15 insider secrets for industry success
14 The Professional Photoshop Book
- DESIGN
ARTWORK PRINTS
14. OFFER EXTRAS ON PATREON
As well as t-shirts, another popular way to sell your
artwork is as prints. Chris Homer (www.chris
homer.net) says that each designer will find the
route that’s right for them: “It’s important to print the
style you have been doing for a long time. Setting up
relationships with shops might be hard if one piece
is not recognisable as yours from the next.
“The next [consideration] is the right medium to
print with. I do silk-screen prints, but at the same
time know a lot of successful illustrators who will
make giclee prints of their work. This leads onto
edition sizes. Printing a load in one go might not be
the best way, as you can’t be guaranteed what will
sell. I generally aim for 20 each time.
“Having a mix of both physical galleries and
online shops [myself], both have their advantages. I
have found some work, which includes
photography, sells more in physical galleries,
whereas my graphic work will sell more online.”Patreon is a new way that creatives can earn
money to produce their work. It covers all key
creative genres and differs from crowd-funding
sites like Kickstarter.
Rather than asking for funding for a single
project, or ask for people to become patrons of
creatives, giving regular donations (paid per
finished artwork published) to fund their
continuing work. In return, they get access to
things like early sketches, tutorials and
discounted [or] free products. Taryn Arnold,- REMEMBER YOU’RE
RUNNING A BUSINESS
Rob Fenech (www.robfenech.co.uk) shares the
secrets behind becoming a successful freelance
web designer: “The key is to be great at what you
do. That usually means not splitting your focus.
Have a small team around you who specialise in
certain things. For instance, you may be a great
designer and even a fantastic developer, but you
may not have the strongest copywriting skills, or
you may struggle with conceptualising logos for
instance. Never promise something that you can’t
Community Happiness and Social for Patreon,
says: “Honestly, I’m trying to help creators be able
to quit their day job. Our mission as a team is to
get creators paid for their unbelievable talent. We
now have over 20,000 financially active creators
on Patreon, many who have these diehard fans
that would do anything to support their work. The
relationship between creator and patron is without
a doubt the most stellar thing to watch grow –
they’re essentially just giving back to one another.
It’s a rad thing to be a part of.”do very well, unless you know you have the
resources to call upon.
“On top of the design and development, you’re
also running a business. You’re better off taking one
job for £1,000, than five jobs for £200 each. You have
to value your own time and skill.
“Get yourself a good accountant and some good
time-management software. You need a way to
manage your time efficiently, and also to keep track
of what hours you’ve spent on which client. That
way you can bill accurately and fairly.
“Being a freelance web designer isn’t easy.
Building a website can be easy, but doing it the right
way rarely is. The one thing people forget is the
strategy. You aren’t just creating a cookie-cutter
template website for a faceless company; you are
crafting the online face of a business you believe in.
“If you want to become a great freelance web
designer, then you have to think about the end
result. What is the objective of this site? Is it to sell
stuff? Raise the profile of the company? Engage
with customers and elicit more calls? Whatever the
objective, it is your responsibility to ensure you
deliver a return on investment.”© Chris Homer© Rob Fenech