The Importance of Following Up

Image By Sudhamshu

Remembering to follow up is such an important business practice as an artist.

For getting jobs...

It's easy to take things too personally. If someone doesn't respond to an email inquiry you sent, it feels like an insult or rejection letter. However, people get busy. More often than not, if a job was posted in a public place, they could have just gotten swamped with mail. You may have send one initial inquiry, but imagine how much you increase your odds if you send a follow up email? Suddenly, you're at the top of email pile again and it might mean the difference between getting a job and never hearing anything back.

For keeping jobs...

Following up is also really important for keeping up on current projects. Everyone gets busy for any number of reasons. The client really meant to pay that invoice, but it got buried under the pile of mail or work. Following up on current projects allows you to keep better track of your potential income. It also allows you to check in regularly with your client to see how the project is moving along.

How to follow up

My system for following up occurs every Monday. I use gmail and rely on it's Priority Inbox system to keep my emails organised. I use it as a make-shift to do list. Items I want to follow up on or keep track of week-to-week, month-to-month get starred. Items that I need to work on that day do not. Unread mail stays at the top and right in focus. I keep my starred items collapsed and follow up on them once a week on Mondays, as it helps me to get my schedule for the week in order and payments processed ASAP.

I find writing follow up emails to be really easy. It's supposed to be a gentle reminder, so make sure to keep it that way. A quick message explaining you are trying to schedule your weekly plans and would like a response is more likely to get a response than a demanding letter.

When following up doesn't work

It happens. You've sent a follow up email for 3-4 weeks in a row without result. If it's an important matter like an invoice due or the next step in the project, you should either consider finding an alternate email address to use (sometimes accounts DO get hacked and there's no way for them to let you know!) or find alternate methods to contact them. Refusal to pay disputes may require the services of a lawyer.

If it's a potential project, but you do not receive a response, perhaps change your cycle of following up to once every 2-4 weeks. It could be the project is delayed and they are just waiting for more information before sending out another email. Maybe they decided to give up the project all together and your emails are just hitting the bin. Don't waste too much time on potential projects, there are always more around the corner and your time would be better spent finding and applying (and following up!) to new ones.

What are your follow up techniques? Please share with us in the comments!

Friday Feature: Dave Rapoza

Dave Rapoza
Portfolio

A great inspiration of mine, Dave rocks the fantasy illustration market with his vibrant colours and phenomenal lighting. With credits such as Magic the Gathering and Paizo Publishing to his name, he's an accomplished illustrator who also offers classes on the online art school Schoolism. Be sure to check out his crazy monster paintings!



Want to be featured? Feel a friend is deserving of the limelight? Send an email with a name, portfolio link and a sample of the work to be showcased on Colourisma!

"Improve Portfolio's Style" Experiment Week 5

In week five of the Improve Portfolio Style series, I've gotten one piece retouched, and now I'm working on another piece that could be a lot better given a few improvements.

Here is the original piece:

Here is a WIP of the piece:

Some of the things that were changed:

• I added a better underlying story, making the rider a Pony Express mailman.
• I changed the saddle after doing research into the Pony Express and added the special removable mail bags onto the tack.
• I added a moustache and jacket that better depicts the time period.

Some things I'd like to add:

• Adjust the anatomy on the werewolves.
• Add Native American décor to the werewolves to help push the underlying conflict and emphasise that they are werewolves.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions!

Invoicing Choices

Photo By cybrgrl

A little favoured task of artists... Invoicing.

...But you might as well know and understand your options. Fortunately there are several.

Online Solutions

Paypal
Paypal is a free solution for online invoicing. It's the one I use the most often, even though I did buy a desktop solution. It allows as many clients as you want, though it's invoicing interface isn't as pretty as the invoice-only online solutions. However, since most people online nowadays pay and buy via PayPal, it's a succinct, accessible solution.

Siwapp
Siwapp is an open source invoicing site that has a great looking interface. The site comes with a Community section, which can help with questions you may have. Every application is slightly different, but at the price of free, it's worth trying out to see if it meets your needs. There are other free, open source options out there as well, so be sure to do some homework and look them up if you feel Siwapp doesn't quite meet your needs.

