Creative Futures Week 2013 (ARD604)

Creative Futures Week 2013 

Day 1

Sarah Mair Gates- Creative and Cultural Skills

·         1745 Welsh businesses are in the Creative Industy, with 27,990 workers

·         The largest sectors are Design, Performing Arts and Music

·         Textiles is the most occupied, with 9800 workers out of 27,990

·         Computer Games is the least occupied with only a mere 50 out of 27,990 workers

This has indicated to me that it probably isn’t a good idea to go into the Computer Games industry in Wales, at least while I don’t have experience yet.

Professor Paul Haywood- Painting Over the Cracks

·         Art is theoretically pointless, as it is not true reality

·         We are in the middle of a global recession

·         Regulation and tax increases have produced an unstable economy

·         Art can be used to create communication, and to become part of networks and groups

Robert Ball- How Not To Be a Designer

·         First job was working on Robocop 3 on still images

·         One style cannot apply to all situations (branding)

·         It is useful to think of the most counter-productive solution to get inspiration

·         90% of CVs don’t get read if they are submitted with work

·         Tell them what you want on your CV, but leave out hobbies and interests

·         With portfolios, make it simple and if online, people will not want to click lots of times

·         Don’t have sketches in portfolio

·         Try to have the less interesting stuff in the middle, the good stuff at the beginning and end, and the best piece at the end

Yasia Williams Leedham- Design & Illustration in Illustrated Publishing

·         Works for Octopus Publishing Group

·         With published books, the cover can be almost as interesting as the book itself

·         Publishing industry is being drawn into the digital age

Day 2

Kirsteen Harris Jones- Being a Children’s Book Illustrator

·         Started off doing textiles, but eventually changed to graphic design/illustration

·         If you join an agency, you must trust your agent completely

·         Being an illustrator is like being illustrator, accountant, secretery and mediator all in one.

·         Freelancing is a long waiting game

·         Be professional and see jobs through

·         Sometimes there are royalties or just a flat fee

·         Supply initial pencil sketches, trimmed, cropped and cleaned

·         Wait for a response, and be prepared for negative comments, but don’t take it personally. Develop a thick skin.

·         After the client is satisfied, it’s time for final artwork. Be prepared for late nights and tight deadlines.

·         Keep on top of paperwork as you can get swamped. Keep files for sales orders, invoices and contract.

·         Expect to wait for anything from 3-5 months to get paid.

·         With multiple jobs, timetable yourself and make sure you can cope with the workload.

·         When your work is published, you get lots of freebies which is very personally rewarding

·         With PLR or ALACS, you earn some income every time your book is borrowed from a library

·         Try to get an A3 scanner and printer (as working slightly bigger than normal is best)

Phil Hirst- Getting a Job in the Media

·         You have to be a ‘Media Mongrel’

·         Learn how to efficiently make decisions and solve problems

I found this session to be irrelevant as it was mainly focused on film-makers and photography.

Day 3

Andrew Gardner HMRC- Self-employed: The Basics

·         Tax & National Insurance is boring

·         The tax years are from 6 April – 5 April of the next year

·         You have to file a Self-Assessment form by January 31 of the current tax year

·         You are considered self-employed if you are actively marketing yourself

·         National Insurance is insuring yourself for when you are of pensionable status

·         Class 1- the more you earn, the more you pay, percentage of 12%

·         Class 2- Self-employed: flat rate of £2.65 a week

·         Class 3- Voluntary: flat rate

·         Class 4- Based on business from profit: if profit more than £7,605, then percentage of 9% taken

·         Keeping records of expenses is a legal responsibility

·         Set up a system, maintain the system, and keep records for six years

·         Turnover: money coming in

·         Allowable business expenses: money going out

·         Capital business expenses: things for business expected to last more than two years

·         Personal withdrawals are not capital allowances and are taxed along with profit

·         Meals/drinks for business are not allowable business expense

·         Clothes may be business expense, only if they are a uniform (anything with a company logo)

·         Training is not an allowable expense

·         Working from home is allowable for tax exemption, but you have to calculate the amount yourself

·         Losing receipts is fine, as long as you’ve recorded it in your records

·         You get a ‘Notice to File’ in April in the new tax year

·         You must order it and submit it by 31/10 of that year

·         Tax is from when you are born until you die

·         £8105 is tax free, and then after that you are taxed 20%

·         Needs to be paid by the next tax year

·         Limited companies (ltd) are entities separate from individuals and is a little more secure

·         Individuals go bankrupt, limited companies go into administration or insolvency

This session was my favourite, just as it highlighted a lot of things that freelancers need to know, and he made it sound much less complicated than it seemed.

Tim Makin- Designing for Mobile and Selling Your Own Apps

·         Has own business called wink;nudge>

·         Web access on mobile will overtake desktop access in 2013

·         Half of UK own a smartphone

·         75% of these are Android or Apple

·         1 in 3 Facebook users access it via mobile

·         For mobile website design, setup 1136 x 640 pixels

·         50% zoomed

·         Layer your work

·         Use sprites (keep 400 x 400 pixels)

·         Experiment and start building

Chris Grant Peterkin- Reaching New Markets Online

·         £1 in every £10 is spent online

·         6 out of 10 British adults use the Internet to buy products, which is double the world average

·         Between 200 and 2010, students in higher education rose by 28%

·         There are some great ‘print on demand’ websites that allow you to have many prints of your work for sale online

·         artflakes.com

·         tumblr

·         ArtStack

·         Twitter

·         Pinterest

Day 4

Chris Woodworth- Getting A Job In The Computer Games Industry

·         Character Animator at Traveller’s Tales

·         Always be ready to learn new things

·         Try to get your foot in the door early

·         Lots of networking, keep hassling

·         Little details (such as Princess Leia’s overtly feminine walk in Lego Star Wars) are what make the animation the best quality and memorable

·         Be a good employee and be trustworthy

·         Keep developing your skills and don’t develop an ego

·         Try and work to deadlines and keep good time management

·         Really work at getting work up online

·         See what job you want and tailor your showreel to suit it

·         Get a LinkedIn profile

I met Chris at Global Game Jam, so I got the opportunity to ask some advice. As I’m a 2D digital artist/concept artist, I asked whether companies would prefer a mix of 2D work and some animation too, or just stick to a pure portfolio instead of a showreel. He said that it would be best as a standalone portfolio, preferably an online one.