While Ask Me Anything exists to answer any of your burning questions about me and my work, I’m going to pre-empt some by writing the odd article (eg. the recent blogging one) and pointing out some good reads and resources. This edition rounds up some great articles I’ve bookmarked recently that we can all learn from.
TRY SOMETHING NEW
Jannie Ho is a children’s book illustrator and often has interesting posts about illustration on her blog Chickengirl Design. She’s been looking to expand to other industries and posted her work from a course called Make Art That Sells (part 1 | part 2). It’s cool to see how she’s forced out of her usual style and how trying different things gives here loads of great new ideas. If you’re ever stuck in a rut, this is a great way to get things going, whether you take a course or just set yourself a few challenges – things like Illustration Friday or the Spoonflower contests can be a great way to find themes you might otherwise avoid. I might do something like this myself soon – I’ve been itching to do some personal work that isn’t kawaii vector art.
GET NOTICED
Twinkie Chan is one of my small biz creative inspirations – she’s just awesome. She also knows what she’s talking about so no surprise that her blog post on How To Get Noticed is full of great ideas. How to find your signature style is also a good read if you’re just starting out.
THE ART OF BEING A GOAL GETTER
The best business advice for me is when someone just lays out a lot of stuff that I kind of already knew but had lost track of. Oh Joy’s personal history of how she became successful in all her creative endeavours really struck a chord with me – being an entrepreneur or freelancer isn’t something you learn, it’s something you are and you’ve probably been working towards it your whole life. I might write something similar about myself to see what I learn about my goals for the future. Part 2 is great too, with more concrete advice.
Also worth reading: Jolly Good on product photography and Hip Hop Side Project on raising your rates (applies pretty much to product pricing too).
Have you read any good business advice lately? Give me your links! And if you’ve got a question about something, Ask Me Anything.