Invoice More
Invoice More offers a tiered pricing plan, which is common with online invoicing apps. The free version allows you to test it out and see if it meets your needs. Both free and the $15/mo plan offer unlimited invoices, recurring items, PDF generation; emailing and PayPal Standard payments. The paid plan offers credit card payment integration, unbranded emails for a more personal touch and Secure SSL Encryption. There are many, many invoicing products like this that offer a limited free account option. I find that the free accounts are usually too limiting for an illustrator, as we have a lot of different clients, but perhaps you can finagle it so it can work for you.

FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the self-proclaimed leader in online invoicing that has popularity with a lot of different types of freelancers. It's geared to a small business, accommodating several employees, which is a feature that is probably not much use to artists who usually operate via sole proprietorships. It has a tiered price plan with the free version allowing for three clients and all the options of the other price plans except it has branded emails and no project managers, time management and team expense reporting options.

Pros  and Cons to Online Invoicing
There are many pros to online invoicing. The ease of access to your information on the go makes this a great solution. Also, cross-platform issues become non existent, as these options work on your Mac or PC. The sheer volume of choices make it really easy to pick the best solution for your business. This can also be the start of the downside. It can be hard to pick a solution that has everything you need and it can be time consuming to go through all the options. You should be careful that the solution you pick offers a sufficient level of protection and security, as being online provides more risk than being on a desktop with no access to the internet. I feel the pros of online invoicing outweigh the cons and my solution through trial and error is simply just PayPal.

Desktop Solutions

Billings
Billings is the desktop app that I decided to buy. It worked well and makes nice looking invoices, but I ended up not using it much because it was a chore to keep track of the invoices and income as it all had to be entered manually. It also is Mac only, which is common platform for a lot of desktop invoicing solutions (at least the pretty ones), but this can single a lot of people out of using them, especially artists who are pretty even in Mac/PC usage.

Express Invoice
This is a free option for both Mac and Windows. It lacks a bit of the polish of Billings, but most of the functionality remains. There is a pro version for those who need more than five users, which probably won't include many reading this article! I say give it a go and see if it does what you need.

Pros and Cons to Desktop Invoicing
If you dig, you can find more options, but they generally fall under the Mac-only, moderately expensive or "free-but you get what you pay for" model, which doesn't work for a lot of people. The pros of having desktop invoicing software is that it allows you to work offline and still invoice. Another is some desktop applications have accompanying smart phone apps which allow for "on the go" invoicing. The manual entering of each invoice to track records and sales can be tedious and time consuming, especially when you have deadlines. Many desktop solutions don't brand their name on the invoices, so it allows for better customisation. You'll just have to experiment with online and desktop software to see which option works best for you.

Do you use any invoicing software not on this list? What are it's pros and cons? Leave a comment!

Friday Feature: Michael Kutsche

Michael Kutsche
Portfolio

German-born artist Michael Kutsche is self taught in both traditional and digital mediums. His hyper-realistic, other worldly characters and creatures have landed him such clients as Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks, Disney Studios, Marvel Studios and SEGA.

He's probably most known for his work on Time Burton's Alice in Wonderland concepts. Be sure to browse through Michael's gallery for images that seem to glimpse into a parallel universe!

Want to be featured? Feel a friend is deserving of the limelight? Send an email with a name, portfolio link and a sample of the work to be showcased on Colourisma!

"Improve Portfolio's Style" Experiment Week 4

I've completed my Stone crab piece, improved upon the original that can be viewed here. I'm happier at how this piece looks now. I've learned a lot by continuing to push the piece and adding more to it and developing more of a story.

But now I am moving onto the next piece I'd like to improve upon! Stay tuned next week to read more about it!

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I've provided another way to purchase the Quick Reference Guide! If you love Lulu, it's now available as a digital download for your convenience.

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Fire up the Passion

Rouge Passion By strelitzia ---

We all have a love/hate relationship with our art.

