MEET #2154 DAN WOODGER
Illustrator • London, UK
Dan Woodger is a London-based Illustrator, whose work was all over the branding of this year's Webby Awards. Woodger's clients include The New York Times, NY Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Wired, Google, Cadbury, Oreo, and Mentos.
1. How long have you been freelancing?
I say I've been freelancing for just under 2 years as that's when I gave up my part time job at a shop and took on illustration full time. Though in truth it's very hard to pinpoint the exact moment that I made the conscious decision to tell people 'I'm a freelance illustrator' as I graduated from university in 2011 but it took a good 6 months to get the ball rolling after leaving.
2. Is there a time or place that you feel most creative/have the best ideas?
I don't think so, I work from home 95% of the time so that where the majority of my ideas are generated but I have worked whilst abroad in other countries too and still manage to create ideas in the same way as I do at home.
3. What's your ideal Working:Not Working ratio?
My ideal ratio would probably be about 80:20; however, I'm currently working at a ratio of 100:0. I'm an absolute workaholic. My average day starts at 9am and I usually work through until about 1am (with a couple of hours off in the evening to have dinner and spend some time with my girlfriend) I've been fortunate enough to have had plenty of freelance work to bury myself in this year but even on the quiet days I'm always finding something to work on.
4. Do your parents understand what you do?
Yeah my parents are really cool about what I do and have always been very supportive. I don't come from a particularly creative background so doing illustration is quite unusual but from my parents I learned the importance of hard work so I think as long as I try my best at whatever it is I decide to do they'll always be supportive of it.
5. What scene from a movie makes you laugh just thinking about it?
Ha good question! There are so many how do I choose!? I think I'll have to go with the first one that popped into my head which is the scene from The Money Pit where Tom Hanks sinks into the floor, I was crying when I saw that for the first time. There's also another scene from that same movie when the bath falls through the ceiling, still cracks me up every time.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, with your computer, what 3 websites would you take with you?
Is there a website called howtogetoffadesertisland.com? If so that'd be really quite handy.
If that doesn't exist perhaps howtosurviveonadesertisland.com? A sheltered existence in front of a computer screen has led me to a life where by having to actually survive doesn't come up all too often, so I'd probably need some help it that department.
And, I don't know... Wikipedia? I'll have so much free time on my hands I might as well read about every single pointless thing there is to know
7. What do you do when Not Working?
It's strange when your hobby is also your job because sometimes it's difficult to determine if I'm working because I have to or if I'm working because I want to. But when I do take a day off from drawing it's often just relaxing, reading a book, perhaps going for a run or lately playing GTA V.
8. Do you have a hidden talent?
I was the junior champion at my local golf club in 2005. I supposed that'd qualify as a hidden talent! I was actually looking to become a teaching professional at one point.
9. Any tips or advice for fellow freelancers?
Work hard, don't be shy of self promotion and try to keep your online profile up to date, even if you don't have time to update a main website keep a blog going. I think it's really important to keep things looking fresh online as I think it displays good organisation.
10. What's your favorite thing on the internet this week?
This week I enjoyed this.
Was horrified by this.
And loved this.
The Webby Awards
