redirects and even wrong information from tax employees before I managed to register. Then I didn't get important paperwork I needed to register for online tax payment, which I had to chase. Now I have to pay tax, and simple information I need isn't online, complicating things. Might be time to get an accountant...

Be polite. Thank people. Use correct grammar and punctuation - there's no excuse these days when computers will check your work for you. I don't think there are ANY serious clients who'd hire people who constantly use abbreviations, leetspeak, and don't use capital letters or full stops. It's childish. Don't do it.

To be continued...

A year ago I became a full time freelance artist. During 2008, I started picking up work from Wizards of the Coast, a very lucky break that came through an online contact. That was the first, and not the last time that proved luck and being in the right place at the right time can be paramount in anyone's career. BUT - for anyone starting out in a job (or in life for that matter), you have to work to ensure that you have the ability to step up to the plate when that luck comes your way. Many, many artists may stumble across a job opening, but only the ones who put in the hours to keep their work at its best will be considered.

My wife and I had just had a child, and we realised that being able to work for myself meant I was the logical choice to give up my job in the games industry and stay home with the baby. I've got to tell you, if you're trying to start a career as a freelancer, this isn't the way to do it. By the end of the day, often the last thing you want to do is get down to work in the evening, especially after months of broken sleep.

Fortunately I'd been promoting myself enough, and was getting steady work from Wizards on the Star Wars RPG. Along came work on the Legend of the Five Rings CCG, and other jobs. Even so, with game industry payscales not being the best, our family and friends on another continent, and a baby and mortgage, we had some big personal and financial struggles throughout the year. My advice to people wanting to start out freelancing, make sure you have a good few months worth of money saved up, and be frugal until you're on your feet.

But somehow we managed, and more money started coming in. My old employers recovered from their own credit crunch issues and started giving me regular work, and more clients came on board, including shirt designs for Spiral Direct, and work on the new version of Shadowrun. And towards the end of the year, some interesting offers in the field of publishing came along, and if they work out, could open a whole new chapter for me professionally.

My Art:

Having to produce a lot of work to deadlines, while working after hours, and working on many different projects, has helped advanced me as an artist greatly. I've also had to grit my teeth and realise what I'm bad at, and what bad habits I have (there are too many). There's no room for ego in this industry, that's for sure. As professional artists we're competing with the best of the best - people like Tood Lockwood, Steve Argyle, Brom, Michael Komarck, John Howe, Aleksi Briclot....so if you're not busting a gut to be the best, you won't get the work.

I've also been struggling with my issues about painting and photography. Up to a point I produced digital paintings for freelance work, like my Star Wars art, and did photographic art in my spare time. The latter has always been a kind of hobby, or a way to express myself personally. The skills I need to turn a photograph into a fantasy artwork come fairly easily, and I enjoy the process - not much else can capture my attention and challenge me in a stimulating way. It's also sociable, and I've had good experiences with people and made friends in a way I haven't been able to with painted art (I've only just realised this for the first time).

Problem's been how do I reconcile them? It's not productive to be known for two types of art. I've even heard of artists producing two very different types of art, but one under a pseudonym, with entirely different bank accounts. As 2009 has gone by this issue has become a bit of a crisis for me, but in a strange way, now that publishers are showing interest in the photographic side, I feel that I need to work as hard as possible to bring these techniques together into something that's uniquely 'me', and I think I'll be stronger for it.

To be continued...