Creative work.

bex88

Hya all,

I have worked in tesco part time for the past 3 years. I don't mind it there, but my passion is drawing and I would love to get a job to do with drawing or designing.. or even be a freelance artist.. but I don't have much knowledge about it and I've had a look a bidding freelance websites but they are abit scary to me as I'm not sure what to do on them.

I do have a BTEC National diploma in art and design but It's not enough to get into many creative jobs because most require a good knowledge/qualifications in using programmes like indesign, photoshop ect... which I only have very basic knowledge of.

I've looked on jobcentre searches for ages and nothing creative in my area... ever XD (just all manual work .. Rural area..)
I've also looked on the creative apprenticeships website, although they dont really have the sort of creative subjects im into, and also not one in my area again.

I have advertised in my local paper and some advert boards and boot sales and even Ebay to try and get commissions for animal portrait drawings, which I've had a few, but nowhere near enough.

I've also submitted greeting card designs to card companies on the Greeting card association, but no luck from any of them so far.

Any help or info would be appriciated, thanks.

Hermia

My colleague is an artist and works part-time here and makes the rest of his income from his art. He says it's incredibly hard to make a full-time income that would pay the mortgage from art. He sells his art from various online art/craft websites (etsy-type ones). He also sells stuff via local galleries and gift shops. It seems to involve a lot of trudging around the towns in the area with his portfolio. It's hard work! He has also joined some local art collective who have a studio. One thing he found really worked for him was getting his paintings made into greetings cards. He sells a lot of them and the local tourist information centre even stocks some. He also regularly submits work to local magazines etc. He is starting to get some national interest, but it has all come about because of all the work he has done at a local level.

VSC

99designs.com - Website where designers compete work work, logos, design etc.
You might not win the brief, but it will allow you to build a portfolio, and get used to working to a brief.

Not great earners, but ...
fiverr.com
fivesquids.co.uk

Good luck.

PRINCE$$

It may be worth seeing if there are any companies in the creative industry within commuting distance of you and sending them a really nice email asking for some unpaid work experience so you can at least get some experience in a creative environment, even if it isn't directly designing. You can ask for part time work experience to fit in with your current role. I work in digital and we take on work experience people quite often as we get a lot of enquiries about this kind of thing. It may open some doors, help you decide if you really want to get into design, or may give you other ideas of roles you may be interested in. Otherwise you could try to get an entry level role (a runner perhaps) and try to get a foot in that way. Our runners have moved on within the company after proving themselves.
You do say you are in a rural area though so not sure how many relevant companies there would be that you can get to.
You could also do a web design course to familiarise yourself with digital and make it a bit less daunting.

bex88

VSC wrote: »

99designs.com - Website where designers compete work work, logos, design etc.
You might not win the brief, but it will allow you to build a portfolio, and get used to working to a brief.

Not great earners, but ...
fiverr.com
fivesquids.co.uk

Good luck.

Heya, I signed up to that 99designs, had a look through the 'competitions' going, mainly logo design, I found a few that I had some good ideas for but then realised that I couldnt produce a 'Logo Quality' design like all the others have on there. I do have a graphics tablet but I only have photoshop elements. I can't create the nice smooth curved edges that logo's have, only freehand wobbly lines which look rubbish Elements, afaik, doesnt have any curve bend tool.

The logo design was the main thing I was interested in, the website design was way beyond me, I wouldnt have a clue. I really am more on the 'fine art' side of things and when I say design work, I think i'm going to be limited with what I can do.

bex88

PRINCE$$ wrote: »

You could also do a web design course to familiarise yourself with digital and make it a bit less daunting.

Thanks for your reply,

Thing is im not sure what sort of companies to look into, Im am more into Hand Drawing, than computer design, most companies nowadays want the computer design qualifications though. I think most people would advise me to go freelance with my styles of artwork, but thats what I'm finding so hard to do.

I don't know anyone friends or family-wise that have done this either so I cant even get any help from them.

I am really comfortable and happy doing my animal portrait drawings for locals but I'm only getting a couple a year. When I put the advert in the paper, I only got a few from that and It wasnt even enough to cover the cost of the advert.

LL30

Are there any artists studios near you? Sounds like you'd benefit from getting in with a group of artists and having a mentor. My Mother (for her sins) is an artist. She has done all sorts of things in the past but to be honest, many artists are worth more when they're dead (and that's only a few out of hundreds). My Mum now owns a studio group and rents out areas of the building to different artists, as well as having her own space. This works well as she makes an income from the rents, and this allows her to indulge in her passion (plus she has my Dad who knew what he was signing up to when they got married - let's put it this way, he knew he wasn't marrying a career woman!) I think it'd be really worth seeing if there's anything in your locality to see if they could guide you x

bex88

LL30 wrote: »

Are there any artists studios near you? Sounds like you'd benefit from getting in with a group of artists and having a mentor. My Mother (for her sins) is an artist. She has done all sorts of things in the past but to be honest, many artists are worth more when they're dead (and that's only a few out of hundreds). My Mum now owns a studio group and rents out areas of the building to different artists, as well as having her own space. This works well as she makes an income from the rents, and this allows her to indulge in her passion (plus she has my Dad who knew what he was signing up to when they got married - let's put it this way, he knew he wasn't marrying a career woman!) I think it'd be really worth seeing if there's anything in your locality to see if they could guide you x

Thanks for your advice,

I'll have a search and see if I can find anything.