40/Hour a Week not What You Want?

So you have found your 40 hours a week job.  You're happy, you got a job and a safety net.  6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5, 10 years.  Some time later, you realize that 40 hours might not be for you.  Now this is likely due to one of two reasons (if not a bit of both).  You should trust my judgment because I've been working for over 3 years since I graduated.  That practically makes me an expert on anything related to jobs and I've seen enough movies/TV shows that is the equivalent of a PhD in Psychology.  Now that we've established my credentials, lets get to the two reasons.

One of the reasons is that you don't want to do a 40 hour job.  You want to work on your own time, you work better at night.  You might enjoy working for 14 hours one day, and then spend the next day with your kids.  You work 25 hours in two days and are able to leave for a 4 day weekend somewhere special.  Having a more flexible schedule and working when you're really in tune works out for you.  The other reason is that it's not what you really want to do.  You chose it as it was a good option when you initially started working or/and due to the safety of the 40 hour a week.  However, after some time you realize this job is not really for you.

Unfortunately, I am starting to feel that way with my current 40 hour a week job due to the latter option.  I originally signed up to work on a relatively split 50-50 design and front-end development.  As time moves on however, there is less and less design.  I love writing, designing and digital illustration, and I enjoy doing front-end development.  However for me to love my job, it has to have a sizeable portion on one of those three areas.  I know to many people a job is a job, but I do believe that you should love your job and a Monday shouldn't be something you bemoan when it eventually comes every week.  That's why I chose to go on a creative route, to do what I love.  One recommendation to people struggling for either of these options is that you do what you want on your spare time, something creatively that you yourself enjoy.  It unleashes pent up creativity, and it will help when you're doing your 40 hour a week as well. 

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.

Speed Painting 36: Batman Arkham Knight

So something-something related to Batman is coming out, and yes it is another excuse for me to once again to do a Batman-related youtube speed painting.  The final game of the Batman trilogy from Rocksteady Studios will release on June, and that is my next topic.

This illustration is heavily inspired by the wonderful Witcher 3: Wild Hunt concept designs of their artists.  Well done to them.  I used the Batman logo as the background while illustrating the two major villains of the game, Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight.  I also used one the Dark Knight songs from Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, and the second song from the Arkham City game.  This way, I pay tribute to both the best comic book superhero movie and one of the developer's own games.

I hope you guys (whichever person accidentally stumbles here) enjoy this one, because I believe this to be my best one in exactly three years of (creating) speed paintings.  Can't believe it's been three whole years so far!

Speed Painting 35: Avengers 2, Age of Ultron

With the new Avengers moving coming out in May 1st, I thought it'd be a good choice to pick A2 as my next speed painting. I wanted to practice illustrating metallic substances, so Ultron was a perfect reference. I chose to go with Ultron looking as intimidating as possible while in the process of ripping Captain's shield in half, and Ironman and Thor trying to get involved behind him. Enjoy.

Youtube Restructuring

I am two months shy of releasing a youtube speed painting illustration at the start of each month for three years.  Well, I am still doing that.  However, I had some issues with the latest illustration itself and then youtube is as usual unreliable.  So it released on the second rather than the first.  I think from now on, I am going to focus on illustrations that focus heavily on a single character.  The background on my latest speed painting simply took too much time.  The issue isn't that it's just painting it, it's the editing afterwards to remove all the times that I look at references.  This latest speed painting itself may have taken me 80 to 90 hours. 

Now if this was all I had to do, I wouldn't have minded it as much.  However, I am and have been working on a project I'm writing that's very likely going to fail.  However by the small chance that it succeeds, it needs a certain amount of my time every week.  I'm in that weird creepy place where I am optimistic and realistic at the same time.. it's.. it's weird.  A lot of its work is going through some final stages and if things go smoothly which a lot of the time don't happen, I might finally find out if this was all worth it or all for naught.  I have been working on this for three years and the last year has taken a lovely amount of my time.  I've cooled off even on freelance work for some time for this reason.

Anyways, the last speed painting, the last two-three days I wasn't having fun and that's not why I do this.  I always do things that I love, that's why I put an average of 60 hours a month on a project that makes me zero money.  I don't monetize any videos.  Of course I do have in the back of mind my mind that if a video blows up, it could open up a lot of chances for easy freelance options.  That doesn't escape my mind.  Anyways, I will be focusing more on characters for my illustrations to save me 20 hours worth of time.

Overreliance on Technology

I recently had some issues with my internet service where it was practically unusable for nearly a week.  I called my internet provider they explained that for two months there have been issues and now it's gotten worse.  There was a small conversation on why they were taking their sweet time and all that jazz, where I rightfully got 50% discount for a certain amount of time.

Without a proper internet, I then got a taste of just how much I rely on it.  I always listen to podcasts or youtube videos while painting, and I was painting my latest speed painting at the time as well as writing.  In regards to music, I listen to grooveshark and in this computer I barely have any actual music downloaded.  So the choice was to either to paint in silence or listen to the same 10 songs over and over again.  Not being able to look for any images as references hurt a bit, as I had to make due in some occasions by finding them while I was at work.   Why not use your cellphone for data you ask?  Well because I only have 300MB of data per month.  I pay 40$/month which is perfect for peasants like me that use WIFI at home and at work while not having much money to afford a better deal. 



For me, it is a bit terrifying how over-reliant I am on technology.  I think as a society especially in North America, we all rely on it.  Husband and wife being in the same room and looking at iPads, cellphones and computer instead of talking more to one another, kids looking down at their cellphones texting instead of actually speaking to the friends they have next to one another.  We can't even go a bit away without looking at our phone even when we're driving, which has become such an incredible health issue in North America.  Louis CK goes over this subject in a manner that's much better articulated than what I'm doing on the youtube video above.

Speed Painting 34: Game of Thrones Season 5

Here's my new speed painting for the month.  Came out a day late.  I'm going to find out the programmers who work for Google/Youtube and fight them.  Ok, I need to calm down a little bit pretending to be an internet tough guy.  I won't talk about the description or my process too much as it runs into 'have you seen season 4 of Game of Thrones' territory.