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Did you know that you can get paid for
using Photoshop CS/CS2?
Yes!! Of course you can earn an income using
Photoshop...whether
through job or freelancing (hired by outsourcing businesses on
contract).
In some cases you may be able to telecommute to your job (‘beam
me up scotty’); which is where you can get the work done at your
home computer for your job (or especially if you are freelancing).
Make sure that you read the upcoming lesson on ‘Guide to
Freelancing’.
It’s not even a question of what Photoshop can do. It can do
EVERYTHING especially CS2 there is just so much creative leverage
that is just waiting...but it’s really up to YOU.
There are 10,000’s of creative professionals using Photoshop
everyday
who are earning a living and creatively expressing themselves
effecitvely around the world because of their working knowledge
of Photoshop.
They work as graphic designers, photographers, digital media
specialists, desktop publishers, advertising designers, web
designers,
print media producers, digital artists and more.
A graphic designer focuses on the actual design specific process,
whereas a desktop publisher will focus more on editorial tasks such
as designing and preparing brochures, letterheads, logos, photo
frames, photo prints, and the like.
If you’re going to be doing desktop publishing tasks, it will depend
on the project but Photoshop can be your main tool and then you
will probably have to have knowledge in other programs such as
Adobe Illustrator, Quark Xpress or Adobe InDesign, Adobe Acrobat,
etc.
Desktop publishing tasks can include all kinds of things; preparing
magazine style pages for print or web, publishing colorful
newsletters
or brochures, printing flyers, creating logos and enlarging them,
preparing content for the web or creating web templates,
specializing
in prepress for advanced photographic prints or advertising
campaigns,
etc.
For desktop publishing tasks you’ll have to be quite proficient in
many
areas in order to really be effective; and this definitely includes
Photoshop.
You will have to have a strong working proficiency in Photoshop of
getting the project done and then preparing it for print or other
output.
With Adobe Creative Suite, you now have great file sharing options
between each of the different programs. If you’re serious about
being
a desktop publisher you’ll probably have to learn the
entire CS2 suite
of products and maybe even
Quark Xpress (because of the still strong
industry demand).
QuarkXpress is meant for layout design such as would be used by
magazines,
ad agencies, typesetters, corporate publishers. It’s competition is
primarily
Adobe’s InDesign.
If your focus is on web content creation, then
MacroMedia
is leading
the playing field there. You may want to invest in the
Macromedia Studio
MX 2004.
That is another area of study which I have dabbled in myself and
done
some work especially with Flash, but lets bring things back to the
Photoshop realm.
Whether, to choose a job or freelancing, depends which method you
prefer and which lifestyle you would rather more lead. You might
seek
a traditional (yet exciting & challenging graphics job) or might
rather
working independently (on worldwide projects) based at your computer
or even start your own multimedia/graphics firm.
A graphic designer could almost get by strictly with just using
Photoshop CS/CS2 if necessary because of Photoshop’s power
and ability to export to multiple different file formats.
Let’s just take a look at some areas that you can use your full
Photoshop CS/2 proficiency in. These are areas, many of which
you can earn a full time livable income off of.
Here is a list of potential job opportunities when you have a full
Photoshop proficiency (other qualifications and requirements may
vary and depend on the employer):
Fulfillment house
Advertising Agency
Advertising Design Agency
Flyer, brochure &
printing agency
Fashion photography
retoucher
Modeling Agency
Corporate Marketing or
Publishing Departments
Product Marketing &
Design departments
Advertising Departments
Printer or Publishing
Agency
Film marketing firm or
distributor
Marketing/Image
Consultant
Independent Business
Owner
Freelance Photographer
Video post house
Multimedia or Digital
Education
(Graphic) Design Agency
Corporate branding
project
Corporate image
consulting
Photo restoration house
Professional photographer
assistant
Fashion marketing
Fashion studio
photographer
Professional photo
restoration agency
Professional photo
retouching agency
Research & development
(project dependent)
Multimedia Production
Agency
Web Design Agency
Magazine Layout &
Publishing
Web Template Design
Freelance Web Template
Design
Record Label ad design
department
Freelance Graphic Artist
Digital Print Shop
Copy Shop (ie. Kinko’s)
Web content provider
Web Consultant
Product Design Department
Computer Consultant
Nightclub Promotion
Promotions Department
Internet Marketing and
Advertising Consultant
Media Group
partner/outsourced
Multimedia Production
specialist
The above list of possible job options in which you can seek out to
get hired and paid for because of your Photoshop proficiency is just
meant as a general guideline of the opportunities that are available
out there.
You will have to do your own research for when you are ready to
start looking at jobs.
You can specifically seek out a lot of job opportunities online or
in
your local newspaper. If you are willing to travel or relocate, then
that would be up to you to contact job opportunities in other
states.
Most jobs require that you show up for work, but believe it or not,
you could even contract yourself with some corporation as a
telecommuter and not even have to come in to work.
