Martin Steeton - Publishing in the comics industry.
Martin Steeton is a publisher. He started a blog for his passion in comics after a failing music career. Avoid the future.com is a good source for news and reviews on French comics. Hopefully I can find a way to use the information supplied in it over the summer and in third year. Martin also works as a translation editor and has a large skill set.
One of the main points that was made was a strong emphasis on getting the eyes of the world onto your work, as well as tips on how to approach a publisher. What different publishers might look for was also mentioned. Pitching directly to the publisher is good if you can manage it. Making sure to only take your best work and to study the house style, to see if there’s anything about your portfolio that may fit in twith their house style (if they have one.
One of the publishers who keep their eyes out for new talent is Blank Slate. Who might be worth looking into. Finding a way to get a foot in the door means researching as many publishers as possible. I feel it’s something I need to do more as the third year comes closer.
If attempting to get work published it’s important to have a complete skillset. Being a good writer, artist and having a good grasp of layout, composition and text will make you an easier sell. Sometimes a publisher may want a completed work while at others a work in process might be required. Just remember to only ever take your best work and to never try and try to avoid showing anything you don’t want to, or that they’ll obviously not have an interest in.
Knowing how to sell your work is very important. Being aware that other people will want to read your work and knowing what sort of audience you’re targeting and tailoring your pitch towards a specific publisher is just as important as having a good porfolio. There’s not much point submitting to a publisher at all if your way of working clashes too heavily with what they normally sell. (And we all know that Marvel and DC are terrible.)
I’m especially interested in trying to make my work up to a publishing standard, especially for Self made hero, though their standard is very high. Steeton mentioned them having an interest in historical based fiction, a genre I have an interest in getting into and focusing on. Although I also have an interest in wider areas such as independent superheros and possibly comedy or general. It’s something to work towards at the very least. Blank slate is also worth looking into, as they have a wider scope and finding a place to fit in would be a little easier. Regardless of actually getting published or not, I think it’s important to try and have as high a standard as possible.
If I can I’d like to try and work on expanding my connections and getting references. I’ve already got a number of friends and connections, but nowhere near enough. Going to a few conventions and showing off work might be a step forward as well as social networking despite how afraid I am of that sort of thing. It’s also good to make friends and alliances with as many other creative’s as possible. Getting the help of older, more established artists can also be helpful, they can be sympathetic and helpful due to knowing what you’re going through. The worst they can do is tell you to clear off, but you don’t need help from folks like that anyway. Getting a few good quotes from your peers can make all the difference and help you explain why readers might enjoy the work.
Don’t be arrogant.
Don’t be…is that a cup of tea I see? Er, unfocused.
Don’t take any crit badly.
If talking to a publisher always try and give them a physical copy of your work, as it will at least be there for them to find later. Digital files get lost on a computer. Having a self published copy of your work might also be a good step to take, a hard backed book isn’t too likely to get thrown away. They’ll at least appreciate it as a coaster or something.
When at a conventation make your table as nice a space as you can. Since you are essentially a shop, be polite and friendly and only bring your best. Interaction with people is great and doing small commissions can even earn you some bonus money.
The UK has been refered to as an extension to the US in terms of comic book publishing. The US has a huge range of work, though most of it is more mainstream. The UK market is still smaller in comparison. France has a large market that’s more interested in loose art based styles and is perhaps a good place to consider going for me.
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Creative Futures - How I make a living from Death.
How I make a living from Death: Violet Fenn
Violet Fenn runs a website, is self employed and makes a living selling hand constructed jewellery. This all sounds normal enough until we discover that she also collects photographs of dead people and collects them on a website. We’re not just talking about any old dead people though. It’s a form of photograph that died out with the advent of better healthcare. Victorian cadaver photographs were a way for families to remember the fallen and keep a likeness of their children, pets, grandparents close by. Sometimes editing them so the eyes would look open. But dones with complete devotion and love. We might not understand it today. But when placed within this context it makes perfect sense.
Many children didn’t live long enough to get a photograph taken, and death was merely the last chance a parent might have to immortalise them.
