J. Nielsen

There are numerous folks out there working as freelancers, from all over the world and all have a different approach to their web presence. So numerous examples of web presence are out there.

Seek out profiles of freelancers on websites like UpWork.com, LinkedIn.com, and others. At the end of the day it is a personal decision on how you…[Read more]

Upwork.com is a freelancing site that caters to the individual designer and provides various services, such as contract writing, escrow, third party arbitration, as well as various communication services.

There are pros and cons, but overall it is worthwhile site to work off of.

As far as setting yourself up as a business, it is always a good…[Read more]

In Oregon, any project that exceeds $2000 requires a contract.

There is a lot of good information here.

I am on UpWork and have completed a few jobs since I signed on in March.

I have found that I am hustling for work far more than I am working, but that is the nature of freelancing. What Bob said about the competition and that clients are looking for Filet Mignon on a hamburger budget is absolutely true.…[Read more]

Paper App

ProCreate App

When My MacBook Pro fried its third logic card (after 11 years of fairly hard use) I replaced it with an 12.9″ IPad Pro and an older Mac Pro (tower). one of the cool features with Mac is the easy ability to pass documents between machines with AirDrop. So a sketch or photo that I drew over on site can be dropped onto desktop without a thumbstick…[Read more]

Thank you for that.

As it is, I am on that trajectory even if I did not set out to be. I am already semi-retired after a career in the military, so I have a separate revenue stream and I really do not need much. Honestly if I make enough to pay my software subscriptions, I am pretty happy.

You are correct, having a cash stream from doing…[Read more]

Andrew,

Thanks for the advice. I reached out and got connected to a local civil/structural engineer who needs someone that can run CAD as well as work in 3D (Rhino3D/Sketchup). It is interesting work applying tools that both disciplines utilize in different manners.

To go with the flow, one has to know where the river is located.

Thanks.

Thank you for the thought out response. I am 120 miles from Portland and not really affected by what is going on with the unrest there, beyond the exodus of people that are leaving the city for the suburbs and semi-rural surrounding communities.

Wildfires, on the other hand are affecting me big time. As I type this, the AQI is in the 500s and…[Read more]

Most of the AutoCAD stuff I have been tasked with, line-weights and parameters are preset by the firm and I, as a designer, have no say in them. It does what it is told and is happy to do so. I believe you are correct that the quality of drawings is no longer a priority, especially when most renderings are done in Photoshop. I am not saying it…[Read more]

Procreate or Morpholio for IPad for sketching and process work. (trace layers)
Sketchup for 3D mapping that can be drawn over later
Photoshop for Entourage and collaging
Illustrator for finalizing drawings, lettering and to produce vectors
InDesign or PowerPoint for product assembly
AutoCAD w/LandFX for CD Sets

I am liking the IPad. It allows for…[Read more]

Universities are offering career services to seniors and recent grads. I have been to a couple info sessions and one-on-one meetings and from I have seen it has been a bit of a mixed bag. It really depends on who you talk to and what they know.

On one hand, I did get some good information about freelancing and branding. But on the other , most…[Read more]