Where to go from here? Going freelance
Welcome to my Blog here at DMAC Studio Illustrate Create.
I have never been much of a writer, as you will no doubt find out soon enough, but I hope you will read on anyway.
My career so far has primarily been about images and art and I haven’t been too concerned with writing about it. But as I have been researching in the very deep ocean that is the internet, on the subject of building a business as a freelance illustrator and designer, it has become apparent that I need to start a blog.
Before I carry on, let’s have a bit of my back story,
I have been drawing my entire life and I knew from a young age that if I could do arty stuff for a living my world would be complete, but the idea of spending 3-4 more years as a poor student after high school was too much for me to consider. Being a teenager and in a big hurry to enter the world of adulthood I spent about two minutes deciding on my next career option, “I know I’ll be a sign writer!!” I thought to myself. And that’s what I did, I managed to get myself and apprenticeship with a local firm and away I went. Four and a bit years later I was Trade and Advanced trade qualified as a sign writer.
During the time I was completing my sign writing apprenticeship, I started getting a few tattoos. WOW!! Tattooing!! “Being a tattoo artist would be the coolest job ever!!” I thought to myself, imagine that. Just getting to draw cool tattoo stuff all day and get paid for it, skulls, dragons, warriors etc…. I was a bit of a fantasy and horror art fan back then, (still am). So again, that’s what I did. I tracked down some basic tattoo equipment and a steriliser and away I went off into the exciting world of tattooing.
Twenty plus years later…. woah!! Where did the time go? Time for a bit of a change I think. As a tattoo artist I meet all sorts of weird and wonderful people from all walks of life, many of which have become great friends over the years. As fate would have it, on occasion some of my tattoo customers and friends would be in the need for illustration and design services and who better to ask than the guy who draws all over their skin. I guess the trust is already there? This presented a new opportunities for me to expand on the skills I had gained through developing my own tattoo studio’s brand and the artwork I created for my customers and for my own satisfaction. Also the opportunity to create imagery out side of the tattoo medium taught or maybe just reminded me that it is the process of creating a piece of art or graphic design image, that I really love to do, not necessarily the medium in which I create it. Which brings me to the here and now and sort back to the beginning, I love to draw, paint, and create.
I closed up my tattoo studio in Lower Hutt and moved to the beautiful Bay of Plenty and have downsized the tattoo side of my business to just a couple of days a week with the intention to expand into more freelance illustration and design, hopefully with a bit of time to work on my own art for the sake of art.
Where to from here? Well that’s the big question.
Going Freelance will be about my journey into freelance Illustration and Design, the approaches I want to take to try to get enough work to keep me out of trouble.
Stay tuned I’ll try to update as time and events allow.
Cheers
Dave
