Life & business tips for creatives

Should you turn your hobby into a job?

Should I turn my hobby into a job?

I'm a bit of an expert on the subject because all my work experience was based on my hobbies. I never trained to become a creative professional, it just happened that I was offered opportunities to make a living with my hobbies because people saw what I was doing for fun and offered me money to do it! Isn't it amazing when that happens? Well, I've learned that it isn't just sunshine and roses, and it doesn't work for all people and all kinds of hobbies. Read this post to learn the potential pitfalls of turning your hobby into your full time job. Read more...

Inspiration from Nature: Maple leaves on the sketchbook

Inspiration from Nature: Maple Elemental

Stuck with ideas on what to draw or paint? Wondering where do I get my ideas? Here's a post in which I describe how I got inspired to do one of my latest works. Of course, every work has a unique story and I don't go down the same route twice so it's hard to compile a 'recipe' - but I hope you'll find these tips helpful anyway! Read more...

Branding Venn graph

How to create a brand for your business on a budget

If you're just launching your new business or creative venture, you're probably on a tight budget. Designers (myself included) insist that you should not be skimping on the quality of your presentation, but I understand that it's difficult to invest upfront in something that you aren't even sure will take off. So let's skip the preaching how you should absolutely let a professional do your branding and visual identity (it kind of goes without saying). I'll give you some tips how to handle it if you absolutely can't afford it right now, or at least not all of it. Read more...

Sometimes you just need to delete stuff

Sometimes you just need to delete stuff

I periodically delete things from my gallery. I don't have a set time-frame, but let's say that once in 2 years I go over my entire gallery and remove everything I deem not 'good enough' for my current standards.In this post I explain the reasons why I do it. Read more...

Top 10 things you can do when your creative business is slow

Top 10 things you can do when your creative business is slow

Most creatives I know are very, very busy. We always have more ideas than time to execute them. But in the rare event that you — a designer, an illustrator, an artist, a photographer or a craftsman — find yourself out of work and without any ideas what to do about it, here are some suggestions. Some of these are also great content marketing ideas for creatives that I have personally found to work very well. Read more...

Komfor hand lettered logo design process

Komfor band hand lettered logo design process

Komfor is a band that plays mostly acoustic, ambiental music. Their music is very authentic, and nature is an important influence in their music and texts. These are all the qualities I wanted the logo to portray in appearance, but also in execution, so I decided to make a hand-lettered logo using traditional tools. See my entire process from sketch to finish! Read more...

10 reasons to attend artist meet-ups

10 reasons to attend artist meetups

Artist meet-ups, artist dates, sketch groups, whatever you prefer to call them... they're an awesome way to socialize with like minded people, and it's not only fun, but it can be productive as well! It might sound like a regular coffee date at first, and you might think no one gets anything done, but from my experience it's far from true. You gathered for a reason - to create. If you never attended such a creative gathering, here's what you might be missing out on. Read more...

Art theft and copyright

How To Deal With Online Art Theft

"Art theft" is the term artists coined for redistributing art without giving proper credit to the original artist. There are different "levels" of art theft, and each artist decides for himself whether something bothers him or not. I have plenty of experience with people using my work in ways that I do not approve of, so here is my advice on this subject for all of you who might encounter this issue. Read more...