Disclaimer 1: No, this post is not a critique of the art as seen in the movie or of the movie in general. I don’t even know what point I am making in creating this post. Probably, to see the worth of freelancers. Or this might just be a random rambling.
Disclaimer 2: I guess I can call myself a freelance graphic artist because I earn from making digital art, so yeah. I’m just speaking from an amateur’s point of view. So, if there is anything I’ve said about the freelance graphic design world that was in any way not true or partly untrue, then, please, enlighten me.
Watched Never Not Love You. Triggered by a scene where Joanne’s father sort of devalued Gio’s being a freelance graphic designer, living on just gigs. Had a conversation just recently explaining what exactly I am doing working as a freelancer currently. Piece these all together and here’s what I came up with.
Change is constant.
Gio and Joanne changed as persons. Their relationship changed over time. The movie itself was a refreshing change deviating from typical love storyline and rom-com storytelling. So, can’t the job market change too?
Is success only measured by having a stable job? A 9-to-5 job? A job in the government? There are people like Joanne who are happy with this setup, happy with the stability that it brings. Good pay, job security.
On the other hand, there are people like Gio who are freelancers, who take on gigs, artists who may get a steady client or have project-based work. This may be an unorthodox career path but it’s a growing trend. Work-at-home, digital nomads, virtual assistants.
Yes, people can earn online, and some people earn a lot. Or maybe, people know this fact but there’s just this stigma on freelancing that when you’re not getting dressed up for work or you live on side hustles here and there to make up for rent, you’re just a throwaway?
People are getting more visual nowadays. High standards for Instagram feed, marketing and branding, infographics in presentations replacing PowerPoint templates… these instances created more opportunities for graphic artists.
You have to work harder if you’re not from a prestigious school (or have no degree at all).
In the movie, Joanne mentioned that she thought she needed to work harder because she did not graduate from a prestigious university.
This is one of the beauty of freelancing. Well, not always but sometimes, you don’t really need a sparkling resume. Some clients just needed to do the work and if you deliver, then that’s it. In all the gigs I’ve had so far, not once did a buyer asked about me having an art degree. Maybe that’s how I was able to somehow get gigs. All I did was show them some samples. They’d talk to me about what they want and if I’ll say I can do it, then I have the job.
I learned Photoshop just because I wanted to create good visuals for my barkada’s blog back in high school. Then I started photo manipulating for fun. Then I progressed to making layouts for certificates, invitations, and tarpaulin banners in college. I’ve also made birthday and wedding invitation and tarp layouts for friends and family. Then I learned to make illustrations.
I was already on Fiverr as a transcriber and since I was not getting a lot of jobs on that area at that time, I thought about offering a graphic design gig despite hesitations, knowing that there are plenty of professionals out there. But there were people who believed my work is great and that’s enough for them to pay for my work.
You don’t even need high-end equipments to start. I just have a laptop and Photoshop. I don’t know Adobe Illustrator or Lightroom. I don’t have a Wacom pen. But somehow, I was able to create something out of just the pen tool.
Good art ain’t cheap.
Joanne first met Gio when she had to collect the artwork he was commissioned to do. When they were down to the payment, Joanne thought that the price was too high and even haggled. Gio then responded:
One of the dilemmas of starting freelance artists is how to set a price for their services. They are caught in between underpricing because of tight competition, or asking for what their efforts’ worth even though that might mean losing a client.
This line really hit me hard, and I had my mother and my sister already use it to scold me. I recently scored a huge deal in my illustration gig, at least it was big enough for me. It was an illustration for 100 or something simple characters.
The thing is, I was probably blinded with the total amount for the bulk work that I overlooked the time and the effort in completing the order that it turned out to be really dirt cheap. I’m trying to reason it’s gonna be good in my portfolio but I realized it’s not really worth it. They had me talk it over to the client to negotiate the price.
There are those people who scour freelancing sites for the cheapest rates, and then there are people who are appreciative of the work you’ve done. I receive tips every now and then plus a good review of my services in my profile when I deliver work that they’re satisfied with. Makes me happy to validate that there are people who are willing to pay more for good art.
Self-employment is no joke, I realized. You are your own company. You’re the marketing department, the HR, the talent, the payroll division, the advertiser, the social media manager. You are hopping from one gig to another and there’s nothing wrong with that. Getting a steady income stream comes only second. I think, when you’re a freelancer, first and foremost, you should know your worth.
Are you reading this because you can relate as a freelancer? Let me know your own struggles and comment down below.
Do you also want to start freelancing? For sure there are many other websites but for me, Fiverr really worked for me. Sign up now by clicking this link. It’s free!
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