There have definitely been different moments where I feel like my freelance career got a boost, the first major one being when I launched Daily Drop Cap. Because the project spread everywhere on design blogs, and because I was simultaneously participating in the online design community, people started to follow my work. It feels like about once a year I have a project that really resonates with people, and makes a new "I've made it!" moment. This year's is releasing a book, last year was the Forever stamp, etc.
Big clients came slowly. When I started freelancing I was doing mostly editorial, and mostly for smaller local magazines and business mags. I would get a project here or there for a big client by way of a small design agency (smaller agencies would hire me to create art for a project they were hired to do). Still, most of my "big client" work comes from agencies not directly from the client.
There have definitely been different moments where I feel like my freelance career got a boost, the first major one being when I launched Daily Drop Cap. Because the project spread everywhere on design blogs, and because I was simultaneously participating in the online design community, people started to follow my work. It feels like about once a year I have a project that really resonates with people, and makes a new "I've made it!" moment. This year's is releasing a book, last year was the Forever stamp, etc.
Big clients came slowly. When I started freelancing I was doing mostly editorial, and mostly for smaller local magazines and business mags. I would get a project here or there for a big client by way of a small design agency (smaller agencies would hire me to create art for a project they were hired to do). Still, most of my "big client" work comes from agencies not directly from the client.