Kevin H. Spear

Freelance Work in a Crazy Economy

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date March 4, 2009

Spear_3479 Cartoon
Originally uploaded by speartoons

Still looking for that million dollar contract? Aren’t we all. If only there was a design and illustration clause to the Federal stimulus package.

The other day a friend at the gym was looking at disgust at his mp3 player. He said, “There’s nothing but bad news. I’m going to stop listening to anything related to business.”

It can be tough out there to get work. But don’t panic. A designer can still find work out there. Here are some things you can do to keep the freelance fires burning.

Keep a positive attitude. I know. Easier said than done, right? But I’ve seen it work time and again. I’ve seen designer who have had the same lousy amount of business. The one with a positive attitude recovers much more quickly than the one who is convince his world is coming to an end. We always find what we’re looking for, whether we realize we’re chasing it or not.
Call up old clients. It’s okay to see what they’re up to. If you had a good experience with them before, it just may take some reconnecting to remind them you are still out there. Email them, call them, take them out for lunch. You never know. You may be surprised and they’ll reward you with a new project and pay for your lunch too. (But be sure you are prepared to pay for it. Don’t be a weasel, after all!)
Keep working even if you have no work. Momentum is everything in this business. If you don’t get your favorite kind of work for a month, you can’t afford to go rusty. Keep doing what you love. Build up your portfolio. Work on that plumb design or illustration project you’ve never had time for. Eventually the pay will come again.

We’re all in this together. Keep looking up!

Tags Business Cartoons, design, freelance, illustration

illustration business

Fair Pricing, Not Free

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date February 25, 2009

On the O’Reilly Tools of Change blog, they had an interesting post entitled, “Expectations of Fair Pricing, Not Free.”

I’ll be honest and say I have struggled with this one. It’s probably because my heart tugs between helping ministries and running a business. I work for a non-profit ministry. I have to keep reminding myself that doesn’t mean we aim to operate in the red. We have to make money in order to pay our bills and do some great things with the leftover cash.

About twelve years ago, I began my web site. I am a cartoonist as well as an illustrator. I intended to display my cartoons on a weekly basis. Most of them were about church life and Christian ministries. Soon, I heard from places like South Africa and Singapore. Churches around the world wanted to put my cartoons in their bulletins. I was happy to allow them to do that for free.

I even got business from the cartoons. I was very thankful for it. But today, I haven’t updated the cartoon end of my site. In fact, I don’t have a direct link from my main web site. It got old giving away the store. Yet, I still get email’s from churches that have found the cartoons via an outside link. It’s still popular in spite of me not promoting it.

I feel torn. I don’t want to get rich off of the cartoons, though I wouldn’t object if they paid their own way.

I’m debating whether I should ask future inquiries to pay up to two dollars in order to get a print quality version of the cartoon. If I did that, then perhaps it would be worth producing out some more cartoons. On the other hand, would churches pay for something they’ve been used to getting free? Would $2 really break the bank?

It’s enough to make this poor artist ponder.

Adobe Illustrator books Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday: Instinct

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date February 23, 2009

CIG Bird Care and Training Part 4
Originally uploaded by speartoons

Part 4 opener for "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Bird Care and training."

This is a book I illustrated about ten years ago. When I heard the word for this week, I thought of the many times we try to train instinct out of animals. That’s good when the dog piddles on the carpet. I’m guessing it’s good to teach a parrot the theory of relativity too.