Professionalism

Ohh boy.  So the life of a designer, web designer, illustrator and anyone in the creative field, it's very likely you have done some freelance work.  You work for the client, you do the work and in exchange they give you money.  Simple concept.  I've done this since I was studying in school and have continued to do it after graduating for three years until now.  I generally do most of this work in Canada and very little has been international.  It's worked out well, and I make some extra cash when needed.  The last year and a half in particular, I have done almost no freelance work for anyone, since I've been working on a massively experimental project.  I've been writing this for some time, and I had no time to work outside of the generic 8-5 timeline that I do to pay the bills.  However, for the first time, I was the client and paid someone else for the work.

Ohh boy.  So I contacted a company about a job I needed for this project I've been working on.  Initially, things went well and the first steps of the project went mostly to plan.  Afterwards, it was like an inevitable crashing train that had no wheels nor a break.  Nothing would be on time, and it took weeks for work that should have taken one or two days.  I remember at some point, I got roughs for part of the job that I know did not take a full day's worth after a month and their response was a casual "ok so what do you think?"  Not sorry for being incredibly late, and this looking like something I would do as quick as possible once someone asked for an update.  I had to call the whole thing off after a constant barrage of failures from this company, and it's definitely been my worst experience in any type of deal whether I am a client or vice-versa.  At least, I got my money back which is about the only positive.  The downsize is that I lost the most important thing, time.  About half a year's worth.

I ended this relationship on a cold but professional note.  The mediator of the company did not want for this news to get out there in regards to his company's incompetence, and I am not doing it either.  What's happened has happened and I do believe they just weren't professional enough to take care of it.  For me to be vindictive when they weren't malicious would be a shitty thing to be.  So, we left it off to a "shit happens, let's move our separate ways" road.  Anyways to any youngins' out there (that would be 3-5 years younger than me...), be professional.  Have your work on time.  if you can't, fucking let the client know ahead of time so they aren't wondering what is happening.  Your client should always be in the loop with what is happening to their project.  A major mistake is also to take too many jobs at once and not have the time to properly do them, which is what I believe was happening to the previous company.  Now, I have found another company and they seem a lot better for now, so hoping this continues until this project is done and I can see if anything happens with it.  Once again, be fucking professional.

Unforeseen Problems in the Creative World

Unforeseen problems happen in our lives constantly, so it makes sense that they also happen for work as well. I have been using an Macbook Pro for roughly 5 years now. For as good as it has been even upgraded with RAM, it still isn't anywhere where I needed it to be for Photoshop and AfterEffects, and Cinema 4D at times as well. Last month, I received a maxed out iMac that I bought which should hopefully do well enough for the next 5-6 years before buying something better in the future. I make a youtube speed painting and release it on the first of the every month (or 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on when I have to re-upload it because Youtube flagged one of the niche songs I used by a company that is not connected to the publisher of the song at all). When I was rendering the video of my latest speed painting, I realized on Adobe Premiere that the quality of the files was not up to par. I even took the next day off work and worked until 9PM that night to eventually get a solid quality on the Premiere file with the issue being very few minor things. This caused the video to be released a day late which was frustrating. The entire process before took roughly 70 hours and the complications afterwards took an additional and grueling 20 hours.

The reaction we have to unforeseen errors.. well my reaction...

The point here is that if you do design, web design, illustration/concept art, motion graphics or 3D, unforseen issues will come even if you do everything beforehand to ensure that no future problems will happen. My best advice based on 2 years on the professional field is to do the work early. If you are working for a client, send them a timeline in the contract that is later then when you expect to finish it. This way when you finish it as quick as you expected, then you're ok and everything is dandy. You feel like a fucking superhero and can either relax or do your own personal work during the extra time you have on the contract. However if you get some random, unforeseen issue that no one could even predict, then the normal timeline gets pushed back by a day, 2, a week, 2 or even a month depending on what type of work and/or scenario. This is where the contract comes in because this way you finish it last minute and it ends up being the same quality as intended even with the issues you couldn't predict. However, your contract says 3 weeks because that's how long you believe it takes and an extra week gets added, you either send them a shitty product and lose a potential long term client, or ask for more time. Now if you have built a realationship and they aren't in a massive hurry, this won't be a major issue. If that's not the case, lots of complications where both the work doesn't end up being good and the relationship goes down the shitter. You are in a lose-lose situation since this is work you don't even want to put in your portfolio or your website at this point.