Much like life (and this entire blog) we must be very aware of the fact that our career plans are not always entirely reliable. Sometimes you will find yourself doing bizarre things as you collect starfish in a bucket, wondering how your creative writing diploma managed to get you into such a position in the first place.
We can only be sure that sometimes things don’t work out. But we can coax it into going our way if we’re willing to make friends, get a good reputation spreading about us through word of mouth. Which is why you should never argue with anyone over the internet. A bad reputation is sort of like a bad smell. Let it linger and soon people won’t want to sit beside you on the bus, let alone buy repurposed starfish necklaces off you.
While it is important to maintain a good reputation, it’s also very important not to be regarded as boring or dull. It’s okay to be a bit odd. In fact, being a little strange and kooky will draw people in. Rather like a freak show of old, they may poke you with a few sticks, but the chance of getting a little coin off them is worth it. The possibility of them gossiping about you is even more valuable as free advertisings since it can be expensive. Be vaguely interesting and people might even stay.
If you can find a way to get ahead with very little then you’ll make a bigger profit in the end. In the case of us illustrators, selling the illustration for over one hundred pounds is very nice. But it’s even nicer when we didn’t spend twenty five pence on the paper to begin with and we found the pencil on the floor somewhere. That’s not to say you should go around robbing art supply shops or rummaging in bins. But being savy and getting the best possible deal from everything will make your earnings seem bigger and you can buy more of those delicious chocolates I mentioned a while back. Maybe even a frappichino and a swivel chair constructed from panda pelt.
The best possible advice I was given during the course of the weeks proceedings was this: Take an accounting course. This may seem unusual but bear with me. I generally know a lot more about art than I do about accounting. In fact numbers are my main weakness and I’m suddenly reminded that a life of self employment looms ahead like a spectre, and it brings with it adult pastimes like taxes, accounting and wearing matching socks. These things are very important. I could put together a professional portfolio and get hired by Marvel comics much faster than I’d ever understand insurance forms or mortgages. It’s a reminder that eventually we must all start to become adults. It’s a very welcome reminder too. Especially considering I hadn’t been aware accounting courses were actually a thing that existed.
The most important thing in all of this is to be curious and keep learning. Even if it does happen to be about doing your accounts.
Violet Fenn runs a website, is self employed and makes a living selling hand constructed jewellery. This all sounds normal enough until we discover that she also collects photographs of dead people and collects them on a website. We’re not just talking about any old dead people though. It’s a form of photograph that died out with the advent of better healthcare. Victorian cadaver photographs were a way for families to remember the fallen and keep a likeness of their children, pets, grandparents close by. Sometimes editing them so the eyes would look open. But dones with complete devotion and love. We might not understand it today. But when placed within this context it makes perfect sense.
Many children didn’t live long enough to get a photograph taken, and death was merely the last chance a parent might have to immortalise them.
Much like life (and this entire blog) we must be very aware of the fact that our career plans are not always entirely reliable. Sometimes you will find yourself doing bizarre things as you collect starfish in a bucket, wondering how your creative writing diploma managed to get you into such a position in the first place.
We can only be sure that sometimes things don’t work out. But we can coax it into going our way if we’re willing to make friends, get a good reputation spreading about us through word of mouth. Which is why you should never argue with anyone over the internet. A bad reputation is sort of like a bad smell. Let it linger and soon people won’t want to sit beside you on the bus, let alone buy repurposed starfish necklaces off you.
While it is important to maintain a good reputation, it’s also very important not to be regarded as boring or dull. It’s okay to be a bit odd. In fact, being a little strange and kooky will draw people in. Rather like a freak show of old, they may poke you with a few sticks, but the chance of getting a little coin off them is worth it. The possibility of them gossiping about you is even more valuable as free advertisings since it can be expensive. Be vaguely interesting and people might even stay.
