FLASH: New freelance flashers?

[David Gary Studios]

Hiya Flashers,

 

I recieved an email from someone asking for my help and even though I dont respond to every mail

I might get due to my own time constraints, I simply found this person to much of a gentleman not to respond.

However as usual, I driveled on and ended up with some opinions that might help guide new freelancers(sub-contractors,  flash or otherwise. You guys can take it for what its worth, of course. Its only from my own experience in the freelance field. Maybe some seasoned professionals can add to it their own experiences

and someone can plant it on a resource site somewhere. Since I didnt get the permission of the mailer, I will keep his information anonymous.

 

Hi,

 

First, I want to say that I am utterly stunned by your website (I'm still there in fact!). I have never seen anything like your site, and I am so glad that I've seen it. Your eye for detail and subtlety is impressive and I love your sense of humor. I can tell you put a lot of hard work into this. I would like to know what you used besides Flash to create all this marvelous art. Did you use Director, too, or Premier? I'd really love to know but only if you care to share it. :)

 

Hiya Bobbie,

Thanks for the kind comments. Actually I only used Flash vectors for the creation of "Full Throttle". I thought about using 3D max to study lighting and reflection values, but after a couple of tests I found that my illustrative experience was enough to create it from scratch. To create it in a 3D modeler would have taken time I did not have since this was my personal site and I wasnt on the "time clock". However, our corporate site is being modeled in 3DMAX and Maya for reference and then will be imported and changed to vector format. Its a tedious process, but it insures the quality of the technique we are using. If you can create it in vectors, do so. Due to the file size and image quality, Vector format is Flash's greatest strength. Use it whenever possible.

 

The reason why I am writing to you is because I read your bio (even my friends were telling me to make sure I found it and read it :) ) and I really feel a kindred spirit in your efforts to get where you are. Though I am still struggling with my artwork and trying to get somewhere with it, it's very disconcerting to focus past the seemingly cut-throat nature of this business, particularly that of the internet. I am wondering how you did it, how you persevered, and how it is possible to chart a course through all this without winding back where your started just spinning your wheels. Is there a methodology that one should adopt to become successful or is just that you have to dog the right people until they give you that lucky break to get in the door?

 

Boy I wish there was someone to answer those same questions for me. Remember I freelance so I cant consult on how to become employed. If I could give you any advice it would be to never give up doing what you love. This is YOUR life.  Learn how to market what you love. Business saavy designers make good money, because they know their target and how to cater to that market. I see egonomically unfriendly crap every day. Door knobs, appliances, products in my house. I still bought em. Why? Because someone made them available to me more than the guy with the better product through advertising and marketing. 'Look at the success of the "Pet Rock". If someone can actually sell you a rock, they certainly now how to market anything. You can have a great product, virtual or real. If you dont market it correctly, you will find yourself in the same boat as half the others out there that think just because its quality or a good idea that it will sell. Gota let "Joe" know its there. This is in anything, flash design or any other service. Networking is crucial also. Get your work out there and to people who can promote it. Brokers, agents, promotions etc. Do NOT do work for someone elses corporate cause for no compensation. Pro-Bono is a different matter. Do not debut work that is unfinished. "Under construction" links are amatuer. Even though the "famous" Gabriel Mendoza of Gabocorp(http://www.gabocorp.com) has great design implement, his site still has no content, i.e. "Pet Rock" theory. Dont provide a link to information that is not there. Also provide content, not just eye candy. If the work, flash, static graphic(print) or otherwise does not provide a purpose for its use, dont use it. That is if you are a designer. Artist and designers are two different breeds. I find myself as one of the rare exceptions. Artists create things that dont neccessarily provide a pupose other than creating a perspective for someone else. This is a wonderful thing to do. A designer creates ergonomical function through form. This is a wonderful thing to do too. Understand which you are. One of the most difficult things that I found in my own evolution was figuring out what the hell is it that I do. Once I found out what I was really good at, I took it to the next level making sure I could offer my resources professionally(that means taking someone's money in return for my services). Do not try to do everything yourself. You will hurt yourself, your clients and precious time that can be spent with your family. So many people out there think they can do it all simply because they have a 'puter and a connection to the internet. These people find themselves at 3:00 in the morning sitting in their underwear typing their life away on a machine. Take it from me, I was there once.  Do what YOU do best and surround yourself with people that are really good at doing other things that will help your business. Offer your trade in return for someone else's services starting out if you dont have the capital. This will do 2 things. Make you better at what you do, thus increasing your potential and helping someone else in a different area increase their potential. Welcome to the world of healthy Enterprise. If you do these things, you will have one hell of a service or product. The internet is full of "Jacks" and I usually try to distance myself from these people. Dont get me wrong, Im not saying experience in other areas doesnt help. I have more than enough duties. However you must ensure quality in return for success and the only way to do this is to affiliate yourself with experienced professionals specializing in certain areas. Do NOT undersell yourself! You will kill us all. Know exaclty what you are worth by investigating what the market is doing. If you think you are half as good as the best designers, charge half what they charge. If you think you are twice as good as others, charge twice as much. Also find out what your client will pay. If they are a huge corporation and you or your team can handle the project, charge them what they will pay. If your project promotes a charity for feeding the children then add that fee into the huge corporation's fee and dont charge the pro-bono. (this of course is my personal moral judgement call). In most cases huge corporations sit on their money while other people suffer just to eat. If they wont give back to the community, see how you can help them do so.

 

 If anything else, EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE yourself.

http://www.gag.org can help.

 

 

If you're interested and have the time, I have a little bit of my artwork you can view here though most of my

stuff isn't up yet..<link disclosed>

read above
 
Good luck with your work and thanks being who you are. It's nice to know there are people like you out there!

 

<blush, blush>, well what can I say? <g>

 

Take care,

-DG-

 

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-David Gary-                                                                                                                                                          Interactive Media Producer/Designer                                                                                                                Dreamwave Productions, Inc                                                                                        <http://www.davidgarystudios.com>
<mailto:dgarystudios@mpinet.net>