For my friends at Lean In Canada.
Planet freelance
October 6, 2015
I stick up for freelancers. They inspire me. They’re my tribe.
I don’t know if what I say disturbs the order. When there are still more men making $100 million a month on Wall Street flipping real estate than there are Occupy protests, I’d say … probably not.
Every day, we freelancers show up to write, draw, scratch our chins, review our sins, check our email and push through our lower/middle class existential crises. Hope is like oxygen to us, although to admit that would be a bit pathetic.
So last night I threw several bottles containing messages into the Twitter stream. I was the guest on Marketer Monday, a Tweet Chat held every Monday between 8-9pm. Moderator Karima-Catherine Goundiam interviews key industry leaders on topics ranging from business, marketing and social media and it attracts a large and active crowd from North America and the UK.
The topic I proposed was: Show What You Want To Be Known For: Why Monetizing Your Creativity is Easier in a Digital Age. Karima asked me to tszuj up the Marketer Monday mascot, so I put a brush and palette on the end of his wings:
Join us tomorrow night at 8PM for #mmchat with @AlisonGJ. #mmchat is getting CREATIVE ;) @karimacatherine @Maja_Bilic pic.twitter.com/Bbb1bIxcnY
— MMchat (@MarketerMonday_) October 5, 2015
Here’s a round up of tweets. In short, getting discovered is way easier when you’re online. But you have to be a steely negotiator.
A4: lawyers don’t hesitate 2 charge a handsome hourly fee.Why should #creatives? We R hired b/c clients lack the time or talent. #mmchat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A4: Tonight’s mantra: Be professional. Know your worth. State your fee. #MMchat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A4: … Diversify your skills like you would an investment portfolio. Too much reliance on one skill is dangerous in this economy. #MMChat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A4 Diversify! That & serendipity were the reasons I decided to start taking on paid drawing assignments over and above journalism. #MMchat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A3: Unless U R a month out of school, don’t continue 2 fall for the “exposure” tradeoff. You have 2 start commanding your worth. #MMchat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A2 If I hadn’t made the easy choice to show my drawings on my blog, I would never have been contacted by the likes of @TEDxTAW #MMChat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
I agree it’s easier online 2 reach targeted audiences w/ your work. Hashtags put you right in front of potential clients #MMChat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
A2: Also, show your #process. Take your audience behind the scenes. The public really does like to see how the sausage gets made! #MMCHat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
And about idea theft:
A6: If you’re worried, do a gut check. If an idea is too vulnerable, keep it to yourself. You don’t have to share everything! #Mmchat
— Alison Garwood-Jones (@AlisonGJ) October 6, 2015
From the business pages
October 6, 2015
In June, Goldman Sachs brought down a new policy for their 2900 interns in investment banking: leave the office before midnight each day. (Source: The Sunday Funnies. Correction: “Sunday Business,” The New York Times).
Goldman Sachs supports
Meet Kenneth Griffin, an American hedge fund manager and the Founder and CEO of Citadel.
He makes $100 million a month (before taxes). After taxes it’s considerably less. Only $68.5 million. Part of his skillset is keeping a straight face.
Update: an American-style shootout is ensuing between the U.S. Congress and drugmakers over price increases. Shareholders resent the government interference.
Lois
September 12, 2015
Likes: the rumba, picnics, sewing, Truman Capote stories, crimson nails, her job.
I made this for my friend, Denise Wild.
Bye, Summer
September 11, 2015
Closing up the cottage is a particularly Canadian emotion, unfamiliar to those whose summer months aren’t bookended by snow and cold.
I still have sand in my hallway from a trip to Lake Huron last weekend. I don’t want to sweep it up. When the tan on my feet fades, I’ll get out the broom.
Being Canadian, for most of us, means constantly polishing our sense of gratitude for what we have when we have it. For others, it means moaning through the extremes and timelines our weather imposes on us. Weather has definitely shaped our national character. It’s even held us back. It’s hard to run at life in moon boots, layers of down and hoods that obscure your vision.
For the record, I’m a polisher, not a moaner.
As we head in to another weekend, I’m thinking about Southampton, Ontario this morning. It’s a ghost town now. The cash registers on High Street that had been ringing up ice cream, french fries, sunblock and plastic beach pails one week ago are silent now. The nights are colder and the colour dial on the trees is one shade closer to orange this week.
I’m sad because I’m not going to be there as the sun drops in to the lake. I can see why beauty makes us possessive.
I’ve never seen the sun drop over the edge of the horizon when Lake Huron is a windswept tundra, but being Canadian means embracing it all.
The Right To Be Forgotten
September 3, 2015
Because you were young once too. #Google #Search
Learn more about the Right To Be Forgotten. Canada and the U.S. are still lagging behind Europe on this issue.
Director’s cut
August 27, 2015
Recently, my friends Nicki and Rogie came to me with a request: “Ali, we need a map of our farm so visitors can find their way around.”
My friends are hosting workshops on equine education and will be moving from point to point around the property teaching things like pasture management, nutrition, hoof care and equi-bow therapy (translation: horse massage).
I’ve been to the farm many times, but have always had a glass of wine in my hand lending to a delightfully vague sense of my surroundings.
The first thing I said was, “Send me pics of all the buildings and a few animal shots and I’ll turn them into drawings.” Nicki roamed the property with her Samsung and sent an entire album of farm shots to my iPhone.
This is the garage where Rogie parks the tractors and has a man cave. That’s a chicken coop at the back.
This is one of many paddock shelters to protect the animals when the sun heats up their coats or raindrops start falling.
This is Sky.
This is the barn where Sky and her friends live, including this wacky character, Tucker the mini paint.
Don’t say the word “gingivitis” in front of him. (I’m kidding, Nicki takes great care of his teeth).
Tucker’s a little sensitive about the wandering eye.
Plug your nose, we’re going past the manure mound.
We’re so relieved the bees are back (for now).
I knew I’d need some trees, so I prepared a maple that I could duplicate dozens of times (like a Flintstone background).
I needed a few cedars too.
Nicki even planted a wildflower patch.
While I was waiting for my paint to dry, I said to Rogie, “Send me the Google Earth view of the paddocks and barns.” And he did. I drew in the fences in black and the gates in red with a digital stylus.
Looking things over, I decided a drawing of the farm would look better if I took the eye over the horizon. So I altered the image in Pixlr to create a vanishing point:
Then I created a base wash drawing:
Note how you can still see how the wetness of the watercolours created buckles and shadows on the paper. I brushed those out digitally, layered on my renderings of animals, trees and buildings and produced this final map:
Ta da!
This post was inspired by one of my favourite books, Austin Kleon‘s Show Your Work. If you think it’s imperative to hide your process from prying eyes, I encourage you to read this book and be open to changing your mind.