If you can find a way to get ahead with very little then you’ll make a bigger profit in the end. In the case of us illustrators, selling the illustration for over one hundred pounds is very nice. But it’s even nicer when we didn’t spend twenty five pence on the paper to begin with and we found the pencil on the floor somewhere. That’s not to say you should go around robbing art supply shops or rummaging in bins. But being savy and getting the best possible deal from everything will make your earnings seem bigger and you can buy more of those delicious chocolates I mentioned a while back. Maybe even a frappichino and a swivel chair constructed from panda pelt.
The best possible advice I was given during the course of the weeks proceedings was this: Take an accounting course. This may seem unusual but bear with me. I generally know a lot more about art than I do about accounting. In fact numbers are my main weakness and I’m suddenly reminded that a life of self employment looms ahead like a spectre, and it brings with it adult pastimes like taxes, accounting and wearing matching socks. These things are very important. I could put together a professional portfolio and get hired by Marvel comics much faster than I’d ever understand insurance forms or mortgages. It’s a reminder that eventually we must all start to become adults. It’s a very welcome reminder too. Especially considering I hadn’t been aware accounting courses were actually a thing that existed.
The most important thing in all of this is to be curious and keep learning. Even if it does happen to be about doing your accounts.
Creative Futures - Building an Audience.
Building an Audience -John Alison.-
Web comic creator and artist to Bad machinery. John Alison is self taught and successful. His work has improved from hard work and trial and error. His growth was slow and a grind, but the pay-off can be good if you’re dedicated. I’ve learned not to expect too much from Mr Alison's talk, never assume you’ll be a big hit and take what you can get with dignity. (The amount of dignity is entirely up to the individual.)
Consistency is obviously important in your art . Even if your style is inconsistent, be consistently inconsistent. At least you’ll have an excuse for it when folks start to criticize. However, try and make friends and contacts with as many people as you can. It never helps to be a jerk since you catch more flies with honey.
When you catch friends with honey it’s better.
Because flies have no money.
When I create my own website I will remember not to put anything behind a pay wall. The internet is a breeding ground of free art, music, animated gif and, regardless, people will find a way to pilfer it anyway. Best to offer your comics and illustrations out for free.
Then sell it on t-shirts and in books once the readers are addicted.
Once you become more popular the option for advertising is a practical way towards attaining some free cash.
There’s also a question of trust between you and your readers. If you double cross them in any way you run the risk of losing an entire fan base overnight due to the fickleness of many comic fans (We’re looking at you Marvel, DC and Manga fans.) A drastic change in style may scare off those who get used to a certain way of drawing from you. This however cannot be helped all the time. Without change we grow stale and dull (and marketable) but I have no doubts that some fans will stay with you at the very least.
I believe that a certain level of interaction with fans can be highly beneficial. Making and keeping friends among the audience can be engaging and allow your readership to grow. A good example of this is Lauren Fausts ‘My little Pony, friendship is magic’ Yes, it’s a very girly show for girly little girls. Yet has amassed a huge following. A mixture of great character design, execution and audience participation has made it, literally, take over the internet. It’s managed to do this by not having too serious a tone. It’s far easier to sell something light hearted. The more serious your work becomes the harder it will be to sell.
On the technical side of creating a comic/anything (be it for publishing with a company or online via a web comic) it’s important to remember the basics. Good composition and pacing. Making sure the pages can be read properly is vital. Make sure at least you can read it properly without having to double back and reread anything. If you do, change the layout or text because if you can’t read your own work, somebody else will find it impossible and leave. Try and do things right from the start. It may be a little difficult to know what that is, but persevere. Learning what not to do is just as important as anything else.
And you won’t get any of their delicious money.
It’s important to always experiment and have fun. Like with the legibility, it’ll be almost impossible for a reader to enjoy themselves if you, yourself are not. There’s also not much point carving out a career doing something you don’t like regardless, if you wanted to do that, the dead end job you left might have suited a bit better!
It’s important to make friends and contacts with those who do work similar to yours. I’m personally interested in writing and research into historical fiction and making friends with a writer in that medium gave me such self confidence. Having an outlet for discussion is very important. Ideas flow freely and enthusiasm rises when you share a common footing with somebody. It’s especially important if the thing you’re interested in is obscure. A shared interest can even cross cultures, making a friend from a Slovak, Canadian or Frenchman. They can be great for lodgings at conventions and the bonus of sharing information and feeding off each other is a great feeling.
