Freelancer advice needed, please.

[mills-illustration]

So here is the story,

 

I went back to school at the age of 33 and received an honors architectural technology diploma (essentially a poor mans architect in Canada).

I worked as a draftsperson for an industrial storage company: hated it.

I then worked as a painter, something I have done off and on for years while trying to get into an architectural firm.

No luck with the firms (even though I was tops in my class) and became injured on the painting job.

I re-evaluated my skills: photography experience (20+ years as a hobby), architecture education, computer graphics (15+ years). Arch Viz seemed like a natural step. I love architectural/interior design visuals!!!

 

I have spent about 4 years studying Arch Viz, amassing the software and hardware, and developing a portfolio. You can view it here: http://lylemills.net Please be honest with comments & criticisms, I can take it. I am not sure my work is "refined" enough? I am still deciding on my "style" - photo real or digital hybrid...

 

I have contacted all the firms in my area. I have had one "maybe." Most places say that they already have someone or some company that they use, or they have people in-house who do the visual work. I live in a city of 400K people that is a bit isolated. The largest city in Canada is 2hrs away, and I have contacted a few firms there with no success.

 

I wish to take the freelance route as I need to work from home. I take care of my young daughter full time. My young son goes to school full time, thankfully

 

The other issue I have is that I do not use 3DS Max. When I started I was given advice to check out C4D instead as it was cheaper. Good advice in the short term... The majority of firms won't look at you unless you use AutoCAD/3DS Max. C4D is great, and I do have VrayforC4D as well as Sketchup, Photoshop and other well known utilities, Autocad LT. I am not sure how much of a hurdle this is. 70% of my work is in Photoshop.

 

I am kind of lost as to how to proceed. I don't know of any friends in architecture or in the field that I could contact.

 

Do I keep emailing potential clients and follow up?

Do I keep doing renderings for my portfolio?

Is there even a possibility of me doing this as a freelance gig with all the in-house and dedicated companies out there? I don't ever see many job ads for arch viz in Canada.

I really like this work, but do I even bother continuing, or would my time be better used elsewhere?

 

Any honest advice would be greatly appreciated. And sorry for the long winded story.