I Wish I Knew That: Freelance Edition

Juneau Projects, Artist Duo

Being a creative freelance duo for the last twenty years has been a real rollercoaster of a ride. We’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years but have also somehow managed to get some things right too. We’ve learnt a lot about what not to do: during our early years we had periods where only blind naivety and optimism kept us going.

Over the years though, we have learnt to look at the bigger picture. Projects and commissions come erratically: at some points we have had much less work than we would like, at other points we have been snowed under. We have learnt to accept the pattern of these things, the ebb and flow, and to work with it and to support each other.

There isn’t a map of how to work together, it’s an ongoing process and the most important part is to enjoy it and have some fun! It’s a different process to working on your own: it takes time to develop a shared language, and even longer to share that language with other people. We tend to think of it as a conversation, and just like a conversation, it’s really important to listen as well as to speak.

Juneau Projects is the collaborative practice of artists Philip Duckworth and Ben Sadler. They have worked together for over twenty years and have been based in Birmingham, UK for most of that time. Most of their projects involve working with people. They began making performances together and their work has evolved over the years to focus on creating public art works, with and for communities, that are inspired by the natural world on our doorsteps.

You can find more from Juneau Projects on their website and Instagram.

Liv Collins, Artist, Writer and Graphic Designer

One thing I wish I’d known ~ is that everyone is just winging it, truly everyone. It can feel like you’re the only one who’s a scrambled egg, but actually everyone is just figuring it out ! It’s best to learn as you go. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Just jump in, and you can learn and change things as you go. We’re all capable, creative beings, and it’s totally alright to learn on the job.

Sometimes it can be hard to narrow down what services you want to offer. It’s best to keep it simple. Start with 1 or 2 offers – and set your prices high (!!). Yep, I know this is scary – but so often when we start out, we undersell ourselves. So charge what your work is worth, and up your damn prices already!! Also, try to promote your services/ offerings often. Don’t worry about being cringe or salesy, just tell people what you do in a way which feels good to you. That’s how you find new clients + earn that shmun <3

Freelancing can be isolating, especially when you’re working from home. Finding a community of fellow freelancers, whether irl or url, is so important. For me, The Content Club has been a lifeline – I actually couldn’t imagine being a freelancer without the support, advice + love of the amazing people in this community. p.s if you need a cheerleader get in touch !! I’ll hype u up xx

Liv is the founder of Liv Collins Studios, a creative studio which champions womxn, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists and biz owners. She writes articles, exhibition reviews, designs funky graphics, and is about to start a new Substack which shares positive queer and cultural news every Tues. P.s she is still absolutely winging it, and making it up as she goes.

You can find more from Liv on LinkedIn, Instagram and Substack.

Kanj Nicholas, Artist

If I was to give my younger self any advice on how to be successful as a freelance artist, is that variety is the key to having a sustainable practice. 

Widening my net and exploring new opportunities, applying for grants, commissions and projects has enabled me to have a sustainable practice and provided me with a steady stream of income. 

Collaborating with other artists has enriched my practice and helped me grow. There is a saying I love: “If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go with others.” 

Don’t be afraid of rejection… Try and try again! Never give up!

You can find more of Kanj’s work on her website and Instagram.

Erin McClean, Freelance Illustrator

I wish I knew that it wasn’t always going to be easy and straightforward, and that working another job didn’t make me a failure. I was perhaps a little naïve when I was a fresh graduate with an ambition to be a freelance children’s book illustrator. I thought it would happen quickly. I had determination, an illustration degree, and a portfolio website. I was ready to go.

The reality, however, was it took me years to land my first commercial freelance job, and even longer to land my first children’s book. I balanced a fulltime ‘day-job’ while working on re-doing my whole portfolio, making industry connections and building a social media following. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t live off my freelance work and relied on my day-job to pay my bills.

I wish someone had told me that it’s ok to not be an instant overnight success. Having another job gave me benefits (mentally, socially and financially), stability, and allowed me the creative freedom to work on my portfolio and not take jobs that were badly paid to make ends meet. I now realise that most artists are not overnight successes. Years of hard work, that we often don’t see, are behind their successful freelance careers. My advice would be to not be too hard on yourself. Don’t worry if you have another job, or multiple income streams. You’re not a failure. Just keep going.

