www.cgsociety.org/news/article…
OK.. Now you're back. I was thinking about how this article, which talks (for those who have skipped it) about how a business needs to build a Brand identity in order to distinguish it from all the other companies out there and to turn it around and see how it applies to us the individual artist and freelancer.
Let's take each of the 3 sections from the article
1. Specialise
Artists have distinct talents. We all know this. Some can draw horror really well, others are terrific at Manga/Anime, others draw girls really well but can't draw a guy to save them, while some people are really talented at sequential art and others are best at covers and splashes.
So as a freelancer, because decide on what you're good at and focus on it. Become known for doing that type of art and area. I for example am pretty much a cover/pinup/splash page specialist and I'm happy to be so, (Mainly because for me, colouring stuff is just a side job to the regular day work as a teacher. It'd be different I'd say if I was trying to make this my main source of income) whereas others such as
are real guns at sequential pages, something which for me, due to lack of practise mostly, I find that I'm somewhat weaker at doing.2. A Unique Take
Now that you know what you want to do, develop a style that stands out from the crowd.
draws DC characters like no other I know, 
and 
's art and drawing style is instantly recognisable, 
can be spotted straight away for his colour palette choices and finally we can all spot a Rob Liefeld picture when we see one can't we..? For myself I like to think I have a distinct softer style of colouring that picks me out of the masses. I was criticized for it early on as not being suitable for Marvel or DC et al but Zenescope and others like what I do which is enough for me. Still didn't stopand editor from Marvel from contacting me a few years ago to work as an art refurbisher on the "Official Handbook to..." volumes, so I must be doing something right
So decide on what is your *thing*. What makes you stand out and be noticed? That's not to say limit yourself to doing 'just that' because that will cost you work by being too limited. I can be flexible on my colouring style (soft vs cell shade vs cuts etc) and if someone asks me 'can you do..'? the answer is always 'yes' even if I'm not that sure right at that moment! That's what research is for! For that matter as a colourist make sure you work on a wide variety of lineart styles and characters.
3. Personal Biography
The article says to bring elements of your culture into your art and to this I pretty much don't have much to add or modify for doing your own art here. We are all influenced by the culture we grow up in and this affects the way we draw a face, represent skintones, select overall colour schemes. I try to slot in "Aussie"-isms whenever I can. If I ever do a camouflage outfit and it's not specified that it has to be a particular uniform then I'm going to do it with the Australian military camouflage scheme, just because I can!
cheers
Sean
