Asking for Advice About Freelancing

TAN

(I am not sure if this is the right place for the thread but if it is not I am sure admins will carry it to right one)

Hello everyone ! I wanted to look for 3D freelance works out there on the net, but I thought getting some advice before starting would be much more better.

So I pray thou ! Wisdom of Polycount ! Aid me on my quest ! :poly136:

To get back to subject, I am curious about what I should watch out. Also any tips and tricks would be welcome too.
Also general information about how work ethics, principles, contracts, formats and pricing methods work would be great.

Thanks to anybody who would share their experience. :poly136:

MikeF

contract. contract. contract.
GET A CONTRACT, really cant stress this enough.
This protects both parties and if someone refuses to deal with them, its a pretty sure bet they'r up to no good.
There are tons of free templates online to start from, so there's no excuse there.

-Always get paid before you hand over work.
-ask for deposits on new contracts (i usually do 50% of a quoted fee with the remainder payable upon completion)
-Dont undercut yourself! This can be tricky at first until you know how fast you can get things done, but its part of the process
-Take into account all your expenses to best determine your rates (rent, utilities, health insurance, hardware upgrades etc... http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/)

almighty_gir

get a contract... and try to get "in" with an outsourcing studio. because finding freelance as a solo artist is REALLY hard, unless you're one of the industry rock-stars.

TAN

These are some great advices. Thanks a lot.

TAN

@ almighty_gir

You really hit the spot there ! How do you even find a studio looking for "freelance" artists. I don't remember seeing a game studio puting a freelancer game job posting on their site, or am I wrong ?

almighty_gir

man, it's really hard. you basically have to hook one or two huge gigs, and pretty much rape your life to pull off an amazing job...

quote them like a reasonable amount of hours, and then put in "unpaid overtime". if you do a good enough job, hopefully word of mouth will spread you round other studios within the same publisher.

but like i said, it's harder and harder to do this as a solo artist now man. most studios will just hire an outsourcing studio instead of a bunch of solo artists... and why wouldn't they? at an outsource studio they don't have to manage each individual artist, and there's enough of them that they can reasonably guarantee a good standard of work across multiple disciplines. hiring solo artists means they have to find a good character artist, a good environment artist, a good prop artist... and then try to manage them so that they're consistant in their art styles etc.

TAN

Got your point. So what are the best ones ( outsourcing studios) out there you can advice ? I don't think these studios will allow you to become a member of any other outsourcing studios, right ? That is why I guess I wiil have to chose wisely from start.

Blaisoid

contract. contract. contract.
GET A CONTRACT, really cant stress this enough.
This protects both parties and if someone refuses to deal with them, its a pretty sure bet they'r up to no good.

so, how does one prepare a contract when client and freelancer live in different countries?

does having a signed contract even mean much when someone from a different country decides to screw you over? i imagine it's really hard to make someone pay in such cases.

also, what actually makes a contract valid? does it need to be printed, signed by one person/company, sent to the other person, signed by the other person, copied, and sent back?
or can you just get a digital file, print it, sign it, scan it and send scans back?

that's how one company made me sign an nda. they did mention that they would want to get the original paper some time later but in the end they never asked for it.

biofrost

I can double on getting paid before you hand over work. Just finished up my first freelancing job and I was told id be paid soon and I have no reason to doubt them yet but still getting the money first would eliminate any worry you may have from waiting.

Torch

If you're good enough, you can find freelance work. Depending on your level you might have to drop your rates to something fairly low when starting off - especially when dealing with indie clients on a low budget... but hey getting paid for what you're passionate about beats stacking shelves at the local supermarket

MikeF

Torch wrote: »

If you're good enough, you can find freelance work. Depending on your level you might have to drop your rates to something fairly low when starting off - especially when dealing with indie clients on a low budget... but hey getting paid for what you're passionate about beats stacking shelves at the local supermarket

+1 to that. Its not always going to be a situation where you can charge your top rate, but if it means paying rent at the end of the month, you need to be flexible sometimes.

Blaisoid: More than anything, a contract in this case is to avoid any kind of he said, she said situations. Almost all of my freelance jobs have been out of the country, so if i did get screwed, i'd have to lawyer up and the costs involved there far outweigh any possible profit.

So if the contract is riding on a lot of time and money, then start things out with a lawyer. Otherwise establish a good working relationship where everything is clearly laid out from the beginning. Dont work with shady people, and remember that designers are the people that make things happen, so the ball is in our court from the start.

KarlWrang

MikeF wrote: »

So if the contract is riding on a lot of time and money, then start things out with a lawyer. Otherwise establish a good working relationship where everything is clearly laid out from the beginning. Dont work with shady people, and remember that designers are the people that make things happen, so the ball is in our court from the start.

And also, try portioning up the payment in different stages if it's a big contract. Blockouts, highpolys etc. So you don't find yourself having to beg your parents for money, or even worse having to beg for a prepayment from the client.

Ben Regimbal wrote an awesome article on the subject of freelancing(page.40): http://www.artbypapercut.com/

Eric Chadwick

Also we have some info here
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryGameIndustry#Freelancing

TAN

The flow of experience and ideas here is amazing. Especially Eric Chadwick and
KarlWrang , thanks for the sources people.
I am really getting an idea of what is what at this point. Thanks a lot people.

Meanwhile, is there anyone here on Polycount that works with that kind of outsourcing studio ? Some insight would be great.

Lennyagony

Small tip for maintaining a healthy rate of pay even when you may need to lower your rates or undercut initially.

Make sure you add the reduction as a discount to your invoice,

For example

Suited male character - $2000.0
New client discount - $600.0
Total - $1400.0

This makes sure the next time you work with this client you aren't cornering yourself into a lower rate of pay, makes the conversation about a higher rate for the next contract easy or non existent and you may even get brownie points for clearly offering a discount.

TAN

Thanks for giving a clear example with numbers Lennyagony. It really helps visaulising the conversation

low odor

Don't go huge stretches of work without being paid..especially with new clients..invoice every 2 weeks..and 2 weeks from invoice should be plenty of time to get paid.

Drav

also if you do pay per asset, dont hand over anything but screenshots until you get paid

TAN

So any other advices out there ?

TAN

OK everyone. I am posting to say that I've finally finished a blog for my portfolio and getting on my way to freelance world.
I want to thank every single person who has offered priceless advice about the adventurous world of freelancing. Everyone of you are a great person.
I hope this thread shows the way to other beginners who are about to embark their own quests