Trina Dalziel shares her thoughts
Illustrator Trina Dalziel shares her thoughts on what’s good and not so good about being an illustrator. Read on to find out what she thinks – do you agree?
Art by Trina Dalziel for Illustrating Children’s Books .
Good Things
1. I get to draw and make things and paint and design and do all the same things I’ve loved doing since I was a child. I can work from home or a studio. I can start and stop work when I choose each day. I can have a weekend in the middle of the week if it suits me better.
2. At the ideas stage of a project I can take my sketchbook to a cafe and make plans there. I can work in my garden. I can go and visit my family and take my work with me.
3. When I’m doing the drawing or “knitting work” (repetitve straight forward bits on the computer) I can listen to the radio or story tapes (this week I’m listening to “Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy – something I’d never get around to sitting down and reading). If you have a job that involves writing, administration, maths etc you don’t have this opportunity to fill this free space in your brain!
4. I get to run my own business. I get to make my own decisions. There is always the possibility of earning more – no capped salary for the year.
Not so Good Things
1. It can be lonely if you work alone from home. It can also effect your self esteem – you can wonder if you are doing things the right way or the best way – which happens less if you are working alongside other people.
2. When you have lots of work on, ideas of drawing in the garden or cafes or trips during the week go, and you can end up just working and working and working for weeks. Because there is never any guarantee that there will be more work after this job – or that it will come soon. It makes planning your future harder.
Art by Trina Dalziel for My Toy Pitch.
3. Running your own business, make your own decisions as well as being rewarding and empowering can also be taxing – sometimes I feel like I’m juggling many roles – illustrator, marketing person, administrator, art worker, director – when really all I want to do is be the Illustrator!
4. There is always the possibilty to earn more but sometimes you don’t – you can have some good years then a not so good year. What your earn isn’t linked to how long you have worked or how how hard you have worked – this can seem really tough.
Art by Trina Dalziel for Creating Collections for Home Decor.
Trina’s final thoughts
However, I feel the good outweighs the bad. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and I don’t know what else I’d be very good at! I get excited about each new project and love planning my own work for when there is free time and when I’m working it feels so involving in a way that I don’t get with any other sort of work I’ve done.
See more of Trina Dalziel’s art on her website and Instagram. Trina is now represented by Lilla Rogers Studio.
What a great thought-summary of the freelance illustrator. Thanks for sharing, sometimes it’s good to just hear another colleague has the same experiences as you do yourself.
I really love when people give an honest evaluation of a situation. It’s seems so much more practical to present the good and not so great aspects and then to actively choose the focus on the good. I think this approach is really key in running your own business.
this is so nice to read.