Episode 1: Who the Heck Am I?

Episode 1: Who the Heck Am I?

I'll briefly talk about my experiences, background, and successes so far.

Hosted by Adam M Botsford
https://www.kaotixllc.com/
©Kaotix LLC, 2024

Transcript

That Wonderful State

This is Episode 1 titled…Who the heck am I?

I’ll preface my story telling by noting that I’ll try to format my non-interview sessions with two distinct sections. A bit of casual storytelling, information sharing, or maybe even some grumbling. Then a short talk about practical businessy actions I’ve taken or had success with. So hold on or skip ahead if you just need to get to the specifics.

And I’ll toss in a quick note, yes I’m a very quiet talker. I’m working on it so use that volume slider and thanks for listening anyway. 

Let’s start with a bit about me. I figure since you’ll be hearing me talk a lot you should know a bit about who I am and how I started.

My journey into art wasn’t unexpected but wasn’t direct either. I grew up with a lot of support from my family about being artist but very little exposure to working artists. I showed an early aptitude and the people around me did what they could to encourage me.

I don’t know if I heard the classic “you can’t make money as an artist” line but I certainly didn’t see people making money in any kind of creative endeavor. I did however have a few powerful experiences early that made sure the idea of being an artist was always in the back of my mind.

My educational route started with a botched first year at community college. I’m pretty sure I failed or dropped out of most of my classes, even the art ones. But I eventually finished my degrees, got a BA in teaching and a Master’s in educational design.

During those time frames I worked in all sorts of jobs ranging from retail to legal contract writing. I sometimes wonder if focusing on art earlier would have put further ahead as an artist but would not replace the people, experiences, and confidence I gained in those jobs. 

Right before making the switch to focusing on art fulltime, I was teaching. I was a Special Education teacher prior to the pandemic. Shifts in educational tools during that time made providing support for my students very difficult. Between the lack of ability to support my students, the uncertainty around technology and accessibility, and the limitations of the district I was in...I made the choice to leave to pursue my art full time. I worked as a freelance artist for 3 years before making the decision to formalize my goals and start an LLC. None of which would have been possible without the support of my husband and a lot of encouraging friends.

Where I’m at now…

I’m an illustrator who specializes in figure work, has an aptitude for portraiture, and works mostly in kid focused content like games and books. I also dabble in self-publishing children’s books. Over the past three years I’ve worked on a lot of small projects, and a couple of projects I hope will be big.

Here are some highlights:

·       There is a company here in Washington called Inclusive Imagination working to create games focused on accessibility. Working with them has been incredible. The work they are doing is even more incredible. Their whole focus is creating games that have Disabled players in mind without compromising the fun and quality of the game itself. I worked as a concept artist and illustrator to create hundreds of drawing, some packaging, and a handful of website images for two card games that incorporated tools for visually impaired players. They are also producing toy and game add-ons such as switches, braille dice, QR and audio archives for their games, and I’ve heard rumor of software development for even more player reach. 

·       Another great experience was working with a company called Ravenskeep. They create tabletop products such as hex tiles, roleplaying tabletop games, and even a fantasy web series about small town cultists. It’s hysterical. I worked with them to create a variety of toy and game related assets. Primarily it was concept art, but I got to work on a kids book, some tabletop assets, and even helped design plush toys and action figures.

·       On my own I’ve published a handful of coloring books, a kids book, produced a couple of podcasts, and now I’m expanding into portraiture and mentoring. You’ll probably hear me shift between teaching, mentoring, and coaching but ultimately it’s consulting on creative projects. I’m sure I’ll get into more details as we go along.

If you are thinking about trying your hand at commercial art or art freelancing, then here are a few practical notes:

1.       While working and going to school I started a small shop on Etsy. Listing items costs about 20 cents. The commissions for low cost items you sell is small. I started with simple character drawings for people’s various tabletop games. Etsy is an odd site that doesn’t monitor its sellers well. There is a lot of not actually handmade goods being sold as handmade. It’s worth checking out if you have digital items you can sell such as drawings or downloadable content. I’ve had a lot amazing customers who were repeat buyers and have since become long term supporters of my projects. Big thumbs up to amazing people, big thumbs down to shady sellers on Etsy.

2.       When I first started freelancing I signed up for a site called Upwork. It’s similar to Fivver if you’ve used that. It has a wide variety of job types and I was able to find some really, great clients early one that paid well. Their commission fees are high and you have to bid to find work. The bid requires this currency that you have to buy. I feel mixed about it. On one hand the bidding currency prevents people from just spam bidding on jobs, on the other it is just one more way to cut value of work found on their site. In the three years I used it I have watched a steady decline in art clients. Most of the work I found early one was high profile well paying. Now the site feels like a bid-to-the-bottom. There is a lot of pressure to purchase extra bidding currency to get your bid seen first and then to bid as low as possible for your rates to get the project. I would not recommend Upwork at this time for artists like me.  

3.       I’m making an effort to network. Nearly every professional, active artist I talk to has either outright told me that networking is necessary or it’s been an unspoken attribute to their success stories. At the time that I really started to notice that an artist in Seattle, Cody Shipman, started a live drawing series in my neighborhood. It was a win in a lot of ways. I really wanted to opportunity to have a live drawing model again and it’s been an amazing way to get to meet other artist in all sorts of fields. So huge thanks to Cody for the hard work. I’m not sure how I’ll turn this opportunity into career success, but for now I’m really glad to participate and very grateful for the people I’ve met. 

Well that’s a brief intro to how this podcast will go. I’m sure as soon as I’m done recording I’ll think of a dozen other things I should have said or meant to say. I’ll just tuck those into future episodes. 

Thanks for listening and thanks for being amazing!