Preparing for work

[Chiba]

I'm a budding young artist (aren't we all) and I'm eager to turn my lifelong hobby/passion into something I can get paid for. My question is: How?
It would be handy to sit at the feet of those here who have made the change from a talented amateur to a slavering professional and get some advice on where to start.
At present I am drawing almost daily and trying new things constantly in the hope of stretching my limits but have always had trouble putting together a portfolio. Any handy hints?
Once that's done, where can I take my portfolio and what are some good methods of presenting myself to their doorstep to convince them that not only is my work of publishable quality but they should also pay me for the privelage?
Any help would be great and I think this 'employment' forum would benefit greatly from the sage advice of some who have beaten the path to glory ahead of those of us who are still preparing to step out the front door.
Thanks

[Deth Jester]

Well,
If you havent had any formal training and education, I suggest going to an art school.. Don't worry about the price, take out loans.. if you really dont have the cash, and its a big issue go to community collegs, and seek out good teachers there to mentor you.. While in school they will be able to help you create peices for your portfolio, and help you build it as well..

good luck,

peace.

[Leopoldo]

Hi Chiba,

On the issue of breaking into the market I have the following advice to give.

This is how I did it, do it and will do it again. There are a thousand more more ways to break into the business, like luck, who you know and being at the right time at the right place, with the right attitude.

So where to begin?

I looked at the kind of stuff that was on the market that I really enjoyed. Comics (metal Hurlant) and movies (Blade Runner, Star Wars etc). Then I look at who made these movies, these are the clients. Then I look at (in the credits list) who did the job that I want to do. That's my competitor and life long evil foe or, the way I like to look at it, and that's way I'm writing this to you now, that's the one that did that really cool thing that I would like to do for a living, that's my best friend, soul mate and drinking pal.

look at every behind the scenes and making of book I can get a hold of, including some good books on film making, advanced perspective drawing, animation, color theory, script writing etc etc (who needs school right? Lol) and I get busy drawing really cool stuff that's at least at the same level as "the player's"

This will be my portfolio.

If I want to draw sci fi action adventure storyboards then I do cool storyboard samples based on a script idea of my own, and check out the excellent making of matrix art book to get really pumped and inspired. I do a lot of storyboards, working them to the level I see in the highest level of real productions.

Push the portfolio, because it's in the portfolio where the key to getting into the door is. If they don't like your portfolio you will not get an interview. No interview, no assignment.

So, what gets you the job? 70% is the personal chemistry between you and the client. Do you get along? That is a good sign. 20% of the "sales pitch" is the product ie your portfolio. The last 10% is your price.
Take a good long honest look at your portfolio. Now take a good long hard look at other people's work that you see in print, on the web but especially in the making of all really cool films and computer games that you wish you worked on.

Answer this honestly to yourself. Are you artiscally there yet? Would you hire yourself if you had the possibility of hiring Mobius, Mullins, or McCraig? If you had the same rates and the only thing from getting you the job is your portfolio?

If the answer to this is "no", I would not hire myself based on my portfolio the way it looks today then make that portfolio which you need.

Make it so good that they have to want you. Scrutinze your work, show your portfolio to professional friends and competitors who's oppions you respect and have faith in. Edit and make your portfolio so good they can't resist your work. This is what they will pay you handsomely for...
In my portfolio, less is not more. More is more. I overwhelm my clients with LOTS of work. Easily 1000 drawings in 1 big fat folder.

My old man always said "Do what you have to do and you will always meet people that are interested in that as well."

I'm lucky in the fact that I live in the capitol so there are many movie companies and publishers, ad agenticies, industrial design companies and other possible clients close at hand.

To get my first jobs I did this:
Get the email addresses to the producers and directors of the closest 50 commercial film production studios around you. There will be client meetings at all hours of the day so keep the travelling time to a mininmum. TV Commercials are fast, stressed productions but they pay very well. I can make 9.000 US Dollars a week on a good week for doing 90-100 storyboard frames at 30 frames per day grey scale.

Now that you have a kick-ass storyboarding portfolio get it out on the web.

Email your link to the commercial production houses (and ILM, Sony, Disney and everywhere else you know that they do cool stuff) If they don't know you are out there they will never call.

And when they know you are out there and what you can do for them (production illustrations, storyboards, concepts, designs, model packs etc.) then they will call if they liked your portfolio.

And when they call, keep the same high rates as everybody else, because my experience is once you settle for a low rate with a client to get the job in the first place you will have a very tough time motivating to that same client why you are more expensive the next assignment around. And you ruin the rate level that the already established illustrators have.

Here are my rates:
Including 15% holiday coverage, and 53% self employment taxes but excluding sales tax.

