I actually took the plunge this past summer to live as an independent/freelance artist and man, it was a mind opening experience. After 8 months I took a position at an old job i used to have and just in the nick of time since I started feeling burnt out on art. Now my day job isnt art related but Ive found it actually makes me eager to get back into my art but I finally dont feel pressured to do it.
While I've never had a freelance career robust enough to leave my day job, I have done a lot of work for hire, commissions, etc for the past 10 years or so in hopes of doing just that... in the past couple years, however, I've changed my mindset a lot. Problem clients, inconsistency, low pay and the fact that I need to support a family have led me to believe that I'll likely always have a day job, so when it comes to my artwork, I may as well work on my personal projects. I do occasional freelance work for some spare cash, but I don't pursue it or really have ideas about making it full-time. It's just not feasible for me right now. THanks for sharing your story, Scott
You're welcome Phil. Freelance Illustration is not an easy thing to do. I struggled with it for a long time. I think as long as you're able to enjoy creating your art and can find the time to create while making a living doing something eles that's awesome.
I can definitely see where you are coming from. With freelance comes work that you don't normally have to do when working for someone else. Finding the clients (marketing), contract stuff, billing, chasing down payment, etc. I am currently a software developer, but while in college I worked for Target unloading trucks and stocking shelves. Sometimes I'll mention that I miss that job. People are typically shocked with such a statement. The reality is that with being a stock guy at Target, I went in and did my thing and went home. When I punched out I no longer had to think about that work at all. The rest of the day truly was mine. Now even when I leave my office, I am not truly free. I am still thinking about it, worrying about deadlines, and dealing with the occasional support call. It's harder to leave it behind and focus on personal projects.
I know what you mean. When I was going to collage I worked for UPS I would go in early in the morning unload boxes and then go to school. I didn’t have to think about it. It was like getting paid to work out. Fortunately the art job I have now isn’t too hard. I just draw and there’s not a whole lot of other responsibilities. I can put it out of my head when I go home and focus on my personal projects.
I am trying to start my freelance career as a graphic designer/photographer. I worked in a toxic environment where I was graphic designer, photographer, web designer, marketing, product writer, guy that dragged all the stuff he photographed back to the warehouse, etc. I never got more than a week vacation and the boss timed my bathroom use and conversations with other humans. He actually punished me financially for every little mistake while ignoring that I redesigned everything and rarely missed my deadlines. I learned to hate working in a small company with a passion. I really want this freelance as well as my e-commerce store and youtube channel to work. I hated my life for 7 years working for him before he tossed me out.
This sounds very familiar, I worked at a place like that and only lasted 3 months before I quit. This former boss of your is doing himself and his company a huge disservice . Creative people need to have the freedom to be creative, the more stupid little conditions and limitations you make them adhere to the the less creative they are and the more your company will suffer. Since this video I have left my full time position and am back to freelancing and building my own brand and I couldn't be happier. I wish you the best of luck with your freelance career. I think in the long run you are going to feel more fulfilled.
Thanks Scott! I've thought of freelance, but I would love to have a real job drawing even more. I went to a Con in January and got a lot of positive feedback. I was wearing one of my t-shirt designs and people actually thought I had my own booth. I was floored. But it gave me the hope and inspiration to keep going. So thanks for this video. Oh, and happy birthday!
Thanks Jay. It sounds like you’re close to where you could start exhibiting at cons. If you have or can create enough products to sell. You might want to test the waters at a smaller con and see how it goes.
Great advice Scott. You keeping your day job and art separate gives me a lot hope for me studing for my future job which is being a speech therapist and doing my art projects on the side.
I've been working as a freelance illustrator for 10 years and it's just not working. I'm marginally further in my career than when I started. I have an art rep but the work is too much and the money isn't there. The problem is I just don't know what else to do. I feel like I'm really just not qualified to do anything else, and now I need to start supporting my family. I won't even make $25k with illustration this year. I tried working at a bank in sales and lasted 6 weeks. After I have some projects wrap up, I think I'm done with this lifestyle. This is maybe the third time I've come to this realization but I just don't know what else I'd want to do with my life. Job searches for "illustrator" don't really result in anything. Either that or they're impossible to get.