Erin is a freelance children’s book illustrator. She graduated with a BA in Illustration from Falmouth University in 2017 and has been illustrating ever since. Erin loves drawing cute, energetic characters and incorporating bright colour palettes and traditional textures into her work.

You can find more from Erin on her website, TikTok and Instagram.

Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, Artist

My personal experience of freelancing as a visual artist over the last 18 years was very tumultuous in my twenties and much more sure footed in the last 6 years. There have been great highs with brilliant commissions and projects I have worked on, and my biggest challenge has been to find consistency in both the kind of work I wanted to make through commissions and funding and making it a financially viable and stable career.

In my twenties when I was first starting out, I found it a difficult path to navigate and found the number of commissions and opportunities very unpredictable at times. Coming from a working-class background with immigrant parents, I was taught how to work hard, but the nuance of understanding the art world was something I had to learn through years of experience. Perhaps because of that reason I have always had a part time or full-time job alongside my freelance arts career, in the last 14 years I have taught Photography and currently I’m a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Photography course at Birmingham City University.

A big turning point for my freelance arts practice was after having my second child in 2018. I was getting more steady commissions; I was far more confident in myself and working in this sector and so I stepped up my commitment to my arts practice dedicating 2 days a week to it. In the last 5 years I have consistently made between 10-15k a year freelancing alongside my teaching salary.

Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora (Panjabi, Brummie, artist, mother and educator) is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist whose work focuses on a socially engaged practice, working with local communities. She is interested in celebrating untold stories while exploring visual representations of gender, ethnicity and place, working with the aim to empower and give voice to marginalised communities.

You can find more from Jaskirt on her website and Instagram.

Nicole Cicak, Illustrator and Entrepreneur

I wish I knew that, while things would be really tough in the beginning, it wouldn’t take long for my freelance business to gain traction. Getting those first few clients is so hard. After that, it gets much easier because words spreads quick if you do a good job. 

When first launching a freelance business, my advice would be to tell everyone you know several times that you’re freelancing. Shout it from the rooftops and clients will come out of the woodwork. Even if a family member, like a grandparent, seems like they couldn’t find you work, chances are they know someone who knows someone who could use your services. 

My best advice for keeping clients happy is to never let them contact you asking about the status of a project. Check in frequently with updates so they don’t have to. Make them feel like their project is in the best hands. When you mess up, own it and apologize. And always be true to your word and finish the project on time. Unless the scope of work changes. Then, give the client plenty of heads up that the project will take longer than anticipated. 

You can find more of Nicole’s work on her website.

Hannah Walker, Freelance Fashion/Graphic Designer and Content Creator

Jumping into content creation and freelance design after a 7-year career in fashion design wasn’t exactly on my bingo card. But I wish I had known just how much showing up online, sharing my work, and revealing my process could pivot my entire career path in just a few months.

Now, I’m an Adobe Express Ambassador, a freelance fashion/graphic designer, and a content creator. Most of my time is spent working with female-owned small businesses, helping them elevate their content and connect with their online communities and goals—and I absolutely LOVE it!

Here are a few things I wish I knew before starting this journey:

• Creating a “silly little social media series” can be surprisingly powerful. Starting with a series helps with posting accountability and purpose (plus, the algorithm LOVES it.)

• The creative online community is incredibly supportive and inspiring. You can genuinely feel the positivity and encouragement from people you’ve never even met.

• Sharing my workflow on social media can lead to incredible job opportunities and collaborations.

• You don’t need to have everything figured out. It’s perfectly okay to take things day by day or week by week.

Hannah is a freelance designer, content creator and Adobe ambassador based in London.

You can find more from Hannah on her website, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Priya Veda Pathak, Freelance Photographer

As a photographer, it’s easy to feel intimidated by the number of talented photographers in the field when deciding to go freelance and choosing to leave the life of the 9-5 behind. However, I have come to realise there is so much power that comes with embracing your own unique creative outlook and the value this can bring to your work as a photographer and to the creative world.

First and foremost, what enabled me to have the confidence to take that step to become freelance, aside from being financially prepared and having the level of material security to maintain the business side of course, was having the belief in my talent! Through the belief in my abilities and the beautiful work I’m able to generate, it in turn allowed me to show up as my most authentic self with my clients and with an energy that is confident and happy. From my experience, this is contagious and always contributes to amazing photos. This all creates an atmosphere of success and positivity within your life which I believe is the fuel that helps carry your creative business forward.

