Freelancing at home

AlexLegg

Probably a bit of an odd questions, but I assume most game artists who are freelancers work at the office of the current employer, they change offices every few weeks/months depending on the contract.

However, are there any freelance game artists out there who get to work from home?

I'm asking with the UK in mind, but I'd be interested to hear anyones thoughts.

Ben Apuna

I did all my freelance work from home.

I'd say it's more fun to be in an office with actual co-workers...

Different timezones can be an issue too.

Uly

Would go into more detail, but dangerously boring.
That being said, sometimes you get pretty cool work.

Ben Apuna

Oh, and buying ALL of your own apps kind of sucks when you first start out... unless of course you have a stable flow of work and clients that pay well.

chrisradsby

Being self-employed like that you have to be able to write some of the stuff off right? Business expenses and the like? New hardware? Software? Office supplies? ^^

Ben Apuna

Sure you can write it all off, but you still have to pay for it all.

AlexLegg

So how does working from home work, with regards to finding work?

Can you only do it if you are a well established and respected artist? I guess in that situation people come to you and ask for work to be done?

When looking at freelance job postings I've never seen anything that mentions that they are happy for you to work from home. So how do you go about specifing to the client and/or looking for jobs where you can work from home?

I have no idea how this would work?!!!

chrisradsby

Well, the best thing would probably be to start off with some mod-teams, show that you can actually put stuff into fully functional games. Try to get some clients while doing that, post on different forums etc etc, contact people. Work for cheap etc.

Lamont

chrisradsby wrote: »

Being self-employed like that you have to be able to write some of the stuff off right? Business expenses and the like? New hardware? Software? Office supplies? ^^

Software does not have depreciation, while hardware does.

Some days it's hard some it's not. Since I am at home, means I have the baby, so instead of fighting it, I just work strange hours into the night.

Ben Apuna

It's a chicken/egg syndrome, can't get work without experience, can't get experience without work. chrisradsby's suggestion of starting with mod teams and indie developers is a good one.

My first off-site freelance job was working for a small company that posted that they were looking for help on a forum. My second off-site job was through a referral from a former co-worker. I've also contacted companies directly though ~99% of the time they "aren't interested", which might have meant that my portfolio quality wasn't up to par, or that they just don't use off-site contractors.

My impression of being a on-site contract artist is that the contract is for a set period of time which means steady income, whereas off-site is usually work on a "per asset" basis.

IMHO, if you don't have a great portfolio then don't expect to make a good living doing any type of freelance work.

AlexLegg

Thanks Ben. Useful info.

So putting the caveats (like portfolio strength etc) to one side, how did you get the rest of your work (I assume you work for a company now)? Did you have to bid, or reply to posts or referrals?

Were the clients aware that you worked from home, or did you have to explain to them? and did that cause any issues?

I'd also be interested in anyone else's opinion on this.

Entity

I work at home, and I get a steady stream of jobs from a company I used to intern at. That seems to be the easiest way to get jobs..work at a company for a few months/year, have a good relationship with your workers and build contacts.

Ben Apuna

Oh, I'm not working atm... I'm in the middle of a bit of a career change, hoping to go from artist to technical artist, or possibly programmer, or maybe even indie developer. So I'm in live very cheaply/study mode right now.

I used to work freelance but way back when the economy crashed, so did my freelance career I figure it was mostly my portfolio and the lack of available work holding me back at the time.

Now things are a bit better and some work is available, but if I started doing freelance work again it would probably suck up all of my free time and I wouldn't be able to make the career transition that I would like to.

When I approached companies in the past I would explain who I was, show them my portfolio, and ask if they were looking for any remote contractors. Pretty much the same way you would apply for an onsite position.

From my experience negotiating pay for work was different in each circumstance. The only tip I can give you is "get it in writing", otherwise you're liable to be ripped off.

Working from home never caused any issues other than being turned down because they wanted on-site people.

Ben Apuna

I forgot to mention one other thing:

Once you start working freelance be sure to spend time on personal work for your portfolio.

You hopefully will be working on some awesome games and making great work for them, but the chances are that the work will be under NDA until they ship (which might be never...).

While at the same time you will still need a increasingly higher quality portfolio to land more and higher paying work.

So, just don't stop working on your own stuff thinking that you'll be able to show off all that awesome AAA work you did for company X in your portfolio to land more work.

That is one of the huge mistakes I made while working freelance.

Though I guess that advice is the same even if you are a full time employed artist because you never know when your portfolio will need to be in tip top shape.

AlexLegg

Thanks for the advice Ben and good luck with the career change.

Freelance is somrthing i'm considering at the moment. Not just yet though, need to get the folio in shape first.

AlexLegg

Lamont, just been checking your site out. Liking the rocks!

I see that you have moved from the US to Japan. How are you finding it working out there? I have a friend who is looking to move there.

Seems like you used to work for some form of flight simulation and made the transition to games.

How did you manage the change? I currently work for a flight sim company, but finding it difficult to make the move to games.

AlexLegg

So working freelance from home is something I'm considering (a bit of a dream really)- need to get the folio up to scratch first though, so it'll be some time in the future.

Any suggestions on the best way to get started? How to start getting clients?

Already suggested are to get involved with mods, work from previous employers and to approach companies.

Any other suggestions?



And are there specific websites to look for work with regards to working from home?

Or do you just apply/bid for work and then tell the employer you work from home?

As any job posting I've seen have implied that you would work from their offices!



I'm trying to understand how you get work specific to working from home.

Thanks guys.

D4V1DC

No other suggestions that haven't already been mentioned, just give your resume out to everyone you find or search for.

If anyone you send your information to is interested in you, they will have you sign a contract agreement, you should read It through TWICE.

Most likely will be a 'work for hire agreement' which means if their is no work you won't get paid, I am doing this now. Boss has work I get paid when It's all done, I've been doing an amazing job "his words" out of 7 other artists so most likely I will be getting more work, so do your best QUICK and you'll get more work. My portfolio doesn't have any of my most up-to-date work as I decided to give out the new one only to potential employers since they will be keeping me a float.

Their is no need to mention your working from home if they don't ask you to relocate or work in-house then It's already assumed you will be working from home or a place of comfort.

So if your looking to work from home say you want to work from your remote location.

Best of luck,
In the future you shouldn't bump up or spam post your threads, a simple edit to the first of your 3 would have been enough, kind of feels like your forcing us to give you information otherwise.
Also no one will give you too much information just enough as you'll be taking their employers from their hands (possibly) so take what you got and start the journey to learning and experiencing work at home for yourself.

A lot has been mentioned and I doubt anything else can be said that hasn't already been said.

I would rather take in-house on site work then stay remote after doing It for so long, I'd rather have a few buddies then sit at home like some hermit but these are the situations I am in and my choice I guess. You'll understand when you get further into this freelancing game, I am only doing It until I get hired by someone.
I feel dumb thinking back I've messed up some phone interviews cause of nerves as I wanted the positions so bad I said stupid things or I would have been working already.

Sa la vie!

(sry to those that know of my dumbness on the phone. )

AlexLegg

Sorry, my intention was not to bump or spam, just thought it would be clearer to follow.

Thanks for the advice, I'm aware that people maybe guarded on this subject due to competiton.

Interesting to note that you would rather work in a studio, I guess this would be a common consensues.

Jeremy Wright

Out of curiosity, has anyone had any experience with co-office type businesses like CoLoft which is basically leasable office space that one can rent for anything from a day to months and you share with other people?