Becoming a Freelance Illustrator for Marvel, Disney and DC: Doaly

All good super-heroes have an origin story. This interview tells the series of events that unfurled when an in-house UX designer was bitten by the creative bug. Scratching the illustration itch took him into the world of freelancing for the likes of Marvel & DC. This episode of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland covers: Why he filled his portfolio with the work he wanted to be hired for, and how design blogs and social media got it in front of the right people The passion projects that catapulted his career — including a Wonder Woman piece that sold 1,500 posters in a weekend and let him quit his day job Using UX contracting to bridge the financial gap in his first year of full-time freelancing Building a garden office to separate work from home - because when you love what you do, you'll work all day and night if you let yourself How a random 45-minute conversation at a New York convention led to his first Marvel Comics cover Multiple income streams across movies, comics, book covers and advertising - so no single client base can sink you The weekly phone calls with a fellow designer that serve as his informal co-mentoring It's one hell of a story. And you might think - well, I'm not trying to work with Marvel, how will this freelancer's story relate to me? But there's so much relatable freelance advice and business tips to be drawn from his experiences. EPISODE SPONSOR This episode of the Being Freelance podcast is supported by Ecamm - the video studio for your Mac. Visit https://beingfreelance.com/ecamm to try Ecamm for free and use the code on that link to save 15% on your first payment. 00:51 How Doaly got started - from UX designer to illustrator 07:33 Building an online presence and getting work seen 09:32 Putting your work where the right people will see it 10:44 Finding his identity as a story-led designer 11:48 Finding community and how an agency formed 15:39 Going full-time freelance - and using UX contracting to bridge the gap 17:48 Working from home and building the garden office 20:28 The passion projects that catapulted his career 25:15 Who's following you? Using social media strategically 26:51 Balancing big studio work with smaller passion projects 28:25 Moving into comic book covers - Marvel, DC and beyond 32:33 Why relationships and being in the room still matter 34:32 Getting out of the cave - conventions and community 35:27 Co-mentoring and finding your creative support network 37:01 The biggest challenge of going freelance 38:42 Redesigning his brand identity after 10 years 40:17 Truth or Lie Game 48:00 Advice to his younger self You're not alone being freelance - come and join us in the community: https://www.beingfreelance.com/community