Lets not be hasty though. Searching out interesting people who like different things to you is just as vital. It broadens the scope of all your boundaries. Allows for discussions and informative arguments to arise and might just teach you something. Making friends with all sorts is a valuable skill to have. One that can make a person very happy. Just be careful not to be too hasty and jump into dangerous situations.
Web comic creator and artist to Bad machinery. John Alison is self taught and successful. His work has improved from hard work and trial and error. His growth was slow and a grind, but the pay-off can be good if you’re dedicated. I’ve learned not to expect too much from Mr Alison's talk, never assume you’ll be a big hit and take what you can get with dignity. (The amount of dignity is entirely up to the individual.)
Consistency is obviously important in your art . Even if your style is inconsistent, be consistently inconsistent. At least you’ll have an excuse for it when folks start to criticize. However, try and make friends and contacts with as many people as you can. It never helps to be a jerk since you catch more flies with honey.
When you catch friends with honey it’s better.
Because flies have no money.
When I create my own website I will remember not to put anything behind a pay wall. The internet is a breeding ground of free art, music, animated gif and, regardless, people will find a way to pilfer it anyway. Best to offer your comics and illustrations out for free.
Then sell it on t-shirts and in books once the readers are addicted.
Once you become more popular the option for advertising is a practical way towards attaining some free cash.
There’s also a question of trust between you and your readers. If you double cross them in any way you run the risk of losing an entire fan base overnight due to the fickleness of many comic fans (We’re looking at you Marvel, DC and Manga fans.) A drastic change in style may scare off those who get used to a certain way of drawing from you. This however cannot be helped all the time. Without change we grow stale and dull (and marketable) but I have no doubts that some fans will stay with you at the very least.
I believe that a certain level of interaction with fans can be highly beneficial. Making and keeping friends among the audience can be engaging and allow your readership to grow. A good example of this is Lauren Fausts ‘My little Pony, friendship is magic’ Yes, it’s a very girly show for girly little girls. Yet has amassed a huge following. A mixture of great character design, execution and audience participation has made it, literally, take over the internet. It’s managed to do this by not having too serious a tone. It’s far easier to sell something light hearted. The more serious your work becomes the harder it will be to sell.
On the technical side of creating a comic/anything (be it for publishing with a company or online via a web comic) it’s important to remember the basics. Good composition and pacing. Making sure the pages can be read properly is vital. Make sure at least you can read it properly without having to double back and reread anything. If you do, change the layout or text because if you can’t read your own work, somebody else will find it impossible and leave. Try and do things right from the start. It may be a little difficult to know what that is, but persevere. Learning what not to do is just as important as anything else.
And you won’t get any of their delicious money.
It’s important to always experiment and have fun. Like with the legibility, it’ll be almost impossible for a reader to enjoy themselves if you, yourself are not. There’s also not much point carving out a career doing something you don’t like regardless, if you wanted to do that, the dead end job you left might have suited a bit better!
It’s important to make friends and contacts with those who do work similar to yours. I’m personally interested in writing and research into historical fiction and making friends with a writer in that medium gave me such self confidence. Having an outlet for discussion is very important. Ideas flow freely and enthusiasm rises when you share a common footing with somebody. It’s especially important if the thing you’re interested in is obscure. A shared interest can even cross cultures, making a friend from a Slovak, Canadian or Frenchman. They can be great for lodgings at conventions and the bonus of sharing information and feeding off each other is a great feeling.
Lets not be hasty though. Searching out interesting people who like different things to you is just as vital. It broadens the scope of all your boundaries. Allows for discussions and informative arguments to arise and might just teach you something. Making friends with all sorts is a valuable skill to have. One that can make a person very happy. Just be careful not to be too hasty and jump into dangerous situations.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Build a porfolio - Creative futures
Building a portfolio. -
Find people who inspire you and work for them (if you can)
Be different.