Monthly (160 hours of work) 8.000 US dollars
Weekly (40 hours of work) 3.000 US Dollars
Daily (8 hours of work) 1.000 US Dollars
Hourly (By the hour) 125 US Dollars

These rates are only for production employment and the client can only use the illustrations for production purposes. No publishing what so ever. If they want to make a behind the scenes book, then those publishing rights are extra.
I always maintain all other rights, the originals, and the right to show my work for job interviews before the opening of the movie or the release of the computer game. This is so I always have a fresh portfolio. I have not yet met 1 client that has had a problem with this.

Let's compete on style, cool ideas, charm and skill instead of dumping the rates on each other so no of us can go on holidays or send our kids to school. Oooops, off subject, hehe. I'm ranting.

Anyway,
when all the producer's and director's see your great web portfolio the producer will most likely call you to book an interview. The director has taken the artistic chose of meeting you because your work might suit their production.

So the producer calls and books an interview. Or perhaps the studion manager or the production manager. I have been booked and interview with everyone from the director and producer to the CEO and the marketing CEO, so you never know.

This interview is it. I have never, in my 15 years as a pro illustrator, been booked for a second interview. The first interview is it.

The second time I'm called into the film studio has always been to meet the crew and make it offical. ie. signing the contracts, having a lunch with my new co-workers, and hanging out.

This is when you make new contacts, you are in the right place, at the right time, and with some luck they will be going into their next production and will recommend you to that producer or director when the time comes that they need a top notch illustrator.

Watch each others backs, help each other and prosper.

Bon travail,
Leopoldo

Portfolio http://www.fabpics.com/leo

[fixx]

Hi Leopoldo :) Thanks for that great reply, it certainly helped me a lot. I always appreciate it when experienced people post things to help the new people.
A few questions though. Do you live in Sweden now? I'm swedish, but I'm in Boston for school now. Do you work with companies in other countries or only Sweden? Because I'm thinking of I want to go back home when I'm done (in like... 3 years) or if I should just stay where I am.
Are those really your rates? I allways have trouble telling people what I want. Last time I did a book for someone (graduation memory book thingie) ang took 300$.
I think I was being silly. But then again I wasn't a professional.
Would anyone else post something more on rates or copyrights things and what to charge for their work more precisely? Because I really appreciate the portfolio help, but more indepth about rates and payment would grealy help too!!
:D Thank you all nice people for helping us newbies!

[Leopoldo]

Hi Fixx

Yes, those are really my rates and here is how and why.

As an adult with house payments, children, student loans (CSN :-) ), mouths to feed, backs to cloth, heating bills, phone bills, insurance, entertainment for the whole family, health bills etc etc etc how much do you need just to make ends meet every month? Cash, In your paw?

Sweden, and Stockholm in particular, is very expensive compared to Pittsburgh or Indianapolis. It's like Tokyo, or a posh holiday resort in high season. Very expensive.

So, can you get by on 1000 USDollars (10.000 SEK for easy counting. Yes, I know that's not the current exchange rate but anyway.)

I can't.

I need about 1680 USDollars a month to make ends meet.

So, here we go. As you'll see in this budget I don't even consider the client, the market, the deadline or any other external costs except for my life and my way of living. Some people can get by on less, fine, but mind the rates, we have been through alot of negoitations to get the rates we professionals, experienced want. Contact your nearest illustrators guild and ask for their rates guide if you need more info for your specific country. These usually only cover absolute minimum rates for print rights and such like and not concept art and storyboarding rates for feature films or computer games. Maybe ASIFA has more info on salaries for animation supervisors etc.

Any way, here we go…

Base sum 1680 USDollars/month

Personal Income tax (Sweden 30%)
2184

15% holiday coverage (semester ersättning). You want to take XMas off right? What about summer holiday with you family?
2511.60

Social and employment taxes (Egen avgifter, arbetsgivaravgifter. Sweden 53%)
3842.70

Studio rent including everything (min. 20 square meters, phone, Mac lease, T1 line, coffe machine (very important), mobile phone, car (corp cars are economically better than private cars) , XBox for clients who are hanging out, waiting for the latest animatic render etc etc.)
1000 (This will keep you in professional style, but you won't be able to fit in and equipt an assistant or an intern).

4842.70

Corperate profit 10% on every invoice. (you want to run a healthy company right? As a matter of fact Swedish law requires all companies in Sweden to have a profit interest… This fund is also the emergency fund sometimes, like when hard drives crash etc).
5326.97

Some companies add a 10% emergency fund to this but I don't.

Here comes the tricky one, and the one budget point post that I still haven't found the perfect solution for… And the reason most self employed artists go belly up after a few years. Like I did 7 years ago after 4 years of free lancing (Actually I didn't go bust, but I was sure close enough, with a fat 80.000 SEK tax debt, so I quit freelancing while I was ahead) .

