As a graphic designer who has been working freelance since graduating in 2003, I have been through all the trials and tribulations that come with working for myself. For the first 2 years I was literally selling my soul, hellbent over backwards trying to get jobs and clients to add work to my portfolio. Craigslist was one of the sites I used to check on a daily basis for work, and although it helped me land a great long-term position with Yahoo!, most of the job postings were absolutely insulting to qualified graphic designers. And yes there were times I swallowed my pride and took these measly paying jobs, with clients from hell, because I was a newbie and felt like I needed the experience, but mostly because I was broke. I learned my lessons the hard way, realizing I was underestimating my own potential, but I soon learned that most designers experience this nonsense and agony when first starting out.

It’s not that I still don’t get the clients who try and haggle me after I give them an estimate, it’s that now I’ve learned the art of negotiation and I also don’t have a problem turning down work, especially if I get the feeling early on that this will be a difficult client to work with. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned and word of advice for freelancers: Let go of the cheap clients who cause you nothing but stress and headache and instead concentrate more on the ones who are easy to get along with, appreciate and respect what you do and are willing to pay you what you’re worth.

From time to time I’ll be offering free downloads to our readers of hi-res photos and designs to use for desktop backgrounds or whatever you like. They will always be original artworks or photos by me, Kat, and I’m happy to share with everyone. The only thing I kindly ask is to please not sell or distribute any of these for profit. Feel free to comment and let me know how you’ve used them.
These first two have a botanical theme. Click on images to view the larger download size.

As many of you can tell..we have not limited ourselves in the variety of topics we post here..and we surely don’t plan to. Here is a titillating exercise video from the early 80’s that will surely put a smile on your face. And if it doesn’t, you have no business being here.

As many will soon realize from my blog posts, I have an absolute fascination and somewhat obsession with vintage and retro ephemera. This especially includes vintage photos, postcards, magazines and advertisements. I’m always collecting and adding to my personal collection. Here’s a sampling of vintage print ads that I discovered online that are so bad in today’s standards, that it makes them great. Make sure you check out the hilarious video at the bottom of this post.

Ian Johnson is a self–professed agoraphobe and portrait painter living in San Francisco, whose work features predominantly 1950’s and 1960’s jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans and Charlie Parker, to name a few. Intentionally or not, the subjects he chooses often had difficult lives in spite of their talents. When his subjects are creating music, the entire piece is full of energy, yet in many of his pieces a sense of solitude remains. Working as art director for Western Edition Skateboard Company, it isn’t surprising that many of his jazz portraits end up on skateboard decks. This makes sense as both jazz and skateboarding are rooted in movement and improvisation.

Here is Johnson’s stance on painting modern day musicians…

“I don’t really like that many new musicians. What they’re doing is not that exciting to me as something you hear from the ‘50s when people were breaking new ground. There was a kind of energy back then that isn’t in jazz now, even though they try to do the same thing. They’re just rehashing shit. Plus, they just don’t look as cool. People don’t dress good anymore. Their faces just look hollow to me. So many of them back in the day, maybe it was the heroin, but they had really cut features and really angular faces and I like drawing that kind of stuff. They all had their preppy style. I like drawing people in suits and ties. Eventually I’d like to do some more modern people, but I’m not in a rush.”

Matt Petty shot this cool little video and interview of Johnson during one of his solo shows in the Bay Area.