Russian Contributor and Ambassador Alexandr Talks About His Collaboration With Freepik
Tell us a little bit about yourself? Where are you from and do you have any hobbies?
Hello everyone, my name is Sasha I am a Contributor and Ambassador. I live in Russia, in Obninsk- the first science city in the world. You might have heard about it since the first atomic nuclear plan was built here.
I like sport. Winters here are very long, yet I still like to be outdoors and enjoy winter sports like hockey. In the summer I like to play football with my friends as well as basketball and volley. After a day with friends and after a good game I have lots of inspiration and ideas for my illustrations, which I like to put on paper right away. So my hobbies help my work, which is great.
What made you originally want to become a designer?
So what has pushed me to become a micro stocker? The reason is simple. At some point, I didn’t have money to buy flowers for my girlfriend so I decided to monetize my designs. Looking for different options, I was looking for possibilities to realize my creativity: from selling on Ebay to microstocks.
What I like about this is that it’s not simple, boring job, but creative flow, giving satisfaction not just to me, but to other people as well, ones who buy my designs. When your designs are popular amongst other people, your colleagues, designers –you have the desire to design and create something every day.
How would you describe your style? Where do you find inspiration and ideas for new designs?
In my works, I do not have just one style I like to try different ones. That is why in my portfolio you can find infographics, icon sets, comics and cartoons, paper illustrations. I like to look for new styles and techniques to create an illustration.
As you know, design involves constantly, new tools appear every day. Who knows, maybe with the time I will face different tasks and I will have new mountains to climb. I am always open to trying new things.
I get the inspiration in my active lifestyle, in my friends. Having an interesting job and a great hobby I always meet great people who inspire me to create new things.
Also, I am constantly evolving, read a lot of books. Books tend to captivate me with their stories and it has an impact on my works.
Has your work evolved since your first started designing and how?
I like to try new styles, so the quality of my works not only grows, it changes as I do. In the beginning, it was a bit unusual and sometimes difficult, because I did not have enough experience in stock illustration. But with time, talking to other designers on forums and in communities and also checking different online tutorials, I began to develop my own style.
What tips would you give to budding designers?
If you cannot leave without art, you design or take photos, but haven’t shared your works with the world yet, you definitely should become a stock illustrator.
Freepik is famous worldwide and it is used by lots of illustrators and designers all around the world.
If you are only starting your way in the world of design and photography, register as a contributor without any fear and start uploading your works. You won’t lose anything by trying and it’s always better than just do nothing. You should design every day, in different styles, with different techniques, go to the theatre, movies, exhibitions, discover new ways of being creative. Be positive, smile often, appreciate your loved ones. You may not believe me, but positive emotions have a very good impact on the creativity.
Why did you want to work with microstock agencies?
Microstocks are very interesting and attractive. You can work from anywhere, be surrounded by interesting people, creating a nice atmosphere and make money at the same time. For example, you sleep at night and during those hours you still make money.
My dream was to become a successful microstocker, I wanted to meet new people and find friends from around the world. Now I can definitely say that my dream became true!
What made you want to become a contributor to Freepik? What are the benefits of uploading your work?
Even before I became a contributor I worked as a designer and downloaded images from Freepik for my projects. I became a contributor by chance, at the beginning of autumn 2017 when one of the Freepik’s growth managers contacted me and offered to become a non-exclusive contributor. Amongst the Russian users, Freepik is known as the biggest platform with the free content of vectors and stock photos. That is why lots of people believe that Freepik only has free content.
What advice do you have for designers who want to become on contributors on Freepik?
Recently, with the help of Freepik I’ve created a community for Russian contributors in VK (Russian analogue of Facebook) https://vk.com/freepikrussia. My goal is to introduce Russian microstockers to the new microstock so we can share experience and ideas. On my page you can find video tutorials about Freepik, ask your questions and, of course, share your works and plans.
Why would you recommend using Freepik and how has it benefited your work?
By creating quality content, you make a significant leap in your development and make the world a better place, helping designers realize any ideas. Using Freepik as a designer, you can work with a huge image base, both free and premium content, implementing all your ideas and saving your money.
Perhaps you have long dreamed of realizing your dreams and devoting yourself to your favourite business, so why postpone it for later? Join the creative community right now!