Lay off time. This is the reason I don't freelance. I am always employed, project by project or full time.
How much work will you have each month?
Every year?
Will you make 5400 every month?
Because if you don't you won't make the ends meet, remember? Bye bye XBox. Bye bye house. Bye bye kids. Bye bye wife ;-) You will have more bills than you have salary every month. And if you don't pay your bills they will come and reclaim stuff in the long run.

In my case, with my good looks, charm, perfected porfolio, years of experience and super expensive rates (lol) my lay off time was 60%. I was job hunting 60% of my time, actually working (drawing pictures remember? That's what we are doing here right?) 30% of the time and laying at home, in bed, worried sick about money and the future 10% of the time. Not good.

That's 60% lay off time on a good month!
So 5326.97 x 60%

That's 8523 USDollars or 85.231,50 SEK per month excluding sales tax.

If I can make this every month I will have a healthy, 1 man company in any business. 100.000 USDollars per employee per year in turn around is good, very good. For web design companies, ad agencies, car dealers, you name it.

maybe not good for Micheal Jackson or Jack Nicolson but sure enough for working Joe's like you and me right?

Now I double check if I'm in the right ball park of my competitors by comparing my rates with… my clients rates! My clients, you say? Why my clients? Because they are going to be paying my invoices, so if they are making as much as I am or more then we are game. If not, then I should lower my rate to 10% under their hourly rate so they can make their 10% profit when hiring me. If I lower my rates how low can I go? Well, if I have full work load coverage for that month I can go down to 5400 USDollars per month right? Because then I will still get the salary I need to pay my bills with.

BUT if you ever lower your rates to a client you will be in a tough position to raise the rates again to that same client.

See? Easy math and hopefully everyone makes a buck or two.

But being employed at a company full time the salaries here in Sweden range from 1600 USDollars incl. 5 weeks payed vacation (enforced by law) to 2700 USDollars with 6 weeks payed vacation, no over time garanty, mobile phone, profit shares, stock options etc etc. 1600 is starting salary on feature animation (cel) cleanup assistant and 2700 with all the perks is for art direction at a medium sized computer game company.

And being employed means you will actually be drawing 90% of the time and having production meetings the rest of the time (in case you aren't a supervisor or art director when you will be drawing 10% of the time and in meetings 90% of the time ;-)

If I'm unemployed, like I am now, I'm on unemployment insurance (which I payed for when I was employed through taxes and fees, "A-kassan". A must-have here in Sweden).

Here comes another calculation.

My annual turnover should be 100.000 USDollars per year that means that my hourly rate would be 62.50 USDollars per hour excluding sales tax, working full time, 160 hours a month. With a lay off time, sales rep time (meeting clients and showing the portfolio and taking meetings) of 50% of the time that means I should bill my clients 125 USDollars an hour (62.50x2) and have outgoing invoice for 80 hours a month every month. Then I'll be fine.

See, it's not that hard to work all this out.
The hard part isn't even finding the work, it's not even hard to get the work or do the work. The hard part is… what is the hard part? Oh yeah, the 9H pencil tip, that's the hard part.

Here are some other factors to include.
Because I don't want to have 10 short term productions, I want long term employment on big productions, I have higher rates (125 USDollars an hour) to short term gigs and lower rates for long term gigs (62.50 USDollars an hour).
I charge double rates for over time (18.00-09.00) and triple on weekends and official holidays.
I have busted my balls to meet deadlines after some jackass production manager made an unprofessional and unrealistic production schedual for no over time compensation.
"You have stock options, you get 6 weeks vacation" bla, bla. Those are the employment perks, not over-time compensation.
Don't do it, is my advise. It's their company, they can promise anything they want. Cash talks, bull shit walks. If the production manager can't make a realistic schedual it's their ass on the line. Then again you might want to point that out to the production manager before the work is due…
All over-time is cash only for me after have been exploited by over ambitious CEOs and client-ass-kissing production managers and producers with no planning.

Well, there you go. I could go on and on, but now I must pay a few bills :-) and get back to the drawing board.

Bon travail,
Leopoldo

PS I know I know people who read this, like my main man Mr P, and honey bunny Maya, not to mention clients may read this…

http://www.fabpics.com/leo

[Leopoldo]

BTW

I've only worked in Stockholm for the last 7 years or so.

I have worked as background painter in Paris and had a gallery show or two in the UK and US.

I make a good living by only working in Stockholm, yet I have applied to most of the big productions abroad (Blue Sky, Disney etc).

I guess it's just as easy (or hard) to find work in Stockholm as it is anywhere else.

Good luck,
Leo

PS If you're in town drop me a mail and we'll go out for drinks :-):chug:

[Kortez]

WOW! thanks so much for your insight, I'm gonna save this to my hard-drive. It's so selfless of you to post this. It gives us "hopefuls" so much info we wouldn't find anywhere else.

Thanks again,
Kortez