Question Abouts Freelancing from Student.
polycounter lvl 13
Hello, Im a student from the UK aged 18.
Im doing a graphical art course, I have chosen to focus around game design and 2D graphical design. Im coming closer toward the end of my education (unless I go to UNI), I feel that if I got to UNI I will be wasting my time and money as I feel I can achieve what I would do a UNI at home.
I was speaking with a teacher about what I wanna do in the future, the subject of freelancing came up, I was saying I could just go freelancing instead of UNI (or doing both which I dont really wanna do) My teacher then said to talk to some people who do freelancing, So I have a few questions if you dont mind answering.
-How often do you get work from companies or small groups of people?
-How much do you get paid? (per job or in total)
-Is it possible to make a living of freelancing?
-Should freelancing be a "hobby" not a full time work effort?
-Should you start doing freelancing then move onto getting a full time job?
-Do you have another job while doing freelancing?
-What are the positives of doing freelancing? (and negatives)
-and any other information you have to give on the matter.
Thank You.
Im doing a graphical art course, I have chosen to focus around game design and 2D graphical design. Im coming closer toward the end of my education (unless I go to UNI), I feel that if I got to UNI I will be wasting my time and money as I feel I can achieve what I would do a UNI at home.
I was speaking with a teacher about what I wanna do in the future, the subject of freelancing came up, I was saying I could just go freelancing instead of UNI (or doing both which I dont really wanna do) My teacher then said to talk to some people who do freelancing, So I have a few questions if you dont mind answering.
-How often do you get work from companies or small groups of people?
-How much do you get paid? (per job or in total)
-Is it possible to make a living of freelancing?
-Should freelancing be a "hobby" not a full time work effort?
-Should you start doing freelancing then move onto getting a full time job?
-Do you have another job while doing freelancing?
-What are the positives of doing freelancing? (and negatives)
-and any other information you have to give on the matter.
Thank You.
Replies
-How often do you get work from companies or small groups of people?
That depends, how good of a salesman are you? How good of a network do you have? Who do you know? Do you know where to find jobs? It's up to you is how much work you get. No one else.
-How much do you get paid? (per job or in total)
Again, there is no solid answer. What are your overheads? How much do you need to charge to be able to pay for things like software costs, power, rent, food etc? What other bills do you have? Granted, you can't go over charging but you can't forget about things that are not related to the work itself. Typically you'll charge hourly, but what that rate actually is is left up to you.
-Is it possible to make a living of freelancing?
Absolutely. I know a few people who are only freelancers. But it didn't happen overnight. It takes a a while.
-Should freelancing be a "hobby" not a full time work effort?
Initially, yes. You should have a solid fall back job to start. As I said, freelancing is hard to get into as many of the higher paying jobs won't take a risk on someone new. They just don't know if you are going to be reliable or not. It's the old conundrum of you can't get work unless you have experience, but how can you get experience if you can't get work?
-Should you start doing freelancing then move onto getting a full time job?
The other way around. Full time, freelance on the side. Then decide if you can make the move to full time freelance.
-Do you have another job while doing freelancing?
See the previous 2 answers.
-What are the positives of doing freelancing? (and negatives)
Positives:
- You are your own boss, you are the man now dog!
- You get to work from home, often in your underwear
- You set your rate, you take home all of the money
- You pick your jobs
Negative:- You are your own boss (Do you know how to write a contract? Do you know how to deal with getting paid if the client is being tough? Do you know how to pay for taxes and how much from each job should you save to pay taxes at the end of the year? Do you know how to fill out tax forms?)
- You get to work from home (are you motivated enough to not waste your day playing video games?)
- Finding work. Many times if you use freelance websites, the job descriptions will say "Cheap rate countries only" which since you are in the UK you are automatically disqualified.
- Organizational skills
- Having to be the schmoozer, the door to door salesman. At least a negative for me as I'm not a fan of the sales and schmoozing aspect.
- Dealing with clients who think they can take advantage of you
- Getting clients to pay
- It's cutthroat
- You are your own IT support
- Software costs. Don't be a dildo and use cracked software.
- Sometimes inconsistent workflow. Some days you are overloaded, some days you are not. Can you go a month or 3 without work and still pay your bills? Are you willing to pull all nighters to get work done?
