I’ve taken on projects many times that I probably shouldn’t have due to budget constraints. I do it for a number of reasons: I need the work, I want to help my client, or I believe in the aesthetic quality of the project so much that I’m willing to spend extra time working on it. There was one job some years ago that punched all three of those buttons and ended up working me so hard, I cursed myself for weeks and weeks for agreeing to do it.

College of the Desert, a privately funded college located in Palm Springs, CA, needed to produce three 30-second spots to augment their “You Can Change Lives” campaign. The art director, a longtime friend of mine, presented an animated watercolor style and asked me if I could pull it off. The business side of me screamed, “HELLLL NOOOO!” but the creative fought back and ultimately won. I don’t regret doing the job because I think the result is a pretty good portfolio piece, but the experience was a murderous one on the profitability scale.