I feel for you, I was just laid off from my full time job as an illustrator after 3 years and like you said. Illustration jobs are not that easy to come by. I wonder what the future has in store. I have been building up passive income streams and doing side hustles, but they don’t bring in the kind of money that the day job provided and not enough to live off of. Like you this is all that I really know how to do. So I’m hoping I can continue to make it work. It’s heartbreaking to hear your story, but know that your not alone. I’m hoping that whatever you end up doing, you won’t lose your love for illustration. Even if you take on a job outside of the creative world hopefully you will make time to work on personal art projects, those are the best kind and far more rewarding than client work.
Great vid. I know exactly how you feel, having spent the past 20 years working in video games and television etc., the last ten of those working from home on various projects. Last year I jacked it all in to work at warehouses and factories. I went from what I though of as a leap backwards to a huge leap forward. I think the main reason for this is after all this time I had so many ideas I wanted to work on but so little creative juice left in the can to persue them after a hard day at work. I was also working alone a lot and long hours. After feeling this way for a few years I just juped into a new line of work doing more manual labour. These are some things I discovered... 1. Steady income from just showing up and moving things around for a day, no pressure or deadlines. Just makes life a little easier 2. This really frees up your creative energy, also even the most boring of jobs gives your mind time to mull ideas over, much like taking a long walk does. the more boring the job, the more it gives way to let your mind wander, so you're getting paid to come up with ideas (this mindset is key to enjoying your day at work) 3. You find yourself organising your time better with the time in the day you have left, and working on your personal project becomes a real treat. And because you've had time to think through ideas better, the results on paper arrive faster and better. 4. Being around people who don't talk about art and games all day is great, warehouses can be really fun places to work and getting out of the creative bubble helps bring back that spark and love for the arts that isn't financially motivated because what you're doing in your spare time now is exactly what drew you to the arts in the first place. And that's exactly where I am now. More focused, passionate, grounded and confident. Best decision ever.
I’m so glad it’s working out for you and that you are optimizing your time and brain power to optimize your creative pursuits on the side. This is in older video and my career has yet again transitioned to me working on my own , however I still think the advice here is solid and applicable to a lot of people.
I'm one of the new people :). Thanks for sharing your experience with us and not giving up despite your small audience! It really shows that you're about the art, not the fame.
Yeah, finally trying to do my first 'real' comic pages and it's really showing me whether or not I have the dedication to keep drawing, and maybe someday do a career with it. That's amazing that you've never lost your love for it though. I can imagine myself getting burnt out really quickly.
Great advice. I love my day job and I'm not ready to fully make my art my full-time job. I'm still in the process of experimentation of my style and process. I'm only recently slowly getting back to RU-vid. It's awesome seeing you gain more audience.
Thanks Tiffany. Good to have you back. This is just my personal story and what works for me right now. Some people prefer to do freelance full time, some prefer to work day jobs in a completely different industry and do art on the side. As long as your creating art and are happy however you do it is up to you.
At least in your in-house job you'd likely get a lot of draftsmen skills practice. I don't know if you follow One Fantastic Week, but I'm really interested in the model where you create your own artist brand (whether that's creating a world or often tackling the same subject matter), work at building awareness and a fan base, and building that following gives you the freedom to explore whatever projects In the lane you've created for yourself.
Absolutely, at the day job I get to stretch my artistic muscles drawing all kinds of things in a number of different styles that I don’t normally do so it’s really helpful. I watch 1FW all the time and what you’re talking about is exactly what I’m trying to do, build a brand and an audience of people that would be interested in the brand.
I've seen this model work first-hand when I was with the Nerdarchy RU-vid channel, where we started to pick-up momentum and run a business, but it wasn't the right thing for me to be doing with my spare creative time, hence starting over at square one with an art YT channel.
