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ellenmillionAm I really only to the year 2000? I thought I was much further along than that. Apparently note.
Well, here I am on dial, using a left-handed mouse, doing some catch-up, because I left all my art at home and the laundry is still going and I'm booooored.*
So, 2000 is noticeable for a few milestones. First, this was the year that I went freelance. The first time. The grossly unsuccessful time. Secondly, I graduted from college. I was horrendously unmotivated by my choice of degree (mechanical engineering), did my senior project (literally) the night before, was noodling dreadfully in school, and Ready to be Done.
I also did a lot of art.
I put an ad in Queen's Own saying I'd do portraits for $10. I got a big old package from one interested candidate (whether from this source, or another, who knows...) with descriptions for seven characters, lots of random references, and lots and LOTS of history and details, with not so much as a mention of payment. I did this sketch for him, quoted him a price for the rest/group pic, and never heard from him again. Welcome to the world of freelance art.
This was for a 'draw my character' contest. I think I won, but I don't think I won anything. I don't remember. I'm 30 now, my memory is going. I do remember the person I sent it to being really happy about it, but nothing more helpful than that.
I'm pretty sure I drew this in class. It sort of cemented my love of dots, and created a love of drawing broken carved stone.
I had this client! Wait... that's a different story. This started out as a commission that wasn't quite right enough for the client, so I painted it in my own colors and sold it on eBay for like $20. This began a long and frustrating hatred of eBay.
I got this commission at the fair. I don't hate it.
I loved doing this commission! India and Kir are their names (I'm about 85% sure), and it was not only fun, but was used as the cover of Amythest Alliance, an e-zine back when. It was on their very last issue, so instead of being up for a month, it was up for like three years. It might STILL be up.
This was another commission from the fair.
Before the fair, I'd applied for a parttime job at a local engineering/architecture firm. They wanted someone fulltime, and were waffly on the price per hour that I wanted. But they were very intrigued about my art skills and hired me to do some building drawings for a proposal. Hot dang! I quoted them a 'ridiculous' price** and they accepted. I did sketches! They liked the sketches, they said go forward. I went forward and inked and painted and slaved and sweated and delivered. Oh, no, they said - the angle of the building is wrong. Do it over. We were looking at this other sketch over here when we said to go ahead...
I did. No extra charge. Ended up making about $3/hour on the job and hating both the final product and the lack of sleep. They were pretty happy.
In the fall, after trying this freelance thing and realizing that a) I didn't have the skilz I thought I did and b) realizing that I was never going to be able to pull in decent wages unless something changed and c) realizing that Jake was going to be downsized out of his job, I went back to that company, said - I'm who you're looking for, you're going to hire me at $3 dollars *more* than the first time I was here asking about wages, and you're going to let me work parttime, whatever hours I set. Also, I can't start until after the fair.
They said yes, and that they should have hired me before I got experience under my feet, and self-confidence. :P I worked for them until the end of 2004 and 'made' them hire Jennie last fall.***
This is actually my favorite piece from the year, unfinished as it is. I think it's still in my Elfwood gallery...
*Obviously I didn't stay bored. I'm pretty self-entertaining...
**ridiculously reasonable, but way more than I'd ever dared charge for my art ever...
***I didn't actually get to do much art or design for them - a little, but not much. I mostly did drafting, and printing, and fixing printers and computers and such.
Well, here I am on dial, using a left-handed mouse, doing some catch-up, because I left all my art at home and the laundry is still going and I'm booooored.*
So, 2000 is noticeable for a few milestones. First, this was the year that I went freelance. The first time. The grossly unsuccessful time. Secondly, I graduted from college. I was horrendously unmotivated by my choice of degree (mechanical engineering), did my senior project (literally) the night before, was noodling dreadfully in school, and Ready to be Done.
I also did a lot of art.
I put an ad in Queen's Own saying I'd do portraits for $10. I got a big old package from one interested candidate (whether from this source, or another, who knows...) with descriptions for seven characters, lots of random references, and lots and LOTS of history and details, with not so much as a mention of payment. I did this sketch for him, quoted him a price for the rest/group pic, and never heard from him again. Welcome to the world of freelance art.
This was for a 'draw my character' contest. I think I won, but I don't think I won anything. I don't remember. I'm 30 now, my memory is going. I do remember the person I sent it to being really happy about it, but nothing more helpful than that.
I'm pretty sure I drew this in class. It sort of cemented my love of dots, and created a love of drawing broken carved stone.
I had this client! Wait... that's a different story. This started out as a commission that wasn't quite right enough for the client, so I painted it in my own colors and sold it on eBay for like $20. This began a long and frustrating hatred of eBay.
I got this commission at the fair. I don't hate it.
I loved doing this commission! India and Kir are their names (I'm about 85% sure), and it was not only fun, but was used as the cover of Amythest Alliance, an e-zine back when. It was on their very last issue, so instead of being up for a month, it was up for like three years. It might STILL be up.
This was another commission from the fair.
Before the fair, I'd applied for a parttime job at a local engineering/architecture firm. They wanted someone fulltime, and were waffly on the price per hour that I wanted. But they were very intrigued about my art skills and hired me to do some building drawings for a proposal. Hot dang! I quoted them a 'ridiculous' price** and they accepted. I did sketches! They liked the sketches, they said go forward. I went forward and inked and painted and slaved and sweated and delivered. Oh, no, they said - the angle of the building is wrong. Do it over. We were looking at this other sketch over here when we said to go ahead...
I did. No extra charge. Ended up making about $3/hour on the job and hating both the final product and the lack of sleep. They were pretty happy.
In the fall, after trying this freelance thing and realizing that a) I didn't have the skilz I thought I did and b) realizing that I was never going to be able to pull in decent wages unless something changed and c) realizing that Jake was going to be downsized out of his job, I went back to that company, said - I'm who you're looking for, you're going to hire me at $3 dollars *more* than the first time I was here asking about wages, and you're going to let me work parttime, whatever hours I set. Also, I can't start until after the fair.
They said yes, and that they should have hired me before I got experience under my feet, and self-confidence. :P I worked for them until the end of 2004 and 'made' them hire Jennie last fall.***
This is actually my favorite piece from the year, unfinished as it is. I think it's still in my Elfwood gallery...
*Obviously I didn't stay bored. I'm pretty self-entertaining...
**ridiculously reasonable, but way more than I'd ever dared charge for my art ever...
***I didn't actually get to do much art or design for them - a little, but not much. I mostly did drafting, and printing, and fixing printers and computers and such.
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Date: 2006-06-07 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
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