GOODBYE STUDIO SCHOOL, HELLO NEW OPPORTUNITIES

So on Wednesday I had my last day at Scunthorpe Studio School, a 6 month opportunity with artist mentorship, and although it was an incredible experience and provided me with a structured routine that has been so beneficial, I was getting pretty sick of the same drive up and down the country every week, and I’m excited to put everything I’ve learnt into practice in the real world and hopefully land myself some paid opportunities!

Towards the end of the experience, we took part in a few interviews and podcasts, mostly created with the intention of advertising the opportunity to future applicants and cohorts, but also to just reflect on what we gained, so as those clips come out I’ll be sharing more of my perspective on the experience, but overall I couldn’t be happy with what I learnt and how it aided my growth as an artist re-entering my practice following a challenging episode of neurodivgent burnout.

Going right back to the beginning of the process, one of the very first tasks we did with our mentor, was writing an artist manifesto, something I’ve never considered before, and I can’t emphasise enough how beneficial this practice was for me. It’s something I regularly went back to (and I imagine will continuously go back to) in order to check-in with myself and to ask myself the question, does what I’m doing align with what I want? And I’d strongly encourage other artists to consider doing it too. Below is my artist manifesto:

Have fun.

Be present, go at your own pace.

Be boundaried.

Make work you care about.

Make money, but don’t burnout or sell-out.

Travel, explore, learn, and enlighten.

Take risks - Breath, and believe it will always work out.

Do what you can, not what you should.

I’ve been on a journey of re-establishing what being an artist means to me, and as you can probably tell, my values are largely centered around protecting my mental health, that’s my number one priority. I want to connect with people and learn, but also I want to make money from my art, and to do that without burning out or selling out, means making work that a truly care about.

Since starting the studio school, I’ve gotten a lot better at truly leaning into and embracing myself specifically as an artist, rather than an unemployed person that occasionally draws… My confidence and self worth has grown so much and believe with this will come well paid and exciting projects!

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.