FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Since my two areas of expertise are in the writing and graphic design spaces I had to take different approaches. In terms of writing, I honestly have never benefited from taking writing courses or classes. I already know 'how to write'. All I can really improve on are the mechanics and that's part of honing 'the craft of writing'. What hones my skill as a writer is my blogging and personal writing and reading others work and trying to learn from them what is good or not in their work. Then I try to apply what I learned to my own work. What works for one person won't always work or hasn't worked for me, so one need to work on developing your own voice and your own style- ones that will set me apart from other writers . I strongly feel that a writing course doesn't teach you that; these vital parts of the development of a writer as a craftsman can only happen outside the classroom. Frankly, I"ve always gotten turned off by instructors who espoused that their way was the only one that works when down the road I ended up throwing away that $60 textbook or $200 online course manual anyway. I was paying someone else to teach me what I already knew. Experience will always be your best teacher. Case in point: I'm completely self-taught on my graphics design and photo editing work. Desktop Publishing is not too far behind either. As for my graphics design work, I will only get better with practice. One day I hope to be able to take more formal classes in what I like doing. I've taken courses in basic drawing and two dimensional design many years ago and enjoyed them very much. I love photography and I've been told my composition was improving so that made me happy. In anything you do, there will always be room for improvement. Again classes can only teach you so much. I learn and explore new techniques and software programs by working with them; I learn best by hands-on. Something sticks in my head more when I'm using a piece of software or a new tool. It took some time for me to get use to using my graphics tablet, but know that I've gotten the hang of it I can't imagine doing what I do without it. It's been a life and time saver on any number of occasions. One way I've found that has really helped both in gaining knowledge of new developments as well as getting valued inspiration for projects is looking at others work within the areas that either you are doing right now or are looking to get into in the future. I'd like to get into more 3D type design work but I'm limited as far as programs and know-how. If I look at what is possible within someone else's work I can see what I can do and perhaps contact the artist and learn from them how to do something. It's a great way to get to know other artists who are doing the same things you are and share your interest. Behance is a site like no other on the Internet. Access is free with your account for Adobe's Creative Cloud and you also gain another free portfolio site through ProSite. At Behance, whenever I complete a new project I'll upload it to my profile, maybe write a little bit about the project- what my inspiration was to do it, how I did it and so forth. Others can like or appreciate your projects and follow your work and you can do the same. This single site has been more beneficial to me than a million courses I could have taken.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I've always been into writing and have ever since high school. I was working on tons of short stories back then but never thought I'd be able to get them published. The arrival of the Internet changed everything and book publishing as we have come to know it. With my blog work and freelancing doors have been opened for me that were closed only decades ago. I write because I love it and I love to read. I write the stories that I would like to read myself.
- What types of customers have you worked with?
In writing- copywriting and editing; web copy- blog posts and articles; editing short or long documents. Desktop publishing- layouts and formating for complex documents (rates are TBD); template design Graphics- photoediting and mods/photoart; photo retouching, color adjusting Video editing- Digital video file conversion; editing raw digital file into finished format; titles and captioning; audio overlay and adjustments; color grading and adjusting (much longer process than what I do for images and could take several hours to a few days to complete in order to make it look good)