Make sure you find out what the job position requirements are.
With telecommuting you would work through correspondence over
the internet..working at your home or own office and sending in your
work, receiving new tasks via email and corporate web sites, etc.
When you do seek out specific job information or see job postings,
find out what their requirements are and what that specific job
entails.
You can prepare yourself for getting a job by having a strong resume
and work experience (portfolio and clients or previous jobs) behind
you
and of course a strong working and proven Photoshop proficiency.
Having a degree or certificate from an accredited school is an
additional
mark on your resume in your advantage (though not always necessary).
Remember its your skill, portfolio, experience and your ability to
get
the job done that can impress prospective employers...
You can get hired and sign a contract which may likely entail a non
disclosure agreement (so you don’t release your work there out in
the public on your own) and work for one place specifically = JOB
or you can offer your graphic design or desktop publishing services
to different clients by working on their outsourced ‘projects’ or
‘contracts’
known as freelancing (which we’ll get to).
Build your portfolio and market yourself when job seeking...a lot of
the
skills in my article on ‘increasing your marketability’ or the
‘guide to
freelancing’ can help when seeking employment.
Take the Photoshop CS2 ACE exam and pass it. This will be a
strong mark on your resume and a good showcase of your proficiency
to prospective employers. Do anything that can set yourself ahead
of your competition when seeking employment.
Be prepared to offer your services to local businesses or people you
know at a reduced rate to help build your portfolio fast if you’re
just
getting started.
Based on your level of quality, experience and work experience and
portfolio you can then charge more as necessary.
It’s a balance of supply and demand so it’s always in your best
interest to keep improving your skills in your specific focus areas
of interest in Photoshop (whether it’s graphic design, flyers,
creating logos, etc..) You can’t start off charging an outrageous
amount for your services.
In a place that is more graphics intensive or specifically looking
for a graphic designer, they’ll really want to see your portfolio
and
what you can do.
To start getting work you can list your portfolio online. There are
several places in which you can do this to have a fairly high
profile
to potential clients or employers.
http://www.graphicdesign.about.com/od/freelancejobs/
Of course it helps to have a degree and where you are searching
may or may not require it so your portfolio it quite important. Take
the time to develop your graphics portfolio.
Other than this graphics oriented job information, just go ahead
and apply traditional job seeking skills to your search for
employment and definitely take advantage of the internet!
There are tons of job seeking sites where both ends of the spectrum
can meet. Here are a few of them:
Job Focused Online Resources
The employment site for creative professionals
http://www.creativecentral.com
http://www.desktoppublishing.com/employ.html
http://www.flipdog.com
http://www.howdesign.com
http://www.Monster.com
“The most trusted name in career information”:
www.vault.com
http://www.employmentguide.com/
http://www.hotjobs.com
Here is a resource on negotiating a salary:
http://www2.jobtrak.com/help_manuals/jobmanual/salary.html
Here are a few more key links covering
some of the areas we've
discussed that you could find handy:
http://www.sessions.edu/resources/career_center/graphic_design_job.asp
http://digitalmedianet.4jobs.com/
http://www.creativehotlist.com
Furthermore; If you’re in a place where there is a lack of demand
(or
just too much competition) for your specific kind of work, then
start
looking for opportunities where you maybe can freelance or tele-
commute from a place where there is more of a demand (this may be
out of your country even).
If you already have a position...how do you know it’s safe and
secure? You should know that you have to keep improving your
skills to be able to meet the fast pace of today’s marketplace.
So if your sights are set on seeking employment instead of
freelancing,
good luck and have fun with it! Just make sure that you have the
foundational set of Photoshop CS/2 skills necessary to even think
about applying for a real job and that any other skillsets that a
position
of employment might require are met by you.
Continuous education and training is important in your ongoing
career
and job cycle changes.
Even if you already have some experience with Photoshop it’s
important
that you REALLY have a solid grounding in it without having to spend
the time to figure it all out yourself.
If you know that your Photoshop skills need some work and you would
just like to be really prepared in that aspect so you can go forth
in
seeking employment then take a look at all of your Photoshop CS/2
training options to make sure you are fully prepared because getting
a job can be a serious thing..you don’t want to botch it!!
In the
TutorialKey training, I already set you off on the right foot by
giving
you real world application tutorials.
This type of training can give you a
backup reference resource even if you’ve had the expensive ‘hands
on’
or traditional institutional training.
I hope you got something out of this article with some thoughts on
job options for Photoshop users and a few things you can do to
prepare yourself for it.
A job where you can fully exercise your creative freedom effectively
to produce results for your employer AND get paid for it can be a
very
rewarding proposition, both personally and professionally for the
long term.
If that’s what you’re looking for, prepare yourself and go for it!
The rewards
are worth it.
Orion Williams
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop CS
orion@photoshopdesigner.com
www.TutorialsTraining.com
p.s. be sure to check out the brand new
Photoshop Blogs
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