Inside the FoxHole: Featured Author Dajovion

Today’s featured author is dajovion.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, where did you get your start with Flash and FlashDen?

I’m a freelance designer & illustrator in Brooklyn, New York. I first started using Flash as an animation tool at the Savannah College of Art and Design way back when Flash 4 was the “bee’s knees”. I had zero programming skills and at that time I wanted to be an animator. I later took an internship job at a web firm in Savannah, Georgia and they taught me basic Actionscript. I slowly fell in love with interactive design and went on from there.

I discovered FlashDen once I started my own business and I would read the FreelanceSwitch blog regularly. I decided to give it a shot and I quickly realized that FlashDen is an excellent source of residual income.

2. What is your work flow like when starting a new file? Could you walk us through the steps you take when getting ready to create a new file?

When working on full-time flash projects I typically will determine if any parts of the project can be small applications that I can sell on FlashDen. I then will ask my client if I can sell the applications on FlashDen while also offering the client a discount if they let me. It’s a win-win for both me and the client.

From there, I make sure that the project is easily scalable and has XML driven content.

3. What do you do to market and brand your files? What percentage of your time is spent doing this?

I advertise all of my files on my website, www.ryanterry.net, and that has led to a decent amount of referral money each month.

4. What advice can you give to authors that might help them increase their overall sales?

I think there are two types of files that sell well.

Files that people can use for multiple projects and easily customize the look-and-feel of them; such as a contact form or text scroller.
Another way to sell a lot is to come up with something, that no one else has, that’s useful.

5. Is there a certain area, website, or media you look to for creativity and ideas?

TheFWA.com, Drawn.ca, CGunit.net are a few sites that inspire me daily.

6. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

I’m a fan of DigitalScience’s and michaelhejja’s work.

7. Which file do you think is your best file?

By far, my Client Area v1 file has sold the most for me. On the more simple end of things, the XML Text Scroller has also done well.

8. You also do illustration, tell us – Do you do them directly in Flash or do you import from Illustrator? Also, what’s the most awesome illustration you’ve ever done?

Flash is an excellent tool for inking drawings. I rarely use Illustrator {editor: yay! }. I find the drawing tools in Flash are much more intuitive. One of my favorite artists, Jake Parker, has a nice blog entry demonstrating how he inks with Flash.

I typically do most of my work in Photoshop and then bring it in to Flash to animate. If I can make something in vector for animation in Flash I will do that as well. It’s typically a mix of both with any project I do.

It’s REALLY hard for me to say what my favorite illustration is. I know the most challenging illustration I’ve ever had to do was a pinup girl for Choppers Inc., a few years ago, but that doesn’t exactly show my natural style. (I’ve attached that drawing and a few others that I like)

9. Do you think humans will ever be able to actually populate Mars?

Without a doubt. I love that I may actually get to see humans land on Mars in my lifetime. Very fascinating. I’m a sucker for any TV show about space.

10. When you aren’t building flash files, what do you do for fun?

I moved to New York this year so I’m still exploring this amazing city whenever I have free time. I’m also part of a non-profit organization called The Blind Project that fights to save children caught in the global sex trade. It’s been really great using my talents for a good cause.