Creative Freelancer Tips I'm Not Gatekeeping: Where and How to Find Opportunities

I’ve been freelancing for just over 5 years now, and whilst to me my stream of work feels far from consistent, the most common question I get asked is where and how do I find work, so in the art of not gatekeeping, here’s a comprehensive explanation of how I do it.

From the get go, I’ve applied to basically every opportunity I can find (if fitting obviously), whether thats competitions or job applications, because in my opinion, surely there’s no harm in getting your name as far and wide as possible. This also includes sharing my work as much as I can, whether it’s online on different platforms, via reach-out emails, or in person amongst creative communities.

A decent amount of my commissioners come directly to me, so I assume my marketing push throughout the years is doing something! My thinking is even if I don’t get this opportunity that I’m applying to right now, I get someones eyes on my work, and then later down the line it often pays off! - A couple years ago, I heard of the marketing principle ‘The Rule of 7’, which suggests that customers need to see a brand at least 7 times before making a purchase decision.

I see most of these opportunities on Instagram, which is annoying as I hate how much time I already give into this platform… however, I’ve found my algorithm has adjusted to giving me an endless supply of opportunities every-time I visit the explore page! I’ve also found a couple through Linked In, not necessarily direct job listings, but call-outs from companies and art directors for one-off projects. Once you give a little bit of time towards it, again you’ll find the algorithm working for you.

Also here are a bunch of links to creative job websites, none of which I’ve personally had crazy level of success from, however I would definitely recommend keeping an eye on them and applying to ones that seem like a decent fit! Run the Check, The Dots, If You Could Jobs, Creative Access, Creative Lives in Progress, Art Jobs, Starving Artists, and Behance.

The most successful way I find work is through reach-out emails. Whilst this method is very tedious, (for about every 100 emails you send, you get 10 replies, and 1 job…) it does work, and it’s how I got some of my biggest returning clients such as Elle Decoration! The easiest way to find reach-out email addresses from my experience is paying for a directory, I’d recommend the AOI, but you can also find them for free if you’re willing to do some rummaging like searching through Instagram, Linked-In, and the contact section on clients company websites!

Want some tips on how to write a good email? Creative Lives and It’s Nice That’s Associate Editor, Olivia Hingley made a great post all about it, read it here.

messy desk illustration featuring a Wacom cintiq, Mac Book Pro, two snaked, speakers, nail polish and a variety of snacks including Chinese takeaway a K Cider can.

5 years of market stalls, everything I've learnt

This November will mark five years of me doing art and craft fairs and market stalls, (4 years in Bristol and half a year on London) so I like to think I have a fairly good understanding of how they work by this point! So, in the nature of not gatekeeping, here’s a bunch of pointers from my fairly experienced perspective if you’re thinking of selling your products in this way! - Please note: most tips are generic for any kind of stall holders but some are specifically illustration based ✍🏻 

My first two market stalls back in 2021, with varying success…

Where to start:

In terms of opportunities, it depends on location. I’d recommend googling and searching on Instagram for markets in your area, there’s some good Facebook groups too, and ‘Craft & Flea’ is a good market option that tours to different cities! You’ll find once you attend your first, you will talk to other stall holders there, and find out about more through word of mouth!

Prices for stalls can vary A LOT, generally the more you pay, the better you can expect of the general organisation and advertising of the event, but of course this is not always the case.

What is needed:

  • A card machine or app that allows you to take card payment, I.e. Square, SumUp, or Zettle

  • A cash float, I usually have around £50 worth in coins and small notes 

  • A printed price list and potentially price labels on products too, some people don’t like to ask and some people still will even if it’s super clear

  • Deals like “buy 2, get the 3rd half price” and sales rack’s can be super helpful in encouraging additional sales!

