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Finding freelance clients

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance#Finding_Clients

I just wrote this for a student friend of mine, and added it to the wiki.

How do you find clients?

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  • RyanB
    http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance#Finding_Clients

    I just wrote this for a student friend of mine, and added it to the wiki.

    How do you find clients?

    I've never worked freelance, but I've had a half dozen offers based on people seeing my work in the Unity Asset store. Mostly mobile stuff, but one offer was for a PC indie survival rpg.
  • Eric Chadwick
    Oooh nice one. Added, thank you.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    craigslist got me some solid work actually. Most of the listings you wouldn't want to touch with a 10 foot pole, but some are legit.
  • Lucas Annunziata
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    Lucas Annunziata polycounter lvl 13
    If I am actively seeking though I'll post in all my usual suspects:
    Almost every freelance job I've done has been as a result of the unity forums for some reason, even though I have no work in my portfolio representing unity work.

    I always make sure to do a video skype call with everyone I work with before starting to become more familiar with them as human beings. This seems to go well as it makes it a much more familiar relationship than just text/emails.

    Having a bigass header on my portfolio resume saying "AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE AND CONSULTING" has helped a ton as well.
  • rino
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    rino polycounter lvl 11
    If I am actively seeking though I'll post in all my usual suspects:
    Almost every freelance job I've done has been as a result of the unity forums for some reason, even though I have no work in my portfolio representing unity work.

    I always make sure to do a video skype call with everyone I work with before starting to become more familiar with them as human beings. This seems to go well as it makes it a much more familiar relationship than just text/emails.

    Having a bigass header on my portfolio resume saying "AVAILABLE FOR FREELANCE AND CONSULTING" has helped a ton as well.


    thanks a lot for some of those links, didn't know about them.
  • kanga
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    kanga quad damage
    http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Freelance#Finding_Clients

    I just wrote this for a student friend of mine, and added it to the wiki.

    How do you find clients?
    Great resource!
    Thanks I know many will benefit from this.

    The clients I have are people I know who like what I make which doesn't help much I know. Bookmarked this thread because there are already some good tips.
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    Do people pull much decent work from those big freelance listings? Or even our own here for that matter. I'm imagining the competition would force down the possible pay rates.
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    **Double post**
  • ikken
    Jackablade wrote: »
    Do people pull much decent work form those big freelance listings? Or even our own here for that matter. I'm imagining the competiton would force down the possible pay rates.

    this really depends on the area where you're working from, and on investor interest in what you do at the moment.
    in my experience, personal referrals make the best freelance connections anywhere, so you can technically ask for money over first meeting and just cubicle yourself later, but - it depends.
    I think it's a good thread, considering funding in my area has been turbulent, so to say, in the past months, and a lot of people might have ended up in similar shit, losing jobs and/or temporary contracts.
    competitors is a very vague term, typically, it drives down to a combination of skill, personality, and other extra assets (extra languages, or, idk, past business relationship history.)
    all adds up a little bit, portfolio + personality are the biggest deciding factors, funding is up to management who's commissioning artists.
    in my experience, gamedev is good, but not the best paying kind of employment overall.
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    I get emails from time to time with work offers (concept art) and all of them except for one was from people who saw my work on pinterest.

    I don't know how applicable this is for 3d since I figure people are more likely to scour pinterest during pre-production just to get ideas/inspiration, but figure it's worth mentioning.

    Also if my email wasn't on the picture they never would have found me. Once your shit gets reposted to pinterest it's an uphill battle to find the original source through google image search, so yeah... always put your email on your pictures.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Almost every freelance job I've done has been as a result of the unity forums for some reason, even though I have no work in my portfolio representing unity work.

    Dang, why didn't I think of that. The two consistent questions I get asked are "can you do PBR?" and "are you familiar with Unity?".
  • AlecMoody
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    AlecMoody ngon master
    The best clients are the ones that find you. I get work by staying visible on polycount, providing people with help, and sharing resources for other artists.
  • Lucas Annunziata
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    Lucas Annunziata polycounter lvl 13
    Jackablade wrote: »
    Do people pull much decent work from those big freelance listings? Or even our own here for that matter. I'm imagining the competition would force down the possible pay rates.


    Some people understand that you get what you pay for. If someone doesn't value my time at the same rate that I value my own, then I don't work with them. But yes, I have been able to make good, steady-ish money. Luckily I'm currently in a position where I can afford to turn work down though.
  • iadagraca
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    iadagraca polycounter lvl 5
    I second colleague referrals, I got a lot of really good contacts when I went to my first Game Jam the Global Game Jam and the people I happened to work with loved how I contributed.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Anyone have luck with diffuse only, hand painted stuff? I can't seem to find any clients that want to pay above $15 an hour.
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