Wobbily Painted Stones III: Overalls.

'Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work'.
Probably my favourite quote of all time.

Thus far in this gently sporadic collection of bits of advice, I've covered expectations on leaving college, and Ethics:

http://inkymole.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wobbily-painted-stones.html
http://inkymole.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wobbily-painted-stones-ethics.html

I'm going to post other chunks of information culled from twenty years at the mucky coalface, and compiled from a very long seminar I've delivered many times over the years (with regular updates for changes of landscape and technology) in the hope that they are useful for people wishing to learn, and make a living from, the same (or similar) trade as me.

It IS a trade. Remember that. We're not here to be superstars. Or to get gongs, massive public acclaim, tons of birds, money or film credits (though some illustrators have done all of those things).

No. Our job is to turn this:

- into this:

and be accountants, directors, marketing managers, financial planners, account handlers, traffic managers, the human resources department, tea lady, media planner, student liaison, bailiff and PR guru at the same time. As well as the odd bit of drawing.

For me, this sometimes doesn't happen till right at the end of the day, when I've dealt with the hectares of email, web stuff, brief reading and printing, skipping through the manuscript I've been sent, discussing things with the ever-patient assistant or accounts lady, blogging, updating my website, accounting software, banking, done stuff in town, and made my phone calls. That moment is nice - pencil in hand, I finally get to 'the real stuff'.

But of course it's all 'the real stuff'. You're a business, and as soon as you get comfortable with that idea, the better. You might well end up actually doing 'the work' at night time, when everything else is done. But that's OK, as long as you do (and as long as the client knows, and you're keeping on top of their expectations.) For now, then, I recommend this book as a way to get started in arming yourself with the detail of running a creative business, ‘The Illustrator’s Guide to Law and Business Practice’ is by Simon Stern, and published by the Association of Illustrators. It's not their latest book, but it's still a great guide to the basics of law, copyright, fees, licences and more. Don't buy it from Amazon - get it here, and support the only trade body we have in the UK for our industry.

That's it for now.

Next, I do The Web. All of it. Yeah - you best get that kettle on.

Wobbily-Painted Stones.

I've been trying to write this article for a couple for weeks. I wanted to write something for the hundreds of students graduating this June, before they start emailing asking me the same questions I'm asked every year, on the same subject of 'How To Become A Successful Illustrator'. It just wasn't coming. Couldn't explain why.

At the same time, a company had asked me to write an article for them, co-incidentally titled 'How to become a freelance illustrator, by Sarah J. Coleman'.

Now, the thing is, for years I've been invited to give talks, workshops and seminars on promotion, marketing, life with an agent (or without), getting the first job and so on. At each one my advice would alter a little, and at each one, particularly the early ones, I'd get a gentle, nagging sense of fraud, as if I didn't really believe myself, or had no authority to suggest these things with any gumption. Who was I to advise?

But last week I celebrated the fact that, twenty years ago, I graduated. Two decades ago, I walked out of college and straight into work. I haven't stopped working since. You might think this finally gives me the authority to issue one of those passive-aggressive caps-on-every-word 'Ten Reasons Why You Are Failing To Become A Successful Freelancer' blah blah bollocks.  Well it doesn't. You won't get that from me. There is no set recipe. There isn't a magic cast-iron formula, and anyone who accuses you of failing at anything because you haven't done x, y and z is to be approached with caution - and a hearty sense of humour. Those people quite possibly mean well, but they can be, well - mean. And the last thing you need in your life is breathless panic.

It would take many seminars and lectures to pass on what I've learned. To be brutally frank, I could sell the information to you, if you bought enough of my time. Or you could buy any one of the many, varied books out there proffering such bullet-pointed advice. Perhaps mine, if I'd written one (I never did. Paul Arden wrote the best ones, if you're to invest in any at all).

The thing is, I've realised after this length of time that it's so undeniably organic. It's a gentle, bumpy process which renders any advice changeable (As Sage Francis said, "the only thing that remains the same is change"), and it's only ever one person's experience anyway. And it can't really be distilled that easily. I could tell you the actual physical steps to getting your first paid job, but you can and will work that out for yourself, and probably have already. I could warn you about the absolute importance of doing your OWN social networking, and using your own natural voice when you do so. (People know when you're acting, and they're wary). I could also drone on about the non-negotiable importance of correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in all communications, and manners and protocols when talking with clients.

Note that I said 'talking with clients' not 'dealing with'. If there's a second crucial thing to pass on it's that every single aspect of your business will be about relationships.

For example:

- your relationship with your work
- the relationships you build with clients (they can mature and be enriched with time)
- the relationship you learn to have with your own strengths, weaknesses and foibles
- your relationship with risks and mistakes

- speaking of which.

I've just tried to take a sabbatical where I took a whole two weeks 'off' to focus on personal projects which had waited patiently for my attention for months.

It failed spectacularly.

This was because I'm still, 20 years on, taking 99% of all the jobs I'm offered, even when it means sacrificing my own personal development.
Also, because I was cripplingly näive to think 2 weeks was anything close to enough.
It wasn't. Try two months Sarah. Or four.

You might by now, as a graduate reading this, think that this is not something I should have to worry about anymore, that I can relax and pick and choose my jobs. But I can't. OK, to a certain extent I can, and definitely should, but The Fear hasn't gone away. Which is probably why I'm still working.

And you, fair stude, should certainly not be worrying about picking and choosing your jobs. Nope. Point three, I suppose. Providing it's not going to put you in prison or a place of financial or moral bankruptcy, do it. Do as much as you can, have a go. Cock a few things up, make some nice mistakes (you'll be able to laugh at them later...just, maybe in twenty years' time), experiment but don't get stressed about the word. Don't bloody panic if you haven't got an online shop. People don't buy as many prints as you think they will. Graft. Practice and keep going. Stay up as late as you have to, but don't be a hero about it. Don't make a martyr of yourself to caffeine. No-one's impressed, least of all the client. Look after your relationships (all of them). Have a few mardies (in private), feel slighted by feedback, bask in the glory of a met deadline and the misery of your first non-payer.

You'll reach a folio of magnificent wonkiness and honesty but that, rather than any Top Ten of Tips, will get you further than anything.

It's a philosophy of sorts, and it'll have to do for now.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try and get that actual, meaningful sabbatical since I cocked the first one up; I really am doing some serious learning aren't I?

I'm no expert. I'm just a bit further down the road from you. I can't give you a cast-iron how-to, but I don't mind leaving a trail of wobbily-painted stones to show you which way I came. Look! There's a nice bright orange one. It's got a bit of gold on it too.