  • You might need a table, a chair, and a table cloth. This depends on the venue, they should let you know if they provide them

  • Display options for your products, such as a card rack, a flick-through style rack, boxes to stand frames up on. Height is definitely a positive, people want to see things at eye level. You can get most of these things on Amazon or second hand on Facebook Market place

  • Clips, tape, string, cable ties etc to secure things in place

  • A sign or banner of some sort is also really useful with your brand name on it to draw people in and gain followers, along with business cards and a QR code 

  • Variety in your products and prices. I have big framed prints which bring in lots of money, but are not always fitting for everyone’s budget or space, so I also have smaller and cheaper products like stickers and bookmarks for £2. A good mix helps facilitate a more steady income when you can’t predict the audience

  • Frames can easily increase your profits as some people love the convenience, they also make prints more giftable, however they can add unnecessary weight to your market set up making it way less transportable. I personally can’t take my set-up on public transport and envy people that can!

  • Packaging, ideally you want to be as eco friendly as possibly, ie plastic free, recyclable or compostable, some markets even specify this in their application. I get most resources from Eco Craft or Cello Express.

  • Storage and transportation, the wheeled karts used for festivals are a great help

  • Public Liability Insurance, the vast majority of markets need this for legal reasons. I get mine through Axis Web basic membership, which is only £2.70 a month!

Bear in mind, you don’t need to spend hundreds on the perfect set up, just get the basics, see what works for you, and you can always get stuff as go on! Also don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t go great, it’s a real hit or miss industry, which some markets being incredibly profitable and some where I don’t even break even… but even without significant profits, doing market stalls is an amazing way to get yourself out there and you’ll often find doing them will increase your following and online sales. I’ve also found clients for commissions through markets!

I’m doing just a handful more markets in the summer, then I’ll be taking a break until closer to the lead up to Christmas, so I can enjoy my weekends again! I’m also finding the cost of market stalls in market London pretty ridiculous, so they don’t feel super worthwhile for the time being.

UPCOMING MARKET STALLS:

How I feel about generative AI as a digital illustrator and what I'm doing about it

I remember when AI generated images started to become more prevalent, and at this point I really wasn’t bothered; the quality of the images produced was pretty weak in my opinion, they screamed AI with additional fingers in places where they shouldn’t be, they felt alien, and so I didn’t feel threatened. However, over time as the capability of AI has gradually increased, and I have to admit I’m now often impressed with the images that AI can produce. Sure they still lack that incredibly important hand-made and human feeling which I feel AI will never truly be able to reproduce, but they remove a heck of a lot of time and effort from creating images that perhaps don’t necessarily need that human touch.

As this threatening feeling towards the future of my career as a digital illustrator started to approach, I have had to question myself (and of course have been asked by friends and family) on what I’m going to do to tackle it. For a good while, I used my usual technique of trying to ignore it and hope for the best, but that only got me so far and I feel at this point it’s inevitable that more and more people will go to the ease and low cost of using generative AI rather than commissioning an illustrator, (depending of the complexity and reason for the images of course). So this is why I decided, if you can’t beat them, join them, and I’ve partnered with exactly ai, an ethical approach to AI that’s changing the rules of how AI interacts with artists.

Exactly ai trains bespoke AI models on your own assets to generate brand-ready visuals at scale. It’s designed to be secure, fast, ethical, and built for professional creatives. Obviously I was reluctant at first, as this is a huge change that’s happening right now in the industry I’ve based my livelihood on… but I’m hoping engaging with it in this way, using it as a tool to work with me, rather than against me, will save me being left behind in a technology driven world that is constantly evolving.

I’m working hard behind the scenes with members of the exactly ai team to ensure my model is the most accurate representative of my illustration style that it can be, as it still needs a few tweaks when it comes to depicting certain themes, however after experimenting a lot with the model, I was able to produce some images that I absolutely love and feel look remarkably similar to how I would draw them myself!

All of the images above were made using my exactly ai model, Ethereal Realism. Watch this space to see how it develops and I intertwine it into my personal illustration practice! You can also play around with the model and produce and purchase licensed images for you own use!