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How to Make Your First 1000 Dollars as a Freelance Graphic Designer
Paul Munko • Aug 18, 2019
So you want to make money as a graphic designer? Believe me, I am with you! Whether you are looking to start working as a full-time freelancer or just hoping to pull in a little bit of money on the side, I am going to do my best to give you 5 tips to make your journey into the world of being a freelance artist just a little bit easier!
1. Know what your art is worth
Something a lot of people tend to underestimate is the value of their work. When you are giving a potential client a quote it is important to know that you are not only charging for your artwork, but you are charging for your time as well. Would you work an 8 hour day at your day job for $25? Of course not! Why should your artwork be any different?
I recommend charging no less than $20 an hour to start. See what your clients think of this rate and adjust your cost from there. If you want to make money doing the design work you love, the last thing you should be doing is selling yourself short!
2. Don’t keep doing it for the exposure
A lot of freelance graphic designers and artists (myself included) tend to work for free at first in order to build a portfolio and get “exposure” in the niche they are trying to work in. Look, I get it. To this day I am still guilty of trading my artwork for promotion on various websites and social media accounts. While I do think creating free portfolio work is an incredibly important part of building a strong foundation for your brand, you also have to know when your portfolio is good enough to start asking for cash.
You will without a doubt get to a point where shoutouts from smaller social media pages or instagram influencers will feel as though they are no longer worth your time. This is a GOOD thing, and you should be excited when you get to this point!
Everyone wants to be notable in their field and that is totally okay. Sometimes a solid promotion in exchange for a piece of art is absolutely worthwhile, but don’t let these people take advantage of you with promises of “fame and fortune” from their shout outs. I mean come on, how is anyone going to build a fortune if they are only working for free?
3. Your knowledge is worth paying for
There are two reasons why someone would be approaching you for graphic design work. They are either another artistic individual who wants to collaborate with you or someone who needs graphic design work done but doesn’t know how to do it themselves. Seeing that you are just starting out your career as a designer, chances are whoever is coming to you is coming for the latter.
You know that art degree you spent $40,000 on? That is the knowledge you have that your client most likely doesn’t and your pricing should reflect that. Maybe you didn’t go to school for artwork but you paid for online courses or a summer Design Bootcamp. These are investments you have made to better yourself as an artist or graphic designer and these investments absolutely HAVE to be taken into account when planning your hourly rate.
Even if you don’t have a lot of money invested in your artwork, I can guarantee you have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours perfecting your craft and getting to a point where you feel as if you are ready to start charging for art and design. Time is precious and so is the information you have learned over the years. Never give that away for free!
4. You get what you pay for
We may hate to admit it, but motivation is a very important part of the design process and money is as motivational as it gets. If you are getting paid a fraction of what you think your time is worth you will almost always end up dragging your feet through your underpaid projects, offering a half-baked version of your finished product because your heart just wasn’t in it for the long haul.
Not only does this hurt the client because they end up with a design or graphic that may not be up to par, but it hurts you and your brand because you now have a piece of artwork out in the world that represents you but not your best work.
Am I saying it’s wrong to work within people's budgets? Of course not! I also do not condone intentionally giving out poor work because you are not getting paid enough. I am simply stating that as a creative individual you have most likely had to work on projects that don’t necessarily interest you as much as the rest. Give yourself that extra edge to ensure you are always doing your best work 100% of the time!
5. Credibility is a necessity
Eventually, you will get to a point in your graphic design career where your branding and name are equally as valuable as your time and effort. Just as social media influencers expect big checks for product placement and endorsement, you should expect a bigger paycheck when your name and style becomes sought after.
By working with a brand or a company you are essentially endorsing them by putting your name and work on their products. When you get to the point that your name alone is enough to drive more sales, you should be including that in the cost of your work as well. A product that may have only sold 100 units may sell 1000 now that it has your work and brand name included in its marketing.
You’ve put in the work, you’ve put in the money, and you have created a brand worth working with that is a valuable asset to people all over the world. The worst feeling in the world is knowing someone is making thousands of dollars off of something you got 100 bucks for.
Don’t be afraid to ask for what your work is truly worth. If people respect you and your art and design and truly want to do work with you they will understand everything I have discussed above and happily pay you what you deserve!
Well there you have it, 5 tips to make your first thousand dollars as an artist or graphic designer! Remember, sometimes it could be a bit difficult to get your feet off the floor and get to a point where you are booking projects on a monthly basis. Whatever you do, do not let this discourage you! The snowball effect is a very real thing when it comes to being a freelance artist and even though things will start off slow, they will undoubtedly pick up the pace over time.
I hope this information was useful to you and that you realize now just how much you have to charge for as an artist and/or graphic designer. Your time spent, money spent, and experience in the field are just a few of the many assets that make your work worth so much. Feel free to share this with your artist friends if they need a little bit of motivation to get their freelance game started!
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Paul Munko
Paul is an internationally published artist and designer who goes by the alias "Colorful Filth". He is known mostly for his vibrant and monstrous artwork that can be seen
here on instagram or on his official website
colorfulfilth.com.