Thanks scott, a interesting take on the reality of working in this field. I'm kinda at a crossroads myself, with something similar. Tattooing and keeping a real job. Having a few disappointments . But missing drawing and inking what I want to do. I'am in middle of making some changes, watching your video mate is encouraging, that what I'm looking to do , is the right thing for me. Sooooo thanks for that.
Found your channel recently, good stuff! I'm a nobody on the online webcomics scene, and have only been doing it for over a year, but I understand this. I've got a full-time stable job, and I feel that allows me to do whatever I want with my webcomics. I see alot of people online making webcomics to get patrons, get commissions, or "move up". Don't get me wrong, if somebody wants to pay me for making comics, that would be cool, but I'm just doing my own stuff and stories with no pressure. Just enjoying it as a passion.
Yeah, there's been a lot of back and forth and changes in my career and the way I feel at one point in my life may change. It's important to keep an open mind and be willing to shift and adapt.
@@ScottSerkland definitely! Thanks for your videos again. As somebody who didn't draw for 10 years and just getting back with my webcomics, your videos are going to be very helpful.
I'm really happy for you and rooting for your continued success with making comics and making art! I really agree with you on building an audience. I've been trying to do that, and it has been really slow. I've only been on youtube for about a year or so. I have about 200 some subscribers, but I would say I have roughly 20 people out of that bunch that actually watch, comment, and like my videos. I'm not complaining, just saying that building an audience is hard! For example, most groups on facebook have rules that are so tight that a person really can't share much to an audience that probably would like whatever the product/post was. So even sharing stuff on various social media is hard. With your almost 5k subscribers in a couple of years, well, it gives me hope. Not hope for being a youtube star, but hope to build a audience of people who want to read the comics I'm making. I definately think you have the right mindset on finding jobs that give you the time and the peace of mind to work on your comics. And Congrats on your new job. But let me mention this, and I hope you give this some serious thought (what I'm about to type): You really should start pitching your youtube videos to PBS and other public broadcasting stations (for example Kentucky's KET). I think your sitting on money. You have excellent video editing skills, great personalty, cool backdrop...etc. I think you should make about 12 videos geared toward kids on how to draw monsters, robots, animals...etc, and then try to see if you can lease the rights (for money) to tv stations looking for content. This would grow your brand and your audience. If your worried about being typecast, don't. Mr Conductor and his numerous HBO specials dispell that myth. Anyway, just an idea. Something to consider. At any rate, I'm really happy for your success. I'm rooting for you and I think your going places man!
Thanks C.B. That means a lot. It’s really about sticking to it. I think I’ve been on You Tube for close to five years and it wasn’t until recently the things have started to pick up some real momentum. I like the idea about creating an art show for kids. I just don’t know if I have the time with everything else on my plate. I have pitched tv shows before and it’s a lot of work and a lot of rejections. I’m hoping if I continue to build an audience I will be in a much better position to propose a show down the road.
I work two jobs and still come home and work on my projects and do a podcast on RU-vid. Its...its not for everyone, but I agree you kinda gotta sacrifice and do the due diligence to get there. Its always going to be totally worth it. Great video and there is truth to this.
Great video Scott! I think i'll always strive to go full time freelance and create for myself rather than work for the man, but its definitely hard finding that balance and paying the bills at the end of each week.
I do want to quite my day job, but not to be a freelancer. I want to be an independent artist/ creoter with my own brand. Both for freedom (location independent) and for a better stablity (like you said, full time jobs aren't stable where as you can't fire your self). If I do the right things and mix in some luck, I expect to actually have better opportunities than just depending on my full time. freelance is the same, you never know when that next paycheck will come while still waiting on late pay clients.
I think you and I have to same goal. I do like my day job so I have no plans of quitting any time soon. but who knows if or for how long that will last. I want to build a brand and an audience to support it. So if that job goes away I’ll still be able to support my family. And if my business blows up and I’m in a position where I need to dedicate all my time to it, I’m cool with that. Anyway I think you are doing everything right. I keep seeing you pop up in Q and A s in other artist videos and in the comment sections. So your engaged in the community and your putting out great content. Just keep at it.