Promote yourself through competitions.
Always be professional.
Invest, spend money to make money. (Finding a way to do it for free is even better.)
Being a massive pain about money is vital. It’s hard to make a living off art, and it’s not helped by those who would avoid paying you altogether! Finding ways to save money and earn a bigger profit requires some underhanded tactics (never illegal or dishonest, though) and study in the field of business. You can even give a client the impression of control by adding in a few mistakes for them to notice and ask you to ammend. This creates a sense of teamwork, which makes a client feel more involved, which means they’re more likely to come back for more.
Business cards may get thrown away, but a sense of trust, friendship and reliability will stick with people. They are, however, much more difficult to hand out on a street corner. A well built website is probably the best compromise on that matter. Making a good impact on people by being friendly, charming, funny, well dressed, polite and impeccably British (Whether in real life or on the internet) is the true key to success. It doesn’t matter how good your art is if you manage to offend everyone’s sensibilities.
You can sell even the most mediocre of things with a compliment and a smile.
Being as professional as possible is the key to a successful career. Always meet deadlines, be polite and courteous. Being friendly and agreeable (up to a point) will usually sell you better than anything else. Even if the work isn’t your best at the time, show your client what you’re doing. They’re paying you to act like their imagination and delivering nothing will look a mile worse than delivering a rough idea of your concept.
Common sense tells us never to act shamefully in our work (or home lives). If your bosses emails to you are quite formal then return them with the same level of formality. Acting too familiar with a client might not be a good idea. Even your best friend becomes your boss when money is involved. Keep it that way and focus on the job at hand.
Most professionals use a personal website to promote their work. Some join with galleries (But never DeviantArt, art goes there to putrefy and die) Depending on where you choose to put your work you might get job offers, critiques or an opportunity to sell merchandise. Publishing work on sites like lulu.com or big cartel is easier than ever these days. It’s probably better not to put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your name around using as many (free) options as possible. Link everything back to whatever site you choose as your central hub. Cross pollinating and making a space for yourself wherever you go can be tiring, but spreading a wider net helps to catch more people who are adrift upon the internet. Drawing them into the heart of your work can be as simple as a button click, but you’ll never get it unless you bait a few hooks.
It’s like building an empire. You must merely march in and declare your presence. Eventually you’ll win over the hearts and minds of the native people (and if not, seek out a more suitable nesting ground, but link it to everything around it instead of letting old accounts go to waste.)
Spreading your name around these days is as simple as signing up to Tumblr, Facebook, linkedin or Twitter. The difficult part is not getting lost amid the noise. So make sure you stay true to yourself, stand out and always handle people with as much professionalism as possible. There will always be someone out there willing to bad mouth you and your work but sinking to their level will only make you look bad.
Find people who inspire you and work for them (if you can)
Be different.
Promote yourself through competitions.
Always be professional.
Invest, spend money to make money. (Finding a way to do it for free is even better.)
Being a massive pain about money is vital. It’s hard to make a living off art, and it’s not helped by those who would avoid paying you altogether! Finding ways to save money and earn a bigger profit requires some underhanded tactics (never illegal or dishonest, though) and study in the field of business. You can even give a client the impression of control by adding in a few mistakes for them to notice and ask you to ammend. This creates a sense of teamwork, which makes a client feel more involved, which means they’re more likely to come back for more.
Business cards may get thrown away, but a sense of trust, friendship and reliability will stick with people. They are, however, much more difficult to hand out on a street corner. A well built website is probably the best compromise on that matter. Making a good impact on people by being friendly, charming, funny, well dressed, polite and impeccably British (Whether in real life or on the internet) is the true key to success. It doesn’t matter how good your art is if you manage to offend everyone’s sensibilities.
You can sell even the most mediocre of things with a compliment and a smile.
Being as professional as possible is the key to a successful career. Always meet deadlines, be polite and courteous. Being friendly and agreeable (up to a point) will usually sell you better than anything else. Even if the work isn’t your best at the time, show your client what you’re doing. They’re paying you to act like their imagination and delivering nothing will look a mile worse than delivering a rough idea of your concept.
