There are a variety of reasons why creative professionals choose a freelance career path: they want the freedom to juggle their career with their other priorities (personal life, side projects, art practice); they may prefer to work from home or be out on site; they want the flexibility; they like being their own boss; working with different clients on a wider range of projects is more exciting.
Art schools are a fantastic place to pick up a wide range of transferable skills. Art students are taken on an extensive journey of courses and training that build a rich plethora of technical skills, creative thinking, adaptability and problem-solving methodologies.
In part 1 and part 2 of my art career choices series I have already gone over some top arts jobs that can either be inhouse or make great freelance career paths such as in marketing and PR or becoming an art curator.
On this list I have combined some freelance pathways that I know many successful people have taken following the completion of their art degree.
Photographer
Artists often leave art school with some level of photography and digital editing skills. Photographers are hired as freelancers for all sorts of reasons: advertising campaigns, the documentation of events and exhibitions, fashion shoots, documentation of artwork in a studio setting, portraiture for professional development, photographing products or for private photoshoots.
Other freelance photographers make a living by selling high-quality and visually appealing digital photos to stock sites such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Alamy, Getty, iStock and Canva. Some in-demand niches include travel, lifestyle, food, animals and wildlife, celebrity or showbiz shots and general office setups that can be used in business marketing material.
Video and Image Editing
There is a huge demand out there for video and image editors. All companies need marketing material for their social media channels, presentations, adverts, websites and portfolios. Whether you cover the whole package or specialize just in producing YouTube videos, this can be a very lucrative option. Often this can be done without having to invest too much in expensive equipment or software.
Brand and Marketing Consultant
Artists are often highly skilled in delivering messages through a variety of stimuli to a specific audience. They specialize in grabbing attention and capturing a mood or emotion. These skills are highly transferable to marketing, branding and advertising.
It may be a new company or product launch, or a rebranding project. Companies need branding that aligns their company with their target audience. They want to stand out from their competitors and capture the imagination of the public. This can be a great opportunity for a freelancer to step in and bring a fresh pair of eyes and specialist skills to an existing team for a short-term injection of new ideas.
Specialist Technician
There is a huge range of specialist technicians working within the creative industries. Some work hidden away in basement rooms or warehouses, others are found constantly on their feet in the foyers of public buildings or outside in the elements installing large scale art works. Galleries and museums often use a combination of in-house technicians used for hanging and installing new shows and freelance technicians to travel with touring exhibitions or for specialist installs. These types of technicians can find themselves installing elaborate displays for fashion shows, traveling the world delivering and installing work in the mansions of collectors, or installing unique displays for global events such as the Olympics.
Big print houses produce limited edition prints for artists, galleries, museums, unique advertising campaigns, and other bespoke projects. Within these establishments are color specialists, technicians highly trained in print techniques like litho, screen printing, and digital printing software and equipment.
Set Designer
The entertainment industry often requires versatile designers to produce sets for theater, movie and TV productions. This may involve creating props for an action movie, developing landscapes to fit a particular era, or adapting interiors of houses for period dramas. Artists are ideally placed in this role due to the level of creativity required in the art direction and in the understanding of materials to create effects and last the duration required.
Equally advertising companies need sets for commercials, photoshoots and displays for shop windows and events.
Freelance set and exhibition designers are hired on a project by project basis, maybe just for the overall creative concept or for the technical execution too.
Are you a freelancer? Do you have interesting insights into your line of profession and top tips for art students, recent graduates or those wanting a career move?
Please leave your comments below.
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