I was working as a restaurant manger trying to do art shows and the lifestyle of being in the food industry killed my time but also hurt my art ! I got sick and got disabled and in my free time I’ve gotten back into my art I’ve done shows. Self taught myself some digital ar and have taken classes. Now I’m getting healthier and want to get. Even more into my art
Sorry to here about your illness and disability, but happy to hear your health is improving and have been a able to rekindle your love of creating art.
here during the last 8 years i`v been working from monday to monday and i do my artwork at night or in the other jobs-lunch time-. after more than 30 years trying just to be an artist-cartoonist-it has become almost a hobby, sometimes payed. it`s just the way it is.
I totally resonate with that, Scott! I'm in the same boat you were before. I'm a full-time comic book artist, but I'm signing with a publisher to release my first creator owned graphic novel (and I'm releasing a small indie game related to my IP as well). It has been my goal since the beginning. So, to speed up my process of working on my own products, I decided to make alliances and have business partners, as publishers and investors. I don't care about sharing profits. If it makes me reach my goal faster, I'm on it :) And I really, really know what you mean about working two full time jobs. My health declined because a burnout issue, but if I didn't do that, I'd never finished anything. No regrets. About a full-time job, I'd like to get one, but I can only be a comic book artist because I live in another country and work via remote. ( that's the funny part XD )
That’s so awesome! I love hearing stories like this, were artists pursue their dreams of creating their original creations and are making it happen. Best of luck!
I found you from when you created some of the micrit characters. I always enjoy your content and set up. you have a good camera presence and have all the tools for success keep it up :)
Ya’ know what would be cool? Make your own game. You designed alot of Miscrits and it got really famous. It’d probably extremely famous and succesful. I hope you look into this and actually do this.
Thanks Karl, game design takes a lot of programing knowledge that I don't really have, plus the amount of artwork that goes into creating a came is a lot of work for one person. It would take petty much all of my time and I'd much rather be doing the stuff I'm doing now so unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon. :(
Serkworks Art Labs can’t you like, hire people? I have seen a few solo game creators that hired people at first without pay, and then they pay them back when they actually got succesful. And I believe that you’ll be successful no matter what you do.
I never wanted to take a full time job for fear that I wouldn't have time to create comics, or socialize with my friends. At the same time, I don't want to get burnt out form do ing so much artwork, or at a normal job that I don't like. So I'm still trying to figure out how to map out may life.
It's different for everyone Mark, some people get burnt out on being creative when they have a creative day job, for others it helps inspire them, you just need to find out what type of creative you are and what works best for you.
Thanks. It’s actually Dr. Forrester who where’s the green lab coat so I guess I need to find a TV’s Frank. But yes MST3K I s big influence, that and Beakman’s World.
@@ScottSerkland I went with TVs Frank since you dont have Forrester's glasses mustache and hair, and you, like TV Frank has a clean pristine face (a face a mother would certainty love). It was the bright lime green jacket and faux laboratory backdrop that connected the rest of the dots for me. High five to you for being a fellow MST fan! :D
When I worked in Game-Dev and traveled 2 hours a day, I was definitely burned out. Now working shifts in another industry I want to get back to an art job where I can utilize my skills and make informed decisions rather than feeling directed by others. It's a constant wrestle between making sure I spend 'some' productive time each day on my interests, while being disciplined enough to spend the majority of the day doing stuff I don't really want to. But I guess that's a lot of non-professionals art people hey. Creating stuff in the early morning is my tip, stealing those 'best hours' for MY stuff.
I totally understand the feeling of getting burnt out at the art job to the point where it’s difficult to get inspired to create your own work after creating work for others all day. I can also see how working in an unrelated field would have you wanting to fill some of your down time with creative projects and early in the morning is a great time to do your art. Since this video I have gone back to freelance full time and and much happier. I think it’s all just an evolution until you find a situation that works best for your and your artistic journey.
No shame in that. I always recommend getting a day job and working on improving you art on the side rather than trying to make ends meet with low paying art jobs.
