Illustrators! 5 things I do every January
Happy new year all!
New year, new you hunny!
Nah not really, January can be reeeal depressing, the echo of a few rogue toffee pennies reverberating around a room just stripped of all festive remnants.
A shake of the quality street tin like Christmas’s last war cry attempting to rally the remaining troops into battle.
A couple shed needles from the tree stand to attention, left over glitter shimmers proudly in the cracks of laminate flooring, the faint echoes of Mariah Carey begin stirring in the wind.
But nothing can drown out the sound of an impending tax bill like whistling arrows raining down on a battle field.
Can you tell I watched Game of Thrones over Christmas?
Over the years being freelance I’ve learnt how to spin the month to be something I look forward to rather than dread.
Because the start of a new year should be the exciting start of a new journey… like episode one of a new fave series, track 1 of a fave album …or the first biscuit in a pack.
As a freelance fashion illustrator, especially one that specialises in live events, November/December is usually your busiest time of year. You earn a lot of your income in those months, but gotta remember that casharoo needs to see you through a very quiet January and potentially February. Events tend to be seasonable so they don’t really begin again until valentines/mothers day/easter time.
So in the past I’ve used January as a proper lazy month, I’m someone that once I’ve stopped and taken time off I find it real hard to get back into it again. So 2 weeks off for Christmas and new years I can’t just go in to January full guns blazing, takes me a while to defrost.
I’ve spent the whole of January before just playing games, chilling, watching tv (had to peel myself away from my 5th episode of Hotel Inspector to write this post) …then getting a rude awakening in Feb when I realise I gotta actually pay rent.
BUT over the years I’ve realised there’s such potential in January, it’s a time you can really utilise.
Like I said earlier, in my experience we illustrators work a lot over November/December then things go very quiet in January, so you need to make sure you earn enough in the festive period to see you through. So if you’ve sorted that then January is a month where you can basically strategise your year. Crack on with things you’ve been putting off and try stuff out before the work starts coming in again and your free time becomes shorter.
So January I like to use as a lil refresh month, recoup the inspo, the motivation, the goals, all that stuff. So here’s 5 things I try and do in January before things start up again…
1. Look At The Numbers
Look at last years earnings and set goals for this year that are feasible. For some reason I love me some numbers, I think it’s cause it’s one of the few things in the creative industry that isn’t subjective. So I like to look at what I earned last year, add up the total for events, total for project work, total for course sales etc, as well as what each month actually bought in, then set goals for this year with both those in mind.
This helps keep things grounded, because if you worked flat out in December and earned £5,000, you can’t just be like ‘oh I’ll earn £10,000 this December’ because how you gonna earn double without the time to take on more things? So look through your earnings, try categorise them into different areas and see where there’s room to boost it, e.g. March was a quiet month, so pitch for Mother’s Day events (If you need a guide on how to pitch to brands that can all be found in my business masterclass)
2. Set Personal Goals
Most of us don’t get into art for the money, or even necessarily to make it a career. So it’s real important that you always work on yourself as an artist not just from an income pov, this career relies so much on creativity, if you only ever approach things from a financial perspective you’ll fizzle out because you aren’t nurturing your talent / love/ hobby.
You gotta remember that it’s taken most of us 10-20 years since picking up a pencil to get to a point where we’re good enough to make money off it. All that time’s spent investing in your craft, knowingly or not, and that doesn’t just stop once you’ve sent your first invoice.
You’ve got to still put the time in to improve your craft and create work that excites you, so set a few goals like do life drawing once a week, create a zine, do some drawing courses, invest in yourself!
3. See Where There’s Room For Growth
Once you’ve looked at the income you’ve calculated based on last year, look at areas you can go into but didn’t. For me, last year I didn’t sell any originals, prints or commissions because I never offered them or put any up for sale.
So see where there are areas for improvement and how you can add those in, this method works with seeing where your busiest and quietest months are, so January is a quiet month so why not work on a series of prints to put up for sale.
4. Research /Get Inspired
Like I said, not a whole lot happens in January, it’s a quiet month so I like spending it looking at Pinterest, YouTube, reading books, googling things, just getting inspired and getting excited to create new things again. Look at ways I can create different work this year, any projects other people have done that I’d love to try for this year, things like that.
Most illustrators over December post up a run through of what they did throughout the year, so when I’m scrolling insta over Christmas knee deep in a tin of quality street, I like to make a mental note of any projects or work other artists did that I’d love to give a go. Then I’ll start working on some new portfolio pieces inspired by that I’ve seen and in hopes of putting the right foot forward.
5. Start Fresh
I hate starting a new year feeling like I’m weighed down by endless things I didn’t get round to last year, so in January I like to be a lil brutal. Starting fresh can be small things like creating a new inspiration folder titled ‘2025’ for all my reference images on my computer, so that’s all fresh and new. But I also look at any projects and things that were on my to-do list last year.
Most of us have projects that are so at home on our to-do list you might as well hand them a tenancy agreement. So I like to be harsh with myself and give the first week or two of January to get things done that I really wanted to do but genuinely didn’t have the time. Any illustrations planned, portfolio pieces, blog pieces whatever it might be, then after that I just ditch them. Tough love.
If I don’t get round to doing them when I actually have the time, then that tells me I wasn’t really bothered about it in the first place, so I just ditch the idea and open myself up for new opportunities and ideas. Try and start the year not anchored down by this animation or drawing that I’ve been wanting to do for the past 3 years.
And that’s 5 things I like to do in Jan!
Now onto the 6th ep of Hotel Inspector cause I can now cross this off my to-do list
xoxo
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