Behind the Scenes: How to reach clients? (Patreon)

I'm one of those people, that actually enjoy commercial work for clients. I can appreciate a good brief and I really love to dive in, extract the important details and nuances and build a creative strategy around it. The resulting visual concept is always just a cherry on top.

So it's no surprise, that occasionally, I just practice this on my own projects. If you want to stay sharp and be ready for the upcoming freelance project, it's really easy. Just make a list of interesting themes, that you would enjoy as a commission and pick one that excites you the most.

Then just come up with a simple brief. It can be something like "Website hero illustration for company focusing on premium home entertainment gadgets and gaming gear". That's the one I picked for the recent project.

Visit the full Pinboard here

If you want to make it a bit more interesting, you can elaborate on that and come up with more detailed brief with artificial constraints. Because guess what, the constraints are good for you. To mention just some examples, it can be limited color palette (for imaginary brand), brand messaging, specific niche within the industry you picked, things like that.

While trying to synthesize the concept, you will be forced to work around these limitations, so your creative engine would get supercharged. That's just the way how limitations work.

After picking a viable theme, it's time for some research. I use Pinterest for board building and search and then PureRef to create more refined mood board. Gather everything you can get your hands on, inspirations, color palettes, object reference if you need it, go to town.

Final step before actually jumping into my chose creative software is good old pencil and paper. Especially, when trying to come up with more intricate, or abstract concept. That was my case this time, because after gathering resources, I decided to go a bit abstract route, including both living room furniture and gadgets with mismatched proportions.

Without the pencil, I wouldn't be able to iterate so quickly on multiple ideas or layouts and I could risk getting lost in the 3d software. Even now, if you compare the sketch with the final result, you can see some differences. Of course, later you should feel free to deviate from the initial sketch if you feel like the result isn't working so well, or you get better ideas along the way.

But having the sketch in the first place is a beacon you can use, when things aren't going your way and you need something to fall back on.

And you can always lean onto the hours that went into considering the brief and its limitations, research and object study and creative sketch exploration.

And finally, what's the point of doing something like this in the first place? Why bother coming up with imaginary briefs. Why not do something completely casual, or artistic and wait for the client?

Well, the more you put out things like that, the more there's a chance that an actual client will notice the work and style you do and pick you for their project. Not only that, but since you were the one that picked up a theme you enjoy, there is a strong chance you will get "lucky" in this department as well and get to work on something you dream of.

See how I put "lucky" in quotes?

You can watch the process video on Youtube.