I'm obviously watching this a year later, so I was wondering how are you balancing your day job and the freelancing/comic making on the side? I've personally done it non stop for 8 years and I burnt out, so how are you dealing with the "two full time jobs"? Any tips? I haven't been able to draw for a couple of years, but I'm hoping I'll be making more comics again this year.
Things have changed a bit. I’m no longer working that job. Now I work from home with just a few select clients and the rest of the time I’m working on my on personal work. I never really felt burned out when I had the day job but I never got to that 8 year mark like you did. I don’t blame you. I’ve never made it more that three years at a day job before being laid off. I wish I had some advice, but I think everyone has there own threshold as to how much of they can take without burning out. I do hope you get back to making comics!
I do have dreams of quitting my day job. I work for TSA, so as you can see, there's no art going on there lol! I draw every chance I get and I want to draw and create my comic as well as design logos and various types of characters for shirts and stickers. The only thing is, it's tough to get a following and finding real people who actually likes my work is a whole other issue. @Darris_onthegoart is my Instagram and I have 4k followers, but very little likes. So it makes me feel like my dream probably won't happen. So I feel like I'm just stuck and wasting paper and ink on a false goal. Or maybe my work Judy sucks lol? I'm not sure, but I'm happy that you've found something that works for you Scott and I love your channel and all of the great information you provide for us. I admire you and I hope that this year will push you even further along to your ultimate goal!
Thank you I appreciate that. 4K subscribers on Instagram is impressive. It's way more followers than I have. Sounds like you have had success building an an audience on Instagram. It's just a matter of sticking with it. Hopefully eventually things will begin to fall into place and your audience will continue to grow. It's important to enjoy the journey so that even if you don't reach the level of success your hoping for you have no regrets, but I think if you stick to it you will see things start to grow.
I have a full time job and I recently started drawing in my freetime and I'm starting to get decent so now I want to work on making small comics and maybe someday I can sell one for like a dollar also my job isn't an art related job at all
It just takes time and dedication. I have Since when back to working for myself but when I had the full time job I managed to make time to work on my Comics. Good luck!
Hello! Thanks for sharing.its really nice to hear about your experiences as I can learn alot from it(also second thoughts maybe 3 😂😂 if I really should) ,but yeah I like the idea about going for artist too i mean I draw pretty average but better than most of the people I know. I want to make a comic I guess I've got a story I'm working on but yeah the journey is the scary part 😂😂
You're right it is a journey and it can be scary, my journey has take me to a different place than I was when I recorded this video. I am no longer working at the day job, I'm back to doing more freelance, but also spending most of my time on my own personal projects. It's a very nice balance, but it's not easy. Sometimes the things that are best for you are not the easiest roads to take.
I often wonder how many others share our same experience. At face value it seems like an odd way to pursue your personal passion projects, but it works for us.
I was in the mobile gaming business as an artist for five years and was lucky to survive several layoffs until last year. I took some time off to recharge and work on my own projects. I have interviewed at a few places but with no luck. There is a lot of competition out there as an artist with industry veterans also looking for work as well as new graduates every semester. So instead of having a game company hire me I just ended up making my own mobile game. I have also always wanted to make my own comic book , so I will be working on that next.
That’s awesome! Yeah the game design industry is hard. I worked for three different companies in the span of five years and each company eventually went out of business. It’s always a good idea to have a side hustle. No job is secure nowadays.
i was a freelance but never got to surface with the stability issue. i got to use my alternative powers to survive. today i do designs or art now and then it comes by. pretty difficult field.
Serkworks Art Labs that is why I wake up at 5am and work on art for an hour and a half before work. Unless my 2 year old wakes up early lol... After the hobbit is asleep I get more art related things done. The chaos of it all can be inspiring and time restraints helps me keep focused. I'm happy I found your RU-vid channel. :)
Sometimes that's the wise decision, I'm back to Freelancing full time now, Hopefully I can do it a little smarter this time and not have so much of my time spent on the marketing.
