A week of firsts

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After getting my feet when we got back from New Zealand things really started
to kick off this week and I've been notching up the firsts!

First freelancing contract.
For a small agency just down the road from me who do some great work and I've been having a ball there working on some big names and meeting fantastic people. Obviously being a freelancer is different to be a full-time permanent designer for an agency and I haven't been doing it long enough to have really experienced the upsides and the downsides. So far I am enjoying the purity of simply concentrating on what's in front of you and solving that problem without the pressure of 1000 other projects that need doing or 1000 emails that need answering. I'm sure at some point I'll want a bit more but I'm hoping I can balance that with the stuff I'm doing for myself and work it all out that way. I'll keep you posted.


First quote & invoice
This might not sound like a huge thing but I was asked to quote on a little design job for a friend and figured that it was a good chance to get all my systems in order. I've had very little to do with this side of business so it's a bit of a steep learning curve and every step seemed to come with a whole host of questions. Can I use the same number for job, quote and invoice? How much information do I need to include on my quote? Can I just use a spreadsheet or do I need something more? In the end I've gone with as simple a system as possible and am giving Solo a whirl to help me get things in order. Being a designer I'm not happy with automatically generated quote and invoice templates so I've designed those as well. I've probably missed something crucial out of this system but I guess it's just a case of using it and seeing how it goes.


First trilogy of illustrations
After the success of Little Red Riding Hood I've added Hansel and Gretel and The Billy Goats Gruff to make a perfect set of three. I'm dead pleased with them and I've had some fantastic feedback. My plans for these are to get them online and sell them, so I'm working out my pricing for them at the moment (another first) I'm also doing a craft fair in a few weeks and will be taking these along, but the possibilities are endless really maybe they could be a book or a giant poster or greetings cards or postcards, the list


In other news
These might not strictly be firsts but they are fun things that I've been up to. The map above is from some wedding stationery that I am doing for a friend of mine who is getting married in July. There is a huge vintage element to the day and it's been so much fun to reflect that in the designs, I especially enjoyed creating the hand drawn map.
I'm currently planning my next few illustrations, Three Little Pigs is the next fairy tale and I'm considering something based around my home town of Thame - it has such beautiful old buildings and I think illustrating that in a modern style could make something quite interesting. Watch this space!

Can't wait for next week to see what fun stuff happens then. On the cards so far are some more freelancing, possible book illustrations and a tax workshop. Phew!

I'm going to use this blog as a way of keeping track of what I'm up to and how it all goes and to have something to hold myself accountable to. If you are interested in seeing how my journey goes then please click the title of the post above and fire up the RSS feed and feel free to add to the comments. Be great to hear other people's opinions and experiences.

Sun, sea and sand

Three weeks in New Zealand certainly didn't feel like enough.

We spent most of our time in the Bay of Plenty, watching the cruise ships come
and go and enjoying the sun, sea and sand.

Took a ride on a tiny plane

We had a trip to Auckland where we spent a great day at the cricket.

Another to Wellington where we had a hysterical day out at the sevens

We stopped at Lake Taupo, who was feeling moody that day!

Admired the view of Hawkes Bay from Napier (along with the local firemen)

And watched the sun set over the Waikato


I can't wait to go back.

In Print

After three weeks in New Zealand (more on that later) I'm ready to hit the ground running with my new business venture and what better way to get it started with a limited screen print run of my Little Red Riding Hood print. She has come out much better than I could have imagined so I'm dead pleased. I'll be signing and numbering each one ready for sale at the up coming March show (again, more on that later) but obviously if you fancy one now just drop me a line!

Thanks to Kim and Scott on this one!