start my own Design Studio

My brother brought up something that should be very obvious, but apparently went right over my head. I was talking to him about doing design work around town while I’m here, and that I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. It’s such a small town that you need to be “in the know” and talk to all of the right people at the right time. Most, if not all, opportunities here are based off of knowing someone.

We got to talking about it when I mentioned that he seems to know everyone, and has the ins for everything that he does. People that he doesn’t even know will track him down and ask him if he’s available to work. I’ve been wondering why I haven’t been doing any work while I’m here, and how I could get get in the loop, and he calmly states, “Why don’t you put out some business cards around town?”

For doing independent design work (not to mention event promotion) for so long now, you think I would have clued in already and made myself a business card. I’ve toyed with the idea before, but branding myself seemed so surreal and such a huge, unchangeable commitment that I never bothered. I’m kind of kicking myself in the ass for waiting so long, because I could really use them right now, but it’s better late than never I suppose.

I’m going to treat this project as my first step towards this whole starting my own design studio thing. Granted, I probably won’t get it done until I’m long out of town (I’m far too critical of work used to represent myself), but at least I can get it started.

Starting my own design studio ties into so many other things that I want/need to do. One day, when my confidence and skills are on par with eachother, I want to venture out as a true artist and entrepreneur. Having my own business and being creative runs in my blood, and I want to slash through that tough outer layer of stagnation and spurt and sputter my way into the business world of art.

Before that, I obviously need to get back into producing artistic works on a regular basis. Designing flyers and posters once every few months and playing with old photography isn’t quite cutting it. Once I can fill up my sketchbook, create a portfolio, and go to school, I should have the confidence to fully thrust myself down this path. Even though I loathe the idea of being taught something that I think I already know well enough (especially something creative), at the same time I know that there are so many little details and techniques that I’m unaware of that could greatly improve my work. Essentially, I don’t feel that I would be able to work as a “professional” artist without some level of schooling.

While I work on this goal, I’m going to keep pushing myself to do “freelance” work and teach myself as much as possible in the process.