Jessup3D

Thanks for all the input so far. I worked as a freelance artist for a while before I got into architectural vizualization, so I'm familiar with the routine of trying to get the work done with family wanting access to you all the time as well as with working way too many hours on occasion.

With my current possition, if I was to subtract the time for the commute to and from work and the time taken for lunches, I'd be home about 10 to 15 extra hours a week and I'd be saving about $150 a month in gas and insurance costs alone. The big trick with working for an employer, as mentioned earlier, is dealing with file transfers and access to textures and the like. If you go it alone, your resources are more limited, but your location is not.

Raising a family in a big city environment is doable, but if there's a way to do the same work in a more rural location that's what I'd rather do. I'm just curious how much of this industry is done in shops like the one I work for, how many are collections of remote individuals, and how many are independent contractors (not actual numbers, just rough estimates).

I hear a lot on both sides as far as independent contractors and smaller startup comanies go... it seems that for some folks they find a client or two and the rest just builds up on its own from referals and repeat business, and for others, they find it near impossible to find clients. It's tough to tell what sort of expectations you should have if you tried to start your own venture.