Pay Me What I'm Worth

This is a repost from my Tumblr blog, but it applies to what I have going on over here as well, so I thought that I would go ahead and share it.

Pay me what I'm worth. Hey, I know that times are tough, they're tough for me too, but the fact remains that I'm offering you a professional service, so I expect professional compensation. I studied hard, spending long hours either seeking the information and/or practicing to sharpen my skill set(s) so that I could offer you a service that would be useful to you. Understand, I'm not saying that everything I touch turns to gold, realize, however, that you came to me because you liked the work that I do. You saw that I could do something that you couldn't. That makes that service valuable and as such I expect to be appropriately compensated for the work that I do for you using those rarified skill sets.

I am not a greedy individual, I'm not asking for more than my due. You need to understand, though, that in my career field(s) I don't have the luxury of resting on my laurels. I need to constantly learn new things; keep up with new technologies, research new methodologies and practice like I'm a garage band musician and there is only a week before my first big show. I put a lot of my personal time into my profession. I do this so that when the time comes for me to create a product for you I have a better chance of exceeding your expectations and delivering something that goes beyond what you requested. That's my job: I see the things that you see, but I think about them in ways that you don't. That comes from long hours of research, study and practice, and that's worth something.

Yes, It's true that I do the things that I do because I'm following my bliss. I love being a creative, but at the end of the day I still have bills to pay just like everyone else. Why don't I just get a job like everyone else? Because I have a career as a freelance creative, that's why. Would you tell a doctor or a lawyer to “just go get a real job?” Of course not, and like a doctor or a lawyer I have a specialized skill set, and that's why I'm worth the money that I ask for.

And no, I won't take your gig just to “get exposure.” If I feel like doing work for someone for free just to get exposure, I'll approach them. To be honest, I will get more exposure by my self just doing the things that I'm already doing to advertise myself (chances are that is how you found me, after all) than I will get by working on your project.

I'm really not trying to be a jerk here. It comes down to simple mathematics: if I break it down to the hours worked to give you the best product possible, you lowballing me on a flat fee means that I will end up making minimum wage or less. I didn't go through all of those years of school, and I don't spend all of the time that I do now just learning new things and keeping my skill set fresh, so that I can make less than someone at McDonalds makes.

So, respect me, respect my time and respect my education and pay me what I'm worth.

As if you weren't reading enough blogs lately.

I just wanted to drop a quick missive to let everyone know that I've also started a blog over at Tumblr. The link is http://renaissance-guy.tumblr.com/, and the purpose of the blog will be to act as an extension of an as-yet-unnamed e-zine that I will be publishing quarterly promoting the work of what I like to call nouveau renaissance creative freelancers, those individuals who attempt to eek out a living working in more than one professional creative discipline.

As for this blog: it will be used to communicate specifically about my illustration/design/art work, or, as has been the case lately, my lack there of.

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic and creative week!

Paulzuzu

One down, many to go

I've finished the illustration that I was working on. I posted the un-inked pencils for it here a few days ago. I finished it up last night, and I have posted it in several other places, but I'll go ahead and post it here as well:

if this is too small, you can go to my deviantart profile to see a larger, more detailed image, http://paulzuzust.deviantart.com/

This was done a favor to a friend who had asked me to design a tattoo for her. The idea is that the skull would be on the back of her hand, and the vertebra would go up her forearm. As usual, I procrastinated for a while and then just went and got it done. Now I just need to get my hands on some paying work.

One of the big problems that I have is self promotion. I have this very bizarre selective shyness; I can talk to anyone as long as I'm not trying to promote myself. However, once they actually ask about me I won't shut up, so I guess the trick is to figure out how to get people to actually ask about me. so I'll go ahead and ask for some help here. if you know of anyone who might like my artwork, please send them over to my deviant art profile. Equally, if you know of someone who is looking for affordable video production, direct them to http://vimeo.com/user4530508. This is where they will find a collection of local commercials that I have created.

Now I need to get to work on another illustration. I also have a video project that I need to stop thinking about and just start doing. My propensity for over thinking things instead of just jumping in and getting to work will be a subject for another blog. For now, I'll end this one here as it really seems to just want to meander.

The Goal for Today

The goal for today is to keep busy. I have an illustration to finish, some video work that I need to create graphics for, a CSPA client to call, an e-mail to compose so that I can find more clients and finally, a little laundry and dishes to get done. Here is a sample of the illustration:

Yeah, it's a little creepy, but common, it's fun. This one is for a friend of mine who may eventually convert it into a tattoo. I need to finish up some shading, and then it needs to be inked.

I'm going to be re-doing an older illustration next so that it looks cleaner and more detailed, then, hopefully something for halloween. Oh, and something for my wife, because I love her. Oh yeah, then there is my secret project that is pretty expansive (for me, at any rate) that will hopefully tie together all of the creative disciplines that I love, but that I don't want to talk too much about right now because I'm afraid that I'll jinx myself.