It’s also key as a freelancer to adopt a growth mindset and invest in yourself. Always find ways to improve your skills and push yourself out of your comfort zone; take courses, shadow other photographers, ask questions, be curious and network! It’s a daunting decision to follow your gifts, but as they say fortune favours the brave. When you choose to act on those talents with belief and consistency, everything will naturally fall into place.

Priya V. Pathak is a freelance photographer specialising in portrait and fashion photography, working closely with artists from an array of backgrounds and fashion brands.

You can find more from Priya on her website, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Definitely Jenny, Freelance Illustrator

As a freelance illustrator, balancing my creative practice and business acumen has been a continual learning process for me and one which is both rewarding and frustrating! I’m definitely still finding out new processes and ways of working, but here are a few things that I wish I knew sooner.

1. Finding a niche can be lucrative

As creatives, the idea of confining ourselves to a specific niche can feel contrary to our desire for artistic freedom. However, Identifying a niche allows you to target your ideal market and increases your chances of making sales when paired with the right product or service.

It also doesn’t have to feel restrictive, I love illustrating animals, they’ve always been an inspiration to me and are the reason I got into illustration in the first place. While I’ve done illustrations for magazines, events and even murals, the most consistent sales have been from the pet community doing pet portraits. I love doing them and it’s not stopped me from being offered other types of briefs.

An illustrator and ceramist I admire Sasha Heath who creates lots of incredible clay & illustration pieces, but they specialise in hand painted large scale murals. Yoyo The Ricecorpse creates animations and webcomics, but found a niche in creating clothing for kidcore and kawaii fashion.

There’s no right or wrong way of doing things when creating art. But in terms of selling, I think finding your niche gives you a better sense of direction for things like marketing – which type of people will love your work and where they’ll most likely be. Saying ‘I’m a freelance web designer’ is totally fine, but saying ‘I’m a freelance website designer for food product startups’ gives someone who fits into that category the notion that you’re the person who can fulfil their specific requirements. Once you start building up, potential clients will start to find you!

2. Engage with the Creative Community

There are some people who think that other creatives are the ‘competition’. However while I strongly disagree with that notion, I was (and some say still am!) very independent and definitely felt like I could figure things out all by myself. It wasn’t until I organised my first charity exhibition in London that I realised how incredible the art community is. While I’m proud to say that I did do a lot of things on my own, there were many moments where fellow creatives pitched in to make things easier, and save me. From the person that helped me write my first ever press release and sent it to places I wouldn’t have dared send it to, to the people that helped hang up pieces at the eleventh hour. I was running super late at this point, but with their help we finished setting up in time for the private viewing.

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or in turn share and appreciate fellow creatives. My friends YUK FUN do a great job at fostering a community and will often share other illustrators’ work on their socials and newsletters. I’ve got jobs from recommendations by other illustrators and in turn I try to do the same. It’s a tough world out there and we need to support each other!

3. Avoid Idealising Success to the Point of Self-Doubt

In the age of social media, I found it very easy to look at who I felt were super successful illustrators & creatives, with high follower counts and high profile clients, and ask the questions ‘why not me?’ ‘how do they do it?’. It used to get me down until someone who I viewed as successful candidly revealed that they lived at home with their parents which helped massively with costs, and it felt like a veil had been lifted. It didn’t diminish their skills, hard work or my admiration for them at all, but made me realise that we’re all human just trying to figure things out.

Some people have had financial support or inheritance from parents, many others have part-time jobs, or supportive partners/spouses, some had good contacts from their tutors at university – these all help massively and again, this does not diminish the hard work people put in. I feel like recognising these realities can help demystify success and alleviate feelings of self-doubt. We’re all navigating our own paths, and understanding how people realistically got there can make the journey feel less daunting.

Definitely Jenny is an illustrator with experience in editorial, murals, self-publishing and narrative work. Her work is tied together with their love of colour, quirky, playful characters and trying to capture a sense of fun within their illustrations. She’s also a proud owner of a risograph machine and is very fond of snail mail, printmaking and small press.

You can find more from Jenny on her website, Instagram, and BlueSky.