Sites to LOOK FOR FREELANCE at?

[Jeso]

Hey Daggers,

So, Im at a point in my work, were i feel like im ready to get some work... Just wondering where are the best places to look entry lvl freelance at? be it just regular illustration or fantasy, game art, book covers, in book illustration, portraits, whatever.

CA.org sucks now, you cant really get much jobs there no more, DA, those forums are soooooo f crowded, someone posts something, and 1 hour later there are already 15 responses with portfolio link. Reddit, is super meh, i tried it. I got 1 commission, but the % of commissions requests there is so low. Shit sites like elance, just try to low ball you as much as possible, you end up working for like 50$ per painting, which, fuck that...   So just wondering If you guys know some good places to get work? 

Here is my portfolio, for reference i guess.
http://jessso.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Punk-A-Cat]

The reality of entry level freelance work is places where the USD == lots more in their currency and they can work for peanuts will undercut the money you get. The kind of stuff that goes on on dA goes on /everywhere/ there is freelance work up for bidding on.
I've been looking at Upwork www.upwork.com it's pretty much the same as anywhere else, people want time consuming work done for peanuts money. The trick with freelance work is to figure out what you need to be paid an hour to survive, and know how long it takes you to produce a particular kind of illustration, then look for jobs which will fall into that time vs money range. You might find some $50 jobs, and if you can do them within two hours - $25 an hour is a heck of a lot better starting rate than minimum wage.

Basically, try and be realistic, as entry level freelancer, you can always increase your prices as your skills improve and people start seeking you out, but to start with, you might have to lower your expectations down a little, while at the same time being sure you are being paid a living wage.

I'm no where near ready to freelance seriously with art, but I've done it before within the web design business and managed to do quite nicely /before/ the cut price whole website for $20 rubbish came along.

[Jeso]

Right, But god, am i slow. There is no way i can finish something in 2 hours or less, and be happy with it, or anybody for that matter.

Is there really only one way? grind trough the shit, until you good enough to get decent jobs from companies? D:

[Punk-A-Cat]

I think you'll just have to be fussy what kind of work you'll do. I've seen some $15 per quick caricature sketch jobs going, which is just line art, that is probably an hours work if you're comfortable with the style.

I think realistically though, yep, there is going to be an element of grind to start with, but the idea would be to look on it as learning, and being paid to learn, rather than working. I think the biggest danger with those low paying jobs is that you risk getting sloppy and producing less than your best work to get it done quickly and make the pay worth while, which won't help your career.. so the money needs to be a perk, not an end goal for those first few.

In saying all that, as artists collectively, we do need to be paid better - the bullshit going on where you get a fixed price job and end up being paid less than $2 an hour is not cool, so avoid those jobs, look carefully at what they are asking for, how long it'll take and how much that turns into as an hourly rate.

[Amit Dutta]

Forget the hub sites like elance or freelancer, unless you are willing to work 8 hours for 50 bucks or less. There is no way around it, if you want decent clients you have to be proactive and approach them individually yourself.

Get into a habit and do some research online for an hour a day and gather a handful of potential studios, companies and projects that seem promising (even if there are no advertised roles or jobs) then send them an email saying you are available. Do this every day for weeks until you start getting work.

Conventions are great for folio reviews and getting contacts, so you should be getting out there with your stuff, just to make contacts. You are very very lucky living in the States so close to so many great cons, so you should be taking advantage of them. In NZ I have to do everything online pretty much.

[GabbyTaylor]

Long post, sorry. I hope it helps, though!

I do lots of freelance work (mostly writing, but some art too). I say you should look at your local CraigsList, and at Indeed. Another option is newspapers, and good old fashioned beating the pavement. Keep hustling, and build your reputation. And remember: they care a lot more about you getting the job done within time limits and budget constraints than about whether your work is the best of the best (but obviously you want to try to give them that too). Once you build up a reputation, people will start coming to you.

Two other things:
1) you put two different sites as your portfolio site (DA and ArtStation) in this thread alone. Get your own site. Wordpress, Weebly, whatever allows total customization of the URL so it looks like you believe in yourself enough to purchase an actual domain (I think WordPress is best for this. Note: do as I say here, not as I do. I'm working on getting a better site together. lol)

2) It could just be the way I'm reading it and not at all what others read/what you meant, but you sound really half-hearted and unsure about this (examples: "Here is my portfolio, for reference i guess.", and "But god, am i slow. There is no way i can finish something in 2 hours or less, and be happy with it, or anybody for that matter. Is there really only one way? grind trough the shit, until you good enough to get decent jobs from companies? D:"). Don't get me wrong, a lack of confidence is natural. But you have to project yourself as confident, professional, and like you know damn well you can get the job done within their constraints and fucking floor them with it. Just fake it till you make it, it works better than I ever expected (look at my sb and try telling me there's any reason to be confident at all. Just try. But I act it anyway, and people eat it up).