Nice one, another great and informative video Scott, I gotta sub to you for this one man. By the way I take it that's a sable brush? What is it, a #2 (also what brand is it please? Looks like it could be a W & N Series 7?)? I love watching you ink, you rock the s**t outta that brush
No problem you deserve it Scott! Really enjoy your content. I *thought* that was probably a Series 7, I'm trying to get re-used to my #3 at the moment by making the most "dead"/unvaried line I can with it, I'm finding it a pretty good approach to learning control. I mostly use Hunt 102/108's for my inking but I've been obsessed with Dan DeCarlo and Tim Hensley's brush-work recently. Cheers for the reply! PS Lol I just opened the..whaddyacallit...the "indicia" of the video?, I dunno, anyway I just saw you list your art tools, sorry to make you repeat yourself!
Hi great video, I do have a question about a previous video... you showed a 3D poster which I believe you had printed at Cat print, I wrote to them and they said they do not print 3D also it would be something the artist would do before hand...dude how did you do a 3D poster ??/
Yes the artist has to design the 3-D print and do all the separations on different layers. It’s a complicated process but that might be a good topic to do a video on.
Oh man that would be amazing to watch, I am in the process of planning a comic which I hope to sell at conventions and a poster like this would be a great eye catcher.
For the record I don't believe that freelance art isn't a real job. I freelanced for years and it was very good to me. It's just when you're titling videos you want to use words with the most emotional impact and I thought "real job" would get more clicks than "day job." BTW is that actual a C3PO quote? I don't remember it.
Not a real quote. :) I am currently freelancing and took slight offence. I work hard and this is a real job. I understand your standpoint, I was a full-time artist too and for a long time, and I understand the reasons for having a shock title for click bait sakes. Then again I just find this a little condescending, or cheap tactics at the least. Maybe it is time to transcend the RU-vid mindset. Good content and good community don't need the flashy lights and yellow "50% Off" signs. I am just painting a picture. You have to right to your voice, and didn't do too much wrong, but for what it's worth you could have use a better tone.
hey, what kind of ink and brush do you use? and also do you have any advice for me as a very young artist (18) idk if I want to go into art full time and I have very many other work opportunities that arent with art, but i really love doing it and i know im going to do it all my life, but i dont know if i should go into it full time as maybe a graphic 3d artist or illustrator, becuase from what people tell me i am pretty ok art doing art lol but i still just dont know and i was wondering if you had any advice
Hey Andrew, I use a Windsor & Newton Series 7 size 1 brush and Deleter Black No. 5 Manga ink. Your next question is a little harder to answer. It really depends on the individual. For me there wasn’t ever really a choice as to what I wanted to do. I never got good grades in school and really the only thing I was good at was art. I know a lot of people who have great jobs outside of art and pursue art as a hobby and are really happy. On the other hand I know people who work in careers out side of art and regret it because they aren’t doing what they love. It’s really a choice you have to make for yourself. Just know that if you choose to do art full time it will likely not be easy. For a lot of artist. It’s something they work and struggle at it constantly. It’s more of a lifestyle than a career. If that scares you I would proceed with extreme caution. If not than an art career might be right for you.
I probably should have been more clear when I said "real job" because a lot of people didn't pick up on the fact that I was using that term because that's what the general public thinks about art as a profession in general. I was being facetious. Like it or not sometimes you have to use certain words or phrases especially on RU-vid as a way to entice people to watch the video. Obviously, I don't believe that freelance illustration is not a real job, because I've done it myself for 20 years Update: this is an older video, I have since moved on from full-time employment to focus more on my personal projects and I'm much happier. So while the topic of this video was a good decision at the time, things change and my opinions back then may not reflect the way I feel today.
Serkworks Labs Thank you for clearing that up bc honestly “real job” that sounded like something my mom would say to me when I say I want to be an artist
Nice style and blacks. Your figures on this page don't fit the perspective though. You have 3 panels of her with the same 3/4 front view and 3 of the same back view.
Thanks. I appreciate the honest critique. These are issue I will pay closer attention to in the future. It’s refreshing to get thoughtful constructive criticism as opposed to “Your art sucks bro”
Not sure if you just read the title and didn't watch the video or don't understand sarcasm. I have freelanced off and on throughout my career and only have respect for freelance artists. I was being facetious.