Also, I'm on the lookout for more video clients; if any of the hand full of folks that actually read this blog know of anyone who is interested in having some video work done for commercial, weddings, corporate/training videos, etc, please have them get in touch with me at:

videoguypaul@gmail.com

Samples of my commercial video work are available at http://vimeo.com/user4530508

I'm also looking to do more book cover work and illustration work, so if anyone needs these things contact me at the above e-mail address for a quote. Yes, I can do more, illustration wise, than just creepy/horror based stuff. Take a look at http://paulzuzust.deviantart.com for more samples of my illustration work.

So now, it's time to eat some leftover pizza (the staple food of all freelancers) and get busy.

This will be just a quick post because I have a lot of things on my to do list to get done. Here is a piece of art work that I just finished in honor of my pending three year wedding anniversary to my wife, elementalmuse. Enjoy!

Pointless Entry Alert!

This will probably be a short entry. I've wasted enough time today on silly things to waste time when I should have just gotten to work. Writing this should galvanize me though, so it will be good.

Today I hope to make significant progress on the new book cover for my wife's book, Sun Signs for Writers. She recently got all publishing rights back to it, so she will be e-publishing it herself. My goal is to have it ready to go by Wednesday so that it is completely off our plates for the trip to Oklahoma this weekend.

Cutting into my work time is the fact that I have a pre-investigation tonight and tomorrow night for CSPA.

Okay, this blog is lame so I'll just end it here. Man, I need to get out and do something stupid and dangerous so that I'll have something interesting to write about. I need to be a more creative blog writer.

DUUHH!!

Seems like I've had very little brain activity going on today, and as a result I'm a bit cranky. Do any of you ever get that fuzzy headed feeling? You know, you're sure that you've gotten enough sleep, but somehow you just can't seem to function? That's the day I've been having. The trouble is that when I feel this way all I want to do is watch cartoons. Now, I've never used weed, never even tried it (I know that, looking at my picture you might not believe me, but trust me, the exterior looks metal, but the interior is all geek,) but from what I've gathered the experience that I'm having right now, (and that I've had frequently through out my life,) is not unlike being high. Ain't that just a kick in the head, I get naturally what many folks spend hundreds of dollars trying to achieve. Subsequently, I drink an inordinately large amount of coffee each day in an attempt to attain a basic level of functionality that most of you take for granted. Function I do however, and I do it damn well, thank you very much.

So, what am I up to lately? Well, I'm looking for video work, but to be honest I'm always looking for more video work. I've also been working on a personal project that is very important to me. I won't go into too much detail right now, but involves combine my two great creative loves, Production (audio and video) and illustration. Nuff said about that for now.

Fun wise, my wife and I are working our way through all of the Jean Rollin films on netflix. Rollin was a french film maker who had a real soft spot for female vampires. He is also known for a film called Zombie Lake that I love to watch simply because the production value is so low that the under water scenes of zombies attacking people where obviously filmed in a swimming pool.

That's about all I have for now, time to drink more coffee.

What's in a name

Not that anyone has ever asked, but I thought I would drop a quick missive about where the name Paulzuzu came from.

If you ever look at my Facebook or MySpace profiles, you'll see that I do a little drawing in addition to my video work. Most of the stuff that I draw is very horror based. I love horror movies, and in fact, my wife and I collect them. Also, for a while there my wife and I ran an organization called the International Order of Horror Professionals. It was very successful for a time, but it just got to be too big for us to manage. The point is, before I start to ramble too much, that, although I'm a pretty mellow, nice guy, I like the darker side of entertainment.

Now, have you ever noticed that there are those folks out there on the web who have those really cool web names? Well, I wanted a cool web name, but try as I might I just couldn't come up with one. Every thing that I tried just made me feel like a complete poser. That's because I was being a poser; I'm not some cool, brooding goth type, I'm a nerdy guy who loves horror movies and who loves horror art.

I decided that what I should do instead is pick a web name that sort of exemplified that idea. It had to have a horror reference, but in the end still needed to sound goofy.

In the movie "The Exorcist", the statue that father Merrin stands opposite of in the Iraqi dessert is a representation of Pazuzu, a wind demon that appears in Assyrian and Babylonian mythology. The demon is not, however, named in the movie, though if I remember correctly it might be mentioned in the book by William Peter Blatty. The demon IS mentioned in the sequel though, so I was sure that people would get the reference.


This should be a lesson to me. Things that seem so obvious to me just aren't that obvious to lots of other people. Almost nobody gets the reference so I spend a great deal of time explaining it to everyone. It occurs to me though, that this is part of the joke.


In the comic book "The Tick" there is a character that is a speedster (runs really fast) and the emblem on his chest is a palm tree that looks like it's caught in a strong wind. The joke here is that he has to take the time to explain the emblem to people, that he runs so fast that he creates that kind of wind effect.


So that's where I got the name Paulzuzu from. It was an attempt to come to terms with my own goofy nature, and maybe it's a commentary on the concept of web acceptance and our desire to put on airs to impress other webizens. Finally, It has become almost a sort of performance art; an online inside joke that I keep having to explain to blank staring faces who just don't get it, and that's part of the fun.

