Thousands of artists nowadays have made the shift from traditional to digital illustration. They are employed either by advertising and graphic design firms, by companies with marketing and communications departments, or are self-employed as freelancers on multimedia marketplaces, such as stock houses.

Filipp Dunsky is a professional graphic illustrator from Russia who recently decided to take the freelancing plunge and leave his traditional 9-to-5 job routine behind. Here is what Filipp shared with us for all you aspiring freelancers:

What do you think it takes to be a successful illustrator?

I think it takes as same skills as it takes to be successful in any profession and in whole life. You have to learn how to keep calm in any stress situations, how to be positive, loving human being to give it away in your illustrations. To give something away first you have to gain something. And if you have only suffocation inside you cannot give anything rather than that. And of course it takes time. Without a gap, everyday learn something new and keep your energy level high. To keep energy high I mean do not intoxicate your body with some stuff and do not intoxicate your mind with some bad, heavy thoughts. Be light and easy. Be like a sponge also to soak of everything beautiful you love and then you can spread it.

Tell us about your educational background as an illustrator.

I was born in an artists’ family drawing all my childhood. My father used my children doodles to design some books. I was inspired by him a lot seeing how quiet he is sitting near his table under the lamp all evenings and drawing, cutting, gluing some pictures. For me it was like a magic. When I grew up I graduated fine arts and graphic design university in my hometown in Far East of Russia. I loved color science, to work on paintings and to make whimsical curved sketches of everything there.

After graduation I’ve tried to work as graphic designer in office for two years and it was hard time for me to understand that I have to go to the office every day, there was no way for me to grow up there as designer. Luckily I saw some perfect examples of people who was successfully freelancing as an illustrators and after some time spending on learning my own way of drawing I’ve started to get freelance orders and finally had a chance to leave the office for a better life – free working on myself with a lot of nice options freelancers have such as right to choose with whom you would like to work and what project to take, how much it should cost and what time it should take when and where to work etc.

How do you promote your work online? Mainly I showcase my works at Behance Network. I think this is number one well known social network for professionals like designers, illustrators, photographers, architects, movie makers, art directors and so on from all over the world. I’m collecting my works in groups of 10-15 illustrations and once I’ve got new portion I’m publishing them all together in one new project there. There are some great moderators with very good sense of visual taste. Luckily they notice almost all of my new projects there and they mark them as featured at the landing page. So this is how people from all over the globe getting to know about my works. Best thing here is when you’ve got featured there a lot of blogs starting to share your projects, taking some interviews and so on. In parallel I’m posting new works at my Facebook account, there is also such a great resource for Russian professionals like Re:vision http://revision.ru/a/do/ a lot of people from Russia comes to me that way. I have Dribbble account  but I’m not sure it is good for me to stay there as I’ve noticed it is mainly for UI and icon designers. I had only few work requests from there for last 2 years.

People are using Facebook instead – great recommendation market. Someone likes your work and his friends instantly get that news. I never spammed others asking to give me a job and I would recommend people to focus on the quality of their work instead of begging that way. You better grow up, gain skills and people will promote you by themselves. It is great that I can live my own life, show some of my thoughts, my works, my photos in Facebook and people can see I’m alive, I’m open and I have some reputation which I don’t want to lose. So there is some trust. I have my website also http://dunsky.ru but it is just a status for my clients I guess. Professional illustrator without a site? What?

To wrap up, what is your ultimate advice for illustrators that are just getting started, so they can also get noticed and be successful in their business?

Ultimate advice is start to develop common of all mankind qualities. To grow yourself as a good person and then other good things would start growing outside of you. As Thomas Edison once greatly said “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration”. Just relax and do what you love with a great sense of gratitude. People will like it for sure.

Would you also like to share your experience or interesting story with the Payoneer community? We’d love to hear about it – let us know by sending an e-mail to community@payoneer.com.

In my previous blog post, I listed 7 useful tips for Apple developers. Android is another huge mobile operating system- with more than 250,000 apps created and used in over 120 countries! You can check out this infographic for more stats, and to read about the evolution of Android.

There is a wide selection of Android app stores where you can upload your apps. I’m sure the first name that pops up is Google Play Store. However, there are others that are worth looking into, such as Amazon App Store, Opera Mobile App Store, Yandex Store, SlideME and Appoke.

If you’re new to developing Android apps and just getting familiar with the Google Play Store, these tips will help you get started:

Cater to several devices

One of the features that sets Android apart from other mobile platforms is the variety of different devices running the mobile operating system. As a developer this is a crucial factor you need to bear in mind when designing your app, taking into account issues such as varying devices speeds, capabilities, screen sizes, etc.

Stick to the guidelines

Google has put together a set of guidelines that every Android developer should follow when creating their apps. The guidelines range from the style, design patterns, and layout of the app.

Before you start designing your apps, make sure to familiarize yourself with the guidelines.

Test Your App

While there are many emulators you can use to test your app, it’s highly advisable to do so on an Android device, as you will have the same experience as an actual app user.

Testing an Android app is fairly easy since Android offers you all the necessary tools for testing- guarantee a successful user experience before uploading it to any store.

Market your app

Once you’ve developed your app, it’s time to launch it to the world. Make sure you leverage Social Media to promote your app as much as possible.

Be proactive and contact App review sites so they can write about your product and help you promote it online.

Help your users out

One of the key to the success of your app is satisfied users and great reviews. One of the ways to achieve this is giving your users quick and efficient support.

Write a simple yet explanatory description to go along with images on the store, and take it an extra step further by setting up an FAQ section to try and cover the most common doubts your users might have. Also, don’t forget to read user reviews and reply with relevant answers that address their concerns.

Check out the following infographic presented by visual.ly- what Android developer category do you fall into?

Would you like to share your own tips for Android developers? Drop us a line at community@payoneer.com. To stay up-to-date, make sure  to visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the Payoneer Community Forum!

Over the past few years the Freelance Economy has been exploding. Did you know that 1 in 3 people in the US are earning money from freelance jobs*, which amounted to approximately $42 million in 2013? In fact, a recent Global Online Employment Report posted by Elance shows 600,000 new jobs, 600,000 new freelancers, and over $130 million earned on Elance – just in the first 6 months of 2013!

The concept of traditional full-time employment  being the most secure and consistent is becoming obsolete thanks to technology’s role in today’s flexible global economy. Rather than leaving your home country to seek new employment opportunities, technology has made it possible for you to stay at home and work remotely. You can view an interesting infographic showing reasons why people choose to become freelancers here.

More and more companies are realizing the benefits of hiring freelance workers to complete projects. Whether it’s a one-time project, the company is short on budget, or simply is not in a position to hire a full-time employee, freelancers bring a lot to the table.

If you’re a freelancer, now is the time to take advantage of this rapidly growing economy and make money! The first thing you need to decide is where to focus your efforts. Payoneer provides global payment solutions to freelancers across the globe, and we recently asked them what kind of work they do. We found that the majority of freelancers work in the creative fields of Graphic Design, Content Writing and Video and Animation – below are the full results:

Next you’ll want to promote your services and find new clients. Social media is certainly a powerful tool, and services like Wix, WordPress, and Tumblr can help you easily set up your own website. Developing your profile and portfolio on major Sites like Elance, oDesk, Fiverr, 99Designs, Freelancer.com, and Envato is also a great way to promote yourself and find new jobs. Not sure which to focus on? Perhaps this infographic comparing some of the major freelance marketplaces can help:

Are you a Freelancer and want to share your experience and tips with us? Perhaps you’d like to write a guest post on our blog? Let us know in the comments below!

*Statistic according to the Freelancers Union