Learn from my experience as a freelance graphic designer for the past 6 years so you get a head start over your competition
99designs is one of the world’s largest online design marketplace, connecting designers and businesses from all over the world. It also provides designers with an opportunity to earn income and build their portfolios. In fact, 99designs has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to designers, so you can definitely see the income potential there.
If you are looking to sell shirt designs and make money in the process, be sure to check out TeePublic, a curated community of the world’s best designers.
Your portfolio site probably won’t need much resources when it comes to web hosting. As such, you can pretty much go with any web host provider that’s half decent and not have any issues. That said, SiteGround is definitely a top recommendation. The site has been around for more than a decade and garnered many […]
Reddit is one of the biggest and busiest websites. As of 2015, it had 542 million monthly visitors — a vast market for a freelance graphic designer. The site is organized by area of interest called subreddits. There are subreddits for everything, including ones where designers can find and apply for jobs.
Displate specializes in posters made of metal called Displates. Resistant to wear and tear, they are pretty popular among buyers and collectors. As a graphic designer, you should definitely try it out as a source of passive income.
Fiverr is an online marketplace for people from all over the world to buy and sell services — starting from five dollars. Basically you offer a service called a Gig, which has to be delivered within a set turnaround time. The notion of a $5 marketplace can be a double-edged sword, especially for freelancers. On […]
Imgur is probably the simplest and most straightforward way to set up your portfolio. However, with a lack of features compared to other free alternatives such as Blogger and Wix, it’s a good choice only if you are tight on budget and don’t have much content to show.
After you and the client have agreed on the project specifics and signed the contract, you will finally be able to put your design skills to work. But hold your horses — it’s not as simple as creating nice images right off the bat.
MyPaint is an open-source drawing program with a streamlined user experience, making it easy to create sketches without clutter. But don’t be fooled by its lightweight interface — it comes packed with features for all kinds of drawing, whether it’s a rough pencil sketch or digital watercolor painting.
A client has checked out your portfolio and is interested in hiring your services. What’s next? Here are some steps to kickstart your design process.