Freelancing isn't easy. You need to know every little aspect of business or else you are in for some serious hurt. Don't save any of your money for end of the year taxes? Whoops! I guess your Government will be okay with you not paying them the thousands of dollars you owe.how often you get work is very dependent on how connected you are. you HAVE to know people in order to get work. there's only so much you can get from cold calling. there's a LOT of mediocre artists in the freelance circuit so you need to be very good and have a good work history if you want to make a living doing it.
so yes, you should probably treat it as a "hobby" while you get started.
i disagree with the above poster though; freelancing is a great way to get a foot in the door for full time work. it shows you know how studios operate and can get stuff done on time.
positives:
-more flexible
-more project variation
-generally making better art (more full assets less grunt work)
-work from home, live wherever you want
-less dealing with people (if you hate people)
-less dealing with bad management and horrible crunch times
-the potential to work less hours per week for decent pay, meaning spare time if you get your work done fast
negatives:
-makes less money than inhouse
-need to be well connected
-need to be good at what you do
-need to handle your own taxes
-not 100% secure
-need to manage your own time and clients
-software costs
-less dealing with people (if you need to be with people)
-need to be very thourough with everything you do (being that type of person and it helps a LOT)
for me it's a good balance between money, working, and free time. i also live in the middle of nowhere and am not willing to leave the area so that's a factor as well. if you want to do it full time, you need to be on top of your game and be well connected, and that takes a long time to do.
if you're just looking to get your footing, work a crappy day job and do some freelance on the side. eventually you can use that leverage to get a job inhouse.
I do this. I work a crappy retail job and just recently got my first freelance gig. It may suck to have to work a job you don't like but it will help you get a foot in.
I work part time at a small studio managing graphic's & development while i'm at my uni course. Long hours, shit pay, lots of stress but i now have my foot in the door. Networked with a lot of people so i can happily more upwards to something i will enjoy more.
Might sound shit, but work for buttons to build your portfolio while you're at a solid part-time job or full time education. After that, start charging more as you gain experience.
It depends on who you ask. IME If you're a super prodigy that can implement new graphics papers into code and/or do other awesome stuff that makes your work cutting edge then yes, absolutely you can get small gigs.
Always remember that there are people that will bullshit you all day long. When you see these peoples 3d work its often very childish and uninspired.
it's very possible, you really just need networking to get that foot in. someone you know may be looking for someone else to take their spot with a client as they leave for a different job, or a studio your friend works for is looking to wrap up a game quickly and needs manpower etc. get your name out there.
yes, generally companies will not have a problem with international artists.
I finished school and didn't know what I wanted to do. At the age of 17 I had it in my head that I could spend 4 years working on my skills by myself rather than going to university. In terms of pay, I was making £xxx-£xxxx per project with quick turnarounds whilst I was a teen. Since I was only aged 13-18, I never had to actually work a real job the whole time I was growing up.I really couldn't decide what to do so I took a year out instead. In that year, I gained a lot of experience doing a bunch of graphic-design related jobs. It was great but I always felt like there was something lacking. I was highly motivated but I felt like my learning could be more focussed.
After my year out I made the decision to go to university, spent 4 years there studying Computer Arts and came out with even more experience and even more contacts. I can tell you now that you won't be taught much at university, it's all self taught if you plan on succeeding. However university helps you to grow up and gives you room to fail - which I found was important in becoming more mature. I know people I've worked with in the games industry who regret not going to university. A degree isn't necessary in our area of work, but it's good to have if you intend on moving out of the UK. In my case, education is free for those born in Scotland so I figured why not!
It's possible to make a living from freelancing but it really depends on your area of work. I did Graphic Design so there was always somebody wanting my services. In games, it depends how much of a niche area it is that you work in but it's always a given that you have to be the best. Niche areas in the games industry are things like weapons, vehicles, HUD/UI and concept art. Some of these are often handled by Outsourcing companies though (especially Environment art), which means you're up against them unless you're part of one. This is why having contacts and networking is important, as is having a good track record.
Similarly, there are a bunch of short term contract roles available for all kinds of positions and these offer pretty good wages due to the nature of the projects. These are the types of things which can help fill in the time if you're that keen about freelancing full-time.