Today, focus on the part of your art that you love. I've recently been exploring, trying to find a niche I belonged to. Somewhere I could leave a mark and my art could prosper.

But lately, I feel as though I'm spreading myself too thin, becoming unfocused and forgetting the things I'm passionate about that got me into the illustration business in the first place.

I'm going to go back to my roots and focus on fantasy art. I'd neglected it in favour of a few different avenues, but I'm starting to feel the old adage really is true: Jack of all trades is the master of none.

I'll inform everyone on the progress in the shift of my business plan in the next Experiment Wednesday!

What makes you passionate about art? Let us know in the comments!

Friday Feature: Jordu Schell

Jordu Schell
Portfolio

With amazing, life like sculpture work, Jordu's work has been featured in Hellboy, Aliens vs. Predator, Planet of the Apes, Men in Black, and even Avatar- for good reason! Looking at his portfolio is like going at an alien zoo. Be sure to check out his work!

Project Overload

I know I'm definitely guilty of project overload. The upside to having too many projects is that you are never bored!

The downside is that you can neglect one project or another. Sometimes this is a natural way to prune out old projects, making room for more constructive or profitable ones. Other times you have a project that might take a lot of your time, but isn't generating the results you want.

Here are some ways to combat project overload:

Start a mind map

I really like mind maps. My favourite free mind map software is XMind, as I've mentioned in my Quick Reference Guide.

I find mind mapping allows you to have free flowing thoughts without feeling trapped in a linear way of thinking.

Start with listing all the projects you are currently working on. Then, you can start branching out and add tasks to each assignment. You can mark it's relevance to your career, it's deadline, it's possible impact on your time and how important you think it is. Mind maps are great as they allow you to keep coming back to them over and over again with new ideas and revisions.

Image you are helping a friend
Pretend for a moment that it's not you who is overwhelmed with too many projects, but a friend coming to you with this issue. It's a lot easier to stay objective when you aren't thinking about yourself. Ask your "friend" which project is the most important or has the most rapidly approaching deadline. Figure out the order of the projects your "friend" should consider by marking them in importance by numbering them from most to least important. This should allow you to step back far enough from the chaos to figure out what the next step should be.

Keep track of your day

Nothing makes a bad situation worse as easily as being unorganised.  Keep a desk, wall or desktop calendar handy and make sure it's constantly updated. Even down to the hour or minute can help you put things into perspective and keep you focused and on task. If you don't know where your time is going, then you won't which projects are time wasters and which are worth the time you are investing into them.

Curb the new projects back
You have a great idea. In fact, it might just be the next BIG thing. However, you already have several projects currently eating up your time and you just can't start work on a new one. Start a mind map or even just a plain notebook and write down the ideas. Nothing is worse than having a great idea, then forgetting it later. Keep the notebook or mind map file handy and refer back to it, adding new ideas or updating the old ones. Once your idea is fleshed out enough, you can then schedule time into your day to make it a reality. Doing so before your idea is fully ready to take form can lead to a lot of wasted time.

Have you every experienced project overload? What have you done to defeat it? Share your tips in the comments!

Friday Feature: Matthew Stewart

Matthew Stewart
Portfolio

Dynamic composition. Excellent lighting. Marvellous characters. There's a lot that can be gleaned from viewing a few pieces from Matthew's portfolio! Be sure to check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Want to be featured? Feel a friend is deserving of the limelight? Send an email with a name, portfolio link and a sample of the work to be showcased on Colourisma!

"Improve Portfolio's Style" Experiment Week 3

Even after making an improvement on my crab piece last week, I got some great tips on how to push it even further:

• Removing some debris on the antennae
• Lighten the contrast on the ship
• Break up the seaweed and make it smaller to make the crab look bigger
• Make the shadow more looming
• Add a shipwrecked crew member to add scale and size to the crab

Sometimes you just want to move on to the next piece, but it can be good to stick with an illustration until you learn everything you can out of it. It will be a better piece in the end!

Have you reworked a piece to make it better? Post before and afters in the comments!

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