Procrastination

I was going to write a quick blog post about procrastination, but I never got around to it.

The wake up blog

This is my wake up blog. The idea is based on the concept of morning pages, which is a technique from The Artists Way by Julia Cameron. The goal of morning pages is to wake up in the morning, or whenever you wake up, and write three pages worth of stuff, what kind of stuff you might ask? Well, that's the point, it's a creativity exorcise. Three pages is a lot, so you need to start just making stuff up to fill those pages. It could be rants about things that are going on in your life, or it could be off the cuff short stories or poetry, or it could be just general blather (hey, just like this blog!)


Now, you might be saying to yourself "okay, but this sounds like a writing exorcise. What is a video geek/illustrator doing using a technique like this?" At it's most basic level, creativity is creativity. It doesn't really matter what creative discipline you practice, the little bits, let's call it the atomic structure of creativity, is going to be the same. I'm a visual thinker, I process everything as a sort of movie inside of my head, but sometimes, when it comes to creating that movie myself I need to do something to focus the internal camera. You see, there are always visuals going on inside of my head, but a lot of the time it just looks like visual chaos. I need to do something to get all that visual data flowing in some sort of narrative form. However, the goal for me a lot of the time is not to control the narrative so much as it is to introduce the kernel of an idea and then sit back and see where my imagination takes me.


I don't agree with most of the stuff that Jerry Jenkins says, Ideologically he and I are about as far apart as you can get. He did however, say something once that I found to be very profound, not just for writers, but for anyone who creates for pay. In his book Writing for the Soul Jerry says, and I am paraphrasing here, that there is no such thing as writers block. If it is your job to write, if you are getting payed to write, then you write. This works for all other creative disciplines as well. If you are an illustrator, if it is your job to create illustrations, then you do your job and you illustrate, you do what you have to to get the job done. If you make your living as a creative then you have to accept that excuses like creative block are no longer an option for you. After all, if you where a baker and you worked in a bakery you couldn't tell your customers that you have nothing to sell them because you have bread block. If you where a mechanic you couldn't tell  your customers "well, I can't fix your car because I have replace carburetor block. You understand, don't you?" The answer would be "get your ass in there and fix my car or loose my business!" Those of us who work in the creative fields have to think of things the same way. We have fun jobs, but they're still jobs and when it's time to get to work you have to do what you can to get yourself to the point where your getting the job done, period.


All of that is just a very long winded way of saying that the whole reason for todays blog is to get my creative juices flowing so that I can rewrite a voice over script for a commercial that I need to have done by the early part of next week. The first draft wasn't horrible, but it needs to pop more, so I'm doing this little exorcise to get myself in the frame of mind that I need to be in to make it happen.


Creativity on demand for pay is like every other job really. Remove your excuses for not getting it done, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Don't know what to do at first? then just start doing anything and keep doing it until the structure of what you need to create begins to come together. Write, doodle, hum, whatever it takes, but prime the pump, clear the pathways so that your creativity will begin to flow.

Who the #%$! are you?

So even though I only have one person following me right now, and that's my wife, I figured maybe I should post a little introduction and let anyone who might come along in the future know what it is that I do.

I am a video professional, and most of my business is creating local commercial spots, and I am also an illustrator who, in the past has created art for horror publications.

I have attended a local community college where I studied broadcasting, Illustration and design and finally, multimedia design. in addition to that I have attended one semester at a local university where I studied communications with an emphasis on recording arts. All that said, I don't have a degree (I got a job in my career field, so I didn't finish.) I will be finishing my multimedia design degree soon, and then possibly moving on to complete my communications degree.

I have worked in the local video production community for more than seven years, both at a local production company, and as an independent freelancer. I have shot and edited every thing from local real estate video to television commercials to music videos and more.

Okay, that should do for an introduction for now. Yeah I know, nothing too exciting here, but I like it.

Netflix ROCKS!

So the wife and I just finished watching "Art and Copy" which we streamed over Netflix. There are a few art and design based documentaries on there, which we are thoroughly enjoying. This one was of interest to me because I work in the advertising industry, if only the local televised commercial industry, but it was very interesting to here what some of the big cats in advertising had to say about the process.

I'll have to let the information from the movie sort of roll around inside my head and see if anything sticks to my grey matter, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't inspired by it.

Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever noticed, particularly those of you who work in a service based industry like video production or illustration/graphic design, that a client will drag their feet for weeks on a project when you are ready to get going, but they will, all of a sudden, decide that it absolutely needs to be done tomorrow right when you pick up another client to fill the void that has been opened by their procrastination?

They will stone wall you for weeks while you wait for vital information or materials from them. They will also suddenly become mute while you wait for them to sign off on a concept or script. Suddenly, however, they will discover a sense of urgency that their project absolutely must be on their desk or on the air the very next morning by seven o'clock am, just as soon as you have sat down with your new client and begun serious, intensive work on their project.

Have you ever noticed this?