What the hell do you want, anyway?

How to Get and Keep Illustration and Design Jobs: Post Numero Uno

In my continuing mission to turn every artist into a working artist who eats whatever they want (not just dry packaged noodles), I’ll be posting a series on getting work. Whether that means FT employment or complete independence, I’ll cover it. I’ll probably get some of my talented working friends to help me out. You’ll enjoy them. They’re nice.

Take this job search and shove it.

I’m not about to go all The Secret on you (please). But think about this; those things you really, really want most? You’re much more likely to get them if you:

1. Know what the hell they are
2.  Think about them more often

See? I didn’t even need a whole DVD to cover that theory.

The first step in getting art jobs, surprisingly, is not logging onto careerbuilder and sifting through tons of job postings. It took me a while to figure that one out, because years ago that was strategy #1. Do I even have to tell you how frustrating and demoralizing that process was? It was. It was depressing and sad.

In an ironic Douglas Adams-like twist, I spent the last two years of my corporate life sifting through careerbuilder.com looking for graphic design candidates. Equally as frustrating and non-fruit-bearing, that experience was. It was Volgon work, for sure.

The first step in finding art jobs and freelance art gigs is deciding what the hell kind of art you want to do in the first place.

It sounds simple, but it’s not. There are days where I’m still trying to figure that one out. It’s an ongoing process, like deciding if I really like grapefruit or not.

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, how will you find it?

If you hate sitting in a production cubicle with an art director telling you what you’ll be creating every day, then why are you looking at those Graphic Design jobs? Is it about the money?

Okay, I get the money thing. I’ve taken jobs for the money because my thinking was, “I can do this for a while and not care too much and it won’t drive me insane.” There’s a flaw in that thinking, but it’s not where you would expect it to be.

The flaw isn’t in taking on a job to make money so you don’t starve. That’s probably a good idea. Develop that. Keep eating and living inside instead of outside.

It’s not the job thing or the not caring too much about the work thing. It’s about taking something that you love doing and turning it into a j-o-b. It will start to wear on you after a while and it feels ultra crappy to make that commute into the office to beat yourself over the head by creating art you don’t enjoy.

If you’re going to find a full-time Graphic Design job, take your time. Be choosy. Make it about finding a place you would love to work rather than a place you have to work. Shoot for the best Graphic Design firm you can find and keep working at getting in.

It would be better to start as a receptionist at the Graphic Design firm of your dreams than to slave over graphics at a sweatshop firm just because you can get it easier. You can work your way into a Design position at the firm you love, but you’ll probably always hate the sweatshop, even if you become an art director.

But what if the very idea of working in a production environment repulses you?

Log off careerbuilder. Right now. I know you have it open in another tab, so go  ahead. I’ll wait.

Here’s what you do. Find a job doing something that you kind of enjoy that will pay you enough to keep you alive long enough to get some gigs happening. Do you like hanging out in coffee shops? So go work at one and pay your rent.

The only thing you have to be careful about here is getting stuck. Once you have a few gigs going, keep it alive. Make it bigger. Expand enough so that you’re just slightly uncomfortable with how busy you are between the coffee shop and your illustration clients.

At some point, you will have to go back to simply being a customer at the coffee shop. But it’s going to hurt a little bit while you straddle the two.

I got stuck a long time ago because I was afraid of the temporary pain. It turns out that it didn’t actually hurt as much as I though it would. It was still kind of scary, but letting go of the search for those soul-sucking design and animation jobs was freedom. My load was lighter.

Deciding what you want is the real first step. Take some time to think about it. It’s not like it’s going to take five minutes, so don’t go back and log onto careerbuilder when it doesn’t come to you in a flash.

Let yourself be a little scared at what you really want. If you’re kind of uncomfortable about it because it sounds slightly impossible, then that’s probably the thing you should do.