+1 to everything Amit said too. Cons are your friend. Get like 4 or 5 of your best pieces, and print them on the back of your business cards (bonus if they're fucking gorgeous cards you designed yourself back to front). Also, get a tablet if you don't have one already (literally every GoodWill I've ever been to has at least one, so money isn't too much of a problem here. Also, the CraigsList barter section might have a few surprisingly nice ones). This is so you can have your Portfolio of Badassery (remember the confidence thing) with you AT ALL TIMES. Remember, you're out hustling! Show anyone who is interested the goods, make connections to how they can benefit from your services, hand them a card and wish them a great day. If you hit it off, follow up with them later. Everything above also applies to dealing with local small businesses. Find the dude in charge, hustle, follow up, repeat at the next business.

Oh, and as to your question of slogging through the shit to get to the gold: yes, you do. Everyone deals with it at least a little bit. I do free projects all the time to bolster my portfolio/resume, get my name out there, and get the experience. But remember, it doesn't have to be shit. Do freebie projects that you like. Does your favorite local animal shelter need some advertising done? Get them some art! Is there an indie team on reddit that actually has their shit together? Toss some art at them! There can never be too much experience, too many people who know your name and what you do.

[Punk-A-Cat]

That's incredibly useful info Gabby!

[Jeso]

2) It could just be the way I'm reading it and not at all what others read/what you meant, but you sound really half-hearted and unsure about this (examples: "Here is my portfolio, for reference i guess.", and "But god, am i slow. There is no way i can finish something in 2 hours or less, and be happy with it, or anybody for that matter. Is there really only one way? grind trough the shit, until you good enough to get decent jobs from companies? D:"). Don't get me wrong, a lack of confidence is natural. But you have to project yourself as confident, professional, and like you know damn well you can get the job done within their constraints and fucking floor them with it. Just fake it till you make it, it works better than I ever expected (look at my sb and try telling me there's any reason to be confident at all. Just try. But I act it anyway, and people eat it up).

Hey thanks for the reply, that's all great info. I just want to clarify, that i dont have lack of confidence, I just wouldn't want to do work that's gonna pay me shit, when i know that its gonna take me a long time and that I would make more money as a janitor, so why would i do it.
Haha I guess if I sound half hearted is because I've been at a level for a while, that i think I can already get decent entry lvl freelance jobs, but i haven't gotten any.
Im yet to approach people on a face to face basis about jobs and stuff though so, But when i do, ill remember your words, "But you have to project yourself as confident, professional, and like you know damn well you can get the job done within their constraints and fucking floor them with it. Just fake it till you make it"  :p

Thanks for the advice.

[GabbyTaylor]

@Punk-A-Cat: Thanks, I tried! :D

@Jeso: I totally get you on all that. Freelance gigs = da Struggle when you're starting out, and spending a ton of time doing lots of free work is just bad (I'm currently facing that issue, but I only just realized how it's screwing me up). I am sorry for that bit of bad advice! I probably should have specified just doing like one or two free projects at any given time, and space them out a bit. There is, however, a reason to do some free work: it's portfolio-building work that also acts as peer-to-peer marketing. Going back to that animal shelter example, say you've absolutely floored someone with the work you did there. If one of their friends needs some work done, guess whose name is going to come up? Most likely, it will be yours. Bam, there's an opportunity to charge for some work (I'm not setting aside the fact that some people are complete jerks and won't throw your name around, because that does totally happen, but I've noticed that that's kind of our fate as freelancers).

Another thing that I was only recently made aware of (thanks to the wisdom of Se7enLives), is that it's pretty clear when you're working for money versus when you're working for passion. I'm a pretty greedy bastard a lot of the time (and am drowning in student loans), so this is something I really struggle with. I tend to think "It doesn't pay me? Fuck it then.", which is fine until/if I become an art mill.  The result is I only draw when there's money involved, which means I'm robbing myself of chances to improve (both my skills and paychecks). I have no idea if you identify with this at all, but I figured I share that anyway.

But yeah, I'm glad I could help and keep us posted on your progress! :D

[Amit Dutta]

Kinda reiterating what we were all saying, but straight from the AD's mouth

https://youtu.be/-Z9rorLLOBQ