The harder I work, the luckier I will be. After graduation, I slowly explored in the confusion. From receiving sporadic orders of 30 yuan to cooperating with international brands and publishing books, what have I done? Here, I want to share my story with you. It turns out that ordinary people really "the harder they work, the luckier they get". My first job in the world wasn't really planned. When I was in college, I majored in animation design. After graduation, when I was in a confused period, I learned that one of my classmates had worked for a graphic design company, which was a small e-commerce company specializing in underwear, so I followed suit and went there. With no resume and no interviewer, I was hired after a simple "written test" on the computer. I don't know what I like, but I know what I don't like. So I was there for only seven days and then I left. Friends and classmates around me have found their favorite jobs, not ready to formally enter the society, I chose to return home to take orders, began to do freelance work. Once, I accidentally saw some illustrations in a magazine and saw the three words "illustrator" marked on it. I was very curious. After searching the Internet, I learned about the life and working ways of some illustrators and saw that they could turn their interests into jobs, which made me yearn for this career. I silently told myself to be a freelance illustrator and live my life the way I like. The dream is full, but the reality is sometimes very thin. The first problem I faced was how to get into the business. There was no one working in this field around me, so I could only read some illustrator's Weibo online, hoping to learn more about this profession. I found that most of them have their own painting style and often draw pictures in their daily life.

Knowing this, I was motivated to pick up a paintbrush and try to paint something, but quickly ran into questions like: What is my style? What can I draw? How do I get an income from painting? These questions made me anxious before I even started. "Hitch to Berlin" has this line: "If you really want to do something, the whole world will help you. When I was very depressed, a friend asked me if I could paint a portrait for him. Little did I know that I could get paid to draw people's faces. I received 30 yuan for that painting, which was my first income as a freelancer. I sent the painting to my moments and QQ space, and I couldn't think of other friends who wanted me to do it. To increase my income, I added styles like sketching and watercolor. At that time there were many people in Taobao shop to sell clothes, I thought: painting can also be sold in Taobao? So in August 2013, I opened a Taobao store. In the acquaintance asked me to draw a picture, directly to the link to let him go to shoot also removed the embarrassment of quotation. At that time, opening a Taobao store is still relatively new, I mainly in Taobao connection like illustration orders. In the week since I opened the store, strangers have asked me to paint every day. Two years after opening the store, I once looked at the transaction data of the background and found that 233 transactions were successful, with a total revenue of 53,000 yuan, or 2,200 yuan per month on average. I had heard that freelancing didn't pay well up front, but I didn't expect it to be so low. Although the head order is often, but the unit price is not high, and to draw a picture at least 1~2 hours, the input and output is very unbalanced. In addition to running a Taobao shop, I would also go to the studio as a part-time teacher in summer and winter holidays, but the income was not very high. Summary and calculation, one year after graduation, I choose a freelance job, the monthly salary is only 2500 yuan. In order to increase my income, I also take part in some competitions with prize money.

I submitted my graduation work to the competition and won the third place in the Hong Kong Original Comics Rising Star Contest, with a bonus of HK $3,000. Of course, not every submission is so lucky. For example, I stayed up all night to make a set of emojis for a contest on wechat with a bonus of 10,000 yuan, but none of them were shortlisted. Another example is the "Sentient Pill Cartoon Image Design Competition" held by website Cool. I also spent a lot of preparation, but did not enter the competition. Although my focus is on the Taobao store, there are a lot of manuscripts in the early stage, but this way in addition to investing more time, the income is very unstable, and later there are a lot of similar stores on Taobao, I had to think again how to go in the future. When there was no order, I decided to spend some time sorting out the previous orders, which actually have the value of secondary use. By publishing them on various platforms, such as Zhanku, Jianshu and Weibo, I would have a chance to get exposure. In addition, I will publish some of my own original works, including a leaf series theme illustration, which is inspired by the primary school nature class. I painted a few leaves with watercolor, designed them with Photoshop, and reorganized the leaves into various animals and objects. Unexpectedly, this attempt led me to receive a relatively large order at that time. It was to draw a hand-drawn map of Paris, and the requirement was to draw all the sights of Paris and add street scenes. There are more than 100 buildings to draw in this drawing. That made me happy, because it was like getting hundreds of avatar orders at once. There was no decent work table in my hometown, so I copied the illustrator's work table I saw online and added a wooden board to my mother's old sewing machine. There was no light in the room, so I worked in the living room.

I was using an old laptop that didn't work well, had bad color, and was clunky, which made the task a lot harder. Because of the color difference, I have to scan the drawing every time, adjust the color, and then put the phone to see the color. Each of the more than 100 buildings had to be painted, scanned, color-proofed, then typeset, painted streets and added to the backdrop, all within a month. Under the circumstance of overtime work, I successfully passed the acceptance and got 8000 yuan of manuscript payment, but my body was also overdrawn. With the stress, my breathing starts to struggle, and my chest hurts. My dad took me to the emergency room overnight, spent the night in the county hospital, and the next day went to the city hospital for a general examination, but nothing was wrong. Finally, the doctor suspected that it was a psychological problem and thought that it was a phytonervous disorder. I was under great pressure, afraid of social interaction and worried about my family, which made me feel very uncomfortable and felt that I was not doing well. I began to want to change. I know that only by going out can I adjust myself. So that was the end of my first freelance experience.

