Establishing myself as a free-lance artist

[jamescondliffe]

Hi guys. I was hoping I could pick your brains. After taking the plunge and moving away from the games industry I'm now thinking of establishing myself as a free-lance arch vis artist. I was hoping I could get a few pointers as to the best way to go about this.

 

Having worked as a free-lance artist before I am aware of the need for a good portfolio website, and promoting myself on forums and different websites, but I was wondering if there are any industry secrets for arch vis I should be aware of. The best way of developing and keeping a regular client base, other ways of promoting myself, certain pit falls I should avoid, and certain tick boxes I should have before even considering this move. Things of that nature.

 

Any advice would be great so I can really get things moving whilst I develop my portfolio and build my website. Thank you in advance for any help.

[Tommy L]

Having worked as a free-lance artist before I am aware of the need for a good portfolio website, and promoting myself on forums and different websites

 

I dont think this is necessarily true. The website is a helpful thing to refer people to if they want to see your work, but most likely wont generate any work in its own right. I also think that forums are not a good place to promote yourself as its just artists that are on there. So you may find work for studios that way, but not direct clients.

 

Networking and referral are the only real steady source of work and both of those are a 'chicken and the egg' thing. Breaking into arch-vis is tough on your own. It takes more than talent, but talent is of course a pre-requisite.

[harryhirsch]

""and promoting myself on forums and different websites""

new record here in the gallery is 47 pictures in a row

..serious now,

having friends in architecture offices is much more helpful...

[neil poppleton]

contacts, contacts and contacts....