This is not your average motivational blog post, promising that your freelancing future is bright. But it is the kind of post every potential freelancer should read.
In this refreshingly honest interview, illustrator and animator Adrien Kulig admits that choosing discovery and learning over stability and security is not always easy - but he’s never looked back.
Read on for the full story in his own words.
Interview by Bernard / Blog written by Teri
November 18, 2021
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I started out working in motion design, but in the last few years I’ve shifted my focus to illustration. I do a lot of colourful, impactful character design and I do believe that I’ve established my own style over time.
I’m trying to think of my strong points, but it’s hard to talk about myself this way! I’ve never had to sell myself to anyone - Instagram and Behance do that for me, so I’m not used to this.
I suppose one strong point as an illustrator is my experience in motion design. I understand how things work in terms of animation, so I can design work that is ready for that. I know the industry, so I can work faster and more efficiently as a result. Something as simple as properly preparing files for After Effects means that I save time for those working on the next step of the project.
I have an iPad Pro which I love - it’s so great for working from anywhere. I use Procreate on the iPad to draw up my sketches, but then I sometimes move onto Photoshop and Illustrator on my tablet. It depends on the project, really: if it’s an innovation project I’d definitely need Illustrator to create all the shapes in different views, for example. If it’s an editorial commission on the other hand, I’ll stick to my iPad.
At the moment I’m illustrating children’s books. My first book was Little Red Riding Hood, and I’m currently working on another one. It’s always been a dream of mine to illustrate children’s books and magazines.
Landing the gig is a challenge, because you need to earn the trust of the editor or writer. Luckily, I was contacted by a New York-based writer who believed in me, so we’re collaborating on a book at the moment.
I’ve been focused on illustration for almost two years now, and I’m constantly learning new things: how to illustrate for editorial, the way you use colours - it’s such a different process to digital design and animation.
Well, you need to take the publication layout, the framing of the book or magazine, into consideration. It’s my job to place all the illustrations alongside the text in a spread, bringing all the elements together. It’s not as simple as drawing something and sending it over to the client. It’s more complex - and I enjoy that.
I like to be a Swiss Army knife in my work. I still enjoy creating illustrations for animation, even though that’s not my focus at the moment. So I don’t see myself being just a children’s book illustrator - I don’t want that label or permanence. It’s just one of many things I’m up to, and I’m enjoying it because I love learning new skills and taking on challenges.
Oh yes, definitely. When you’re asked to design for animation in today’s world, you have to be quick. I’ve never worked on an animation project where the client or agency gave me 3 weeks to dedicate to research. It’s usually a very tight deadline and budget, so you just go fast!
Plus, you don’t even need that research. The client or agency will usually have a visual intention in mind for the project when they approach you, having seen something they like before or wanting it to look a certain way. So there’s not much room for experimentation there.
Now with editorial projects, it’s usually up to me to come up with the ideas. That can be a challenge, because they’ll give you an article on, say, the world economy and you’re simply asked to illustrate it. That’s the brief - no direction.
It makes sense when you think about it. The New Yorker contacted me for a piece recently. They work with lots of different illustrators, so they don’t want to compromise the input from all those illustrators by giving direction. They give feedback of course, but that’s it. It’s all you.
That’s a hard question - nowadays, there’s so much inspiration everywhere. Of course I follow certain artists on Instagram and so on, but every scroll brings up so much new content, you get lost among it all.
I always try to be different, but it’s hard because there’s so much out there. When looking through social media, I get very frustrated and a little paranoid about creating my own thing. So actively searching for inspiration online doesn’t help me - I prefer switching it all off and just drawing.
So to answer your question, I’d say it’s mostly books and movies for me. I read loads of fiction books, and I love watching movies on Mubi - they’re so artistic and independent. I love trying to understand why the director chose that camera angle, that photography, those colours.
I moved to London with no jobs lined up. The first four months were completely dead. At the time I was still a motion designer, so I worked on my showreel and eventually that got some attention.
I started freelancing for a single client for 6 months. They wanted me to join full time, but I refused - I kept invoicing them every 2 weeks or so. I wanted to keep learning, keep working on different projects and challenging myself.
I understand the appeal of settling into a full time job, but in this industry I believe that if you are striving to improve, you need to challenge yourself. Work with different companies, different projects and get the most out of every job you do. You can’t settle for the first opportunity you find - you need to explore.
It was very stressful, but there was something inside me that said that things would be alright. I just figured that if things didn’t work out, I'd do something else. I think that’s an important mindset for every freelancer to have. If you don’t think that way, you’re just going to be worried all the time.
It comes with the territory - you can spend months at a time without work. It’s happened before, and it could happen to me again. I would say that’s the beauty of being a freelancer - you learn to go with the flow.
Given the opportunity, back when I was unsure or scared, I would have probably accepted a short-term contract for say, six months. But I didn’t have that opportunity at the time, so I just kept going.
It depends on what you want in life. If you feel that you need less worry and more stability and decide to settle, that’s understandable. That said, I think that going outside of your comfort zone, especially when you are young, is the best thing you can do. You learn a lot from that. Even if you’re not succeeding, you’re learning. Learning doesn’t come from success, it comes from mistakes and failures.
I’m not saying being a freelancer is better than being a full-timer. What I’m saying is that if you don’t yet know what you’re looking for and you’re craving different experiences, you need to keep your options open. That will allow you to make different choices and try different things.
And I’ll tell you one thing - I’m still struggling with this. I chose to turn away from motion design, and I’ll be honest - the illustration industry pays less than the motion design industry. A lot less. The projects work differently too. Working on the children’s book isn’t a two-week project. It’s a year-long project that I’m still working on, and to tell the truth, I’m not earning much from it. But it’s something I was willing to invest the time in, to learn and explore something new.
I don’t really have financial plans or projections. I work as much as I can when I can, and that makes up for rainy days.
In the creative industry, you also need time to reload. To detach yourself from your computer and do some side projects or travel. If you don’t make time for this, you could get caught up in it all and it’ll affect your output. So when I feel that I’ve taken on enough projects for the time being, I tell myself that it’s time to take a few weeks off and go back to France to see my family, or do something completely different.
This gets easier when you manage to book clients in advance. Let’s say a client books a month of full time work starting in a couple of months - in that case, I might choose to take two weeks off just before the booking starts, safe in the knowledge that I’ve got a month of work waiting when I come back.
In my case, I don’t have any kids, so I can just take off. But I have friends who make this freelance lifestyle work for them with their family too. It’s quite special when you get to take a long break from work and spend more time with the kids for a while.
I started out managing my admin on my own, but I was panicking about my tax returns. I started looking for professional help, and tried a popular online accountancy service. Unfortunately they messed me around and asked me lots of complicated questions. I wasn’t fluent in English at the time so I found it pretty hard - that didn’t work out.
At that point I was willing to pay whatever it cost to have someone take care of everything themselves. I didn’t want to do any of the work myself. I considered working with a French accountant to help with the language barrier, but being based in the UK I preferred having someone closer to me who I could even meet personally if needed.
I spoke to a friend of mine in London who seemed super confident about all the things I couldn’t figure out. He recommended Accounts Studio, so I gave them a call and spoke to Mark. I could immediately tell that he’s a good guy, so that was it.
They helped me set up my Limited Company and everything. They use Quickbooks, which is super quick (no pun intended) and simple for tracking my expenses and keeping everything organised, transparent and efficient.
Check out Adrien’s work and connect with him on his website, Instagram or Behance.
Stories about how the top UK creatives run their businesses.
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