The harder I work, the luckier I will be. After graduation, I slowly explored in the confusion. From receiving sporadic orders of 30 yuan to cooperating with international brands and publishing books, what have I done? Here, I want to share my story with you. It turns out that ordinary people really "the harder they work, the luckier they get". My first job in the world wasn't really planned. When I was in college, I majored in animation design. After graduation, when I was in a confused period, I learned that one of my classmates had worked for a graphic design company, which was a small e-commerce company specializing in underwear, so I followed suit and went there. With no resume and no interviewer, I was hired after a simple "written test" on the computer. I don't know what I like, but I know what I don't like. So I was there for only seven days and then I left. Friends and classmates around me have found their favorite jobs, not ready to formally enter the society, I chose to return home to take orders, began to do freelance work. Once, I accidentally saw some illustrations in a magazine and saw the three words "illustrator" marked on it. I was very curious. After searching the Internet, I learned about the life and working ways of some illustrators and saw that they could turn their interests into jobs, which made me yearn for this career. I silently told myself to be a freelance illustrator and live my life the way I like. The dream is full, but the reality is sometimes very thin. The first problem I faced was how to get into the business. There was no one working in this field around me, so I could only read some illustrator's Weibo online, hoping to learn more about this profession. I found that most of them have their own painting style and often draw pictures in their daily life.

Knowing this, I was motivated to pick up a paintbrush and try to paint something, but quickly ran into questions like: What is my style? What can I draw? How do I get an income from painting? These questions made me anxious before I even started. "Hitch to Berlin" has this line: "If you really want to do something, the whole world will help you. When I was very depressed, a friend asked me if I could paint a portrait for him. Little did I know that I could get paid to draw people's faces. I received 30 yuan for that painting, which was my first income as a freelancer. I sent the painting to my moments and QQ space, and I couldn't think of other friends who wanted me to do it. To increase my income, I added styles like sketching and watercolor. At that time there were many people in Taobao shop to sell clothes, I thought: painting can also be sold in Taobao? So in August 2013, I opened a Taobao store. In the acquaintance asked me to draw a picture, directly to the link to let him go to shoot also removed the embarrassment of quotation. At that time, opening a Taobao store is still relatively new, I mainly in Taobao connection like illustration orders. In the week since I opened the store, strangers have asked me to paint every day. Two years after opening the store, I once looked at the transaction data of the background and found that 233 transactions were successful, with a total revenue of 53,000 yuan, or 2,200 yuan per month on average. I had heard that freelancing didn't pay well up front, but I didn't expect it to be so low. Although the head order is often, but the unit price is not high, and to draw a picture at least 1~2 hours, the input and output is very unbalanced. In addition to running a Taobao shop, I would also go to the studio as a part-time teacher in summer and winter holidays, but the income was not very high. Summary and calculation, one year after graduation, I choose a freelance job, the monthly salary is only 2500 yuan. In order to increase my income, I also take part in some competitions with prize money.

I submitted my graduation work to the competition and won the third place in the Hong Kong Original Comics Rising Star Contest, with a bonus of HK $3,000. Of course, not every submission is so lucky. For example, I stayed up all night to make a set of emojis for a contest on wechat with a bonus of 10,000 yuan, but none of them were shortlisted. Another example is the "Sentient Pill Cartoon Image Design Competition" held by website Cool. I also spent a lot of preparation, but did not enter the competition. Although my focus is on the Taobao store, there are a lot of manuscripts in the early stage, but this way in addition to investing more time, the income is very unstable, and later there are a lot of similar stores on Taobao, I had to think again how to go in the future. When there was no order, I decided to spend some time sorting out the previous orders, which actually have the value of secondary use. By publishing them on various platforms, such as Zhanku, Jianshu and Weibo, I would have a chance to get exposure. In addition, I will publish some of my own original works, including a leaf series theme illustration, which is inspired by the primary school nature class. I painted a few leaves with watercolor, designed them with Photoshop, and reorganized the leaves into various animals and objects. Unexpectedly, this attempt led me to receive a relatively large order at that time. It was to draw a hand-drawn map of Paris, and the requirement was to draw all the sights of Paris and add street scenes. There are more than 100 buildings to draw in this drawing. That made me happy, because it was like getting hundreds of avatar orders at once. There was no decent work table in my hometown, so I copied the illustrator's work table I saw online and added a wooden board to my mother's old sewing machine. There was no light in the room, so I worked in the living room.

I was using an old laptop that didn't work well, had bad color, and was clunky, which made the task a lot harder. Because of the color difference, I have to scan the drawing every time, adjust the color, and then put the phone to see the color. Each of the more than 100 buildings had to be painted, scanned, color-proofed, then typeset, painted streets and added to the backdrop, all within a month. Under the circumstance of overtime work, I successfully passed the acceptance and got 8000 yuan of manuscript payment, but my body was also overdrawn. With the stress, my breathing starts to struggle, and my chest hurts. My dad took me to the emergency room overnight, spent the night in the county hospital, and the next day went to the city hospital for a general examination, but nothing was wrong. Finally, the doctor suspected that it was a psychological problem and thought that it was a phytonervous disorder. I was under great pressure, afraid of social interaction and worried about my family, which made me feel very uncomfortable and felt that I was not doing well. I began to want to change. I know that only by going out can I adjust myself. So that was the end of my first freelance experience.