If your finding it hard to get work as a freelancer or a self employer, it may be a good idea to produce a self initiated project which can fuel your commissioned work. How do these projects communicate to your potential clients?

How can we become better artists and designers if we produce these projects, and make us look like were actively practising our craft. But what should you produce, and why can it help you? Well I’m going to be running through a few tips to help and support you, so you know exactly what to do.

Why Self Initiate

As I said before, this sort of project is perfect for those of you finding it difficult to get commissioned work. Instead of just waiting for your next client to show an interest in you, actively seek new challenges and briefs for yourself to work to, and practise your craft. It gives the evidence that your not just sitting at home all day, and makes you feel more positive as a result. You can feel like your producing things on a regular basis, and as your learning from these projects, you can take this into your commissioned work.

But What Should You Produce?

This is really up to you, and what your discipline is. A good starting point is looking on our Inspiration blog posts, and seeing what sort of project you’ll like to produce for yourself. Another good technique is seeing what areas of your portfolio you want to work on.

You might think that your use of type within your poster designs needs work. If we use this as an example, produce a poster design of your favourite film, and keep the type in mind throughout the project. Make a pretend brief for yourself and stick to it, and let it focus on what you want to work on. Once you’ve finished, blog, tweet and tumblr about it, and see what reaction you get from it. You might not get anything back from it, but this isn’t your aim, as your aim was to learn from the project, which you can take into your commissioned work. What worked within the project, and what didn’t work as well? By asking yourself these questions it allows you to learn from the process, a valuable tool within the art and design industry.

What This Communicates To Your Audience

If your constantly uploading new pieces of work to your blog or tumblr page, it not only makes you look like your active and engaged, but it makes you look passionate about the work which your producing. This gives clients a good incentive to commission you, as they know that your passionate about what you do, and won’t let them down.

Being passionate about your particular discipline is crucial in being commissioned. As you’ve learnt from producing your self initiated projects, it will result in a better commission for the client, and make you feel better as a result! Woop all round!

Summary Of Points

• If your finding it hard to get work for yourself, consider self initiated projects
• Doing self initiated projects allows you to work on weak points within your portfolio
• It makes you look passionate about what your doing and look proactive as a result
• You can take what you’ve learnt from these projects into your commissioned work
• Potential clients will see this passionate and commission you as a result

What self initiated projects have you been working on recently?

Thanks for listening to my blog post today, be sure to comment below as I’ll love to hear your suggestions, personal stories and what you’ve learnt from these projects. Thanks, and have a great day!