Commercial artist, author, creative director, maker, gallery artist… these are just a few of the monikers we can apply to my guest today – Beci Orpin.
I was lucky enough to meet Beci at the BrisStyle Create + Connect Conference earlier this year. I loved her story, and her perspective of art and business, so I invited her to come on the show.
Beci has worked as a commercial artist for organisations such as Uniqlo, Officeworks, Stella Artois, and many more. She also creates books, art shows, workshops, and much more – keeping her busy and thriving with a bunch of different projects going on at once.
She believes in the power of hard work and deadlines, and we talk about how she balances all of this alongside being married to a fellow creative & business owner, and raising two kids, in today’s episode.
You can listen to this episode below, or on your fave podcasting app!
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Highlights from this episode:
- Beci works in illustration, design, art and craft. She studied textiles design and started freelance work in the fashion field after graduating. She then moved into illustration and started working with an agency for commercial design.
- Beci has worked on campaigns for lots of different companies including the, Uniqlo, Officeworks, Smiling Minds and more.
- If you are interested in pursuing commercial design, you do not need an agent.
- Multiple income streams provide variety of work but also stability of income as different projects ebb and flow.
- “I just like to do all kinds of things. I feel like it’s the busy-ness but it’s also the variation. It’s what keeps me inspired and keeps me going” {Beci}
- “I always wanted to be a commercial artist. I would much rather be commercial than non-commercial. I really love working for clients. I really love making work that other people like and is useful for other people. And if you can make money off it? Unreal.” {Beci}
- Beci ensures that she has a good balance of work for herself and commercial work to keep her creativity nourished.
- “I do want my work to be accessible to a lot of people.” {Beci}
- Beci uses routine and lists to help structure her work time and create the right mind set for her work.
- “You can set yourself deadlines” {Beci}
- Not having deadlines can make work completion challenging for some creatives.
- Beci asks clients for deadlines when working on projects and creates them for her own work to ensure projects are completed.
