Posting Test

[dennistheartist]

.................................

[Jason Rainville]

Since I'm just starting out with the whole internet freelance thing take what i say with a grain.

First off though, since there are no face-to-face interviews or portfolios, one of the most important things is having a nice, simple to navigate website that puts the art up front. Man oh man, you really need to invest in a new site. Even using Deviantart's free portfolio addon would be a huge step up from what you're using. it takes too long to load images, the "unique" way the thumbnails shrink and fly away as you move the cursor away from them is annoying, and having any sort of music is a huge taboo (forgetting that in some cases an image of yours might have its own music, creating a horrible overlay of 2 songs I don't want to hear)

So yeah. 10 minutes on deviantart can get you a much nicer site for free.


As for finding and dealing with clients, post your art everywhere. Go to forums and update regularly, post your art on facebook. If there are small publishers you might want to work for, contact them to see if they have work, or if they know anyone who needs work done.

Even if you don't always have a contract (which you probably should) always ask a new client if they're willing to sign a simple contract. If they're not, alarm bells should be ringing. Always ask for some portion of money up-front or upon approval of the sketches. I usually do it upon approval of sketches. If they flake and don't pay, then at least I'm only out a few hours of work and there's not too much they can do with low-quality sketches. This has only happened once thankfully.

Don't undersell yourself but be willing to compromise.

I can't think of any other general tips right now.

EDIT: For relevancy's sake: OP Asked for tips about online freelancing. I commented on his website as it's one of the most important factors. OP then posted saying he didn't want critiques on his website. His post, original text and website is now removed :\

[Shantih]

If you want to find work online your website is probably the most important factor, so Jason's reply was perfectly relevant.

[bcarman]

If you ask for help I'm not sure you can have the attitude of just help me with this one little thing. Others might perceive things that need critiquing in your whole presentation. You certainly can ignore the advice but getting snippy will tend to turn off other comments.

[Elwell]

I'm not going to delete the thread, because it has good, pertinent advice both for you and other people. Art Directors are going to HATE that site, trust me. Read this (http://www.n8w.com/wp/552).