Common sense tells us never to act shamefully in our work (or home lives). If your bosses emails to you are quite formal then return them with the same level of formality. Acting too familiar with a client might not be a good idea. Even your best friend becomes your boss when money is involved. Keep it that way and focus on the job at hand.
Most professionals use a personal website to promote their work. Some join with galleries (But never DeviantArt, art goes there to putrefy and die) Depending on where you choose to put your work you might get job offers, critiques or an opportunity to sell merchandise. Publishing work on sites like lulu.com or big cartel is easier than ever these days. It’s probably better not to put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your name around using as many (free) options as possible. Link everything back to whatever site you choose as your central hub. Cross pollinating and making a space for yourself wherever you go can be tiring, but spreading a wider net helps to catch more people who are adrift upon the internet. Drawing them into the heart of your work can be as simple as a button click, but you’ll never get it unless you bait a few hooks.
It’s like building an empire. You must merely march in and declare your presence. Eventually you’ll win over the hearts and minds of the native people (and if not, seek out a more suitable nesting ground, but link it to everything around it instead of letting old accounts go to waste.)
Spreading your name around these days is as simple as signing up to Tumblr, Facebook, linkedin or Twitter. The difficult part is not getting lost amid the noise. So make sure you stay true to yourself, stand out and always handle people with as much professionalism as possible. There will always be someone out there willing to bad mouth you and your work but sinking to their level will only make you look bad.
Andy Cheetman - creative futures.
20x20 visions. (Andy Cheetman)
Difficult briefs. They’re difficult for a reason. We must all learn to take these difficult briefs and bend them to our wills. The rewards for tackling something with high stakes will be much higher than gluing your art to the side of a lampost and hoping for the best. Since most of us aren’t Banksy we’ll have to toughen up our hides and start entering major competitions.
Treat all customers individually and be uplifting. Recycle ideas and pay attention to detail.
We are global learners. Learning globally. Together.
Making advertising that works as people can switch off and walk away due to the technology available to them. A good example of this is the television. A good number of people watch their televisions with a laptop, phone or MP3 player within close reach. Adverts are little more than a break in which to check emails, send a text message or listen to the same song over and over again until the boring thing goes away. (Some people keep sketchbooks, novels or kettles close by, though they’re rather more prone to walking away or hitting mute on the controller.) The trick then has to be to make yourself more interesting than an email, text message or illegally downloaded pop song.
Sop interrupting what people are interested in. BE what they’re interested in. Otherwise they’ll ignore you. Which is bad. Unless what you were advertising was something like ‘cultural distancing of the customer from the advertiser’ which is a silly idea.
The trick to being interesting enough to drag peoples attentions away from their cups of tea, games of minesweeper and reblogged pictures of cats on Tumblr is actually very simple. You meverly need to know what’s out there. How to manipulate it to your advantage and how to present it in just the right way. That’s difficult though. Which is why most adverts merely choose to try and shout at us. Which is a major, killing flaw.
Self filter - know flaws before the customer has a chance to see them, so you can explain yourself.
“Why is that fellow merely shouting about insurance in the advert?” the big business tycoon asks as he leans over his frappichino, staring at the unkempt art director before him.
The art director merely smiles and waves his hand nonchalantly through the air. He wishes he had a frappichino too, but alas he is too poor. “That’s very simple sir,” he remarks, suddenly aware that the business tycoon is perched upon a chair made from panda fur. “We did some research. People shouting is what the teen demographic are into.”
“Really?” The tycoon cocks his well plucked brow and looking rather cynical about this whole ridiculous lapse into narrative. “Are you sure?”
The art director nods. “Shouting and cat videos make up over ten percent of the internet.”
This doesn’t please the tycoon at all, and he leers at his subordinate. Chair creaking as he leans forward. “Is that all?”
“Well, the rest of it is made of porn and we’re not allowed to show that during the Top of the Pops.”
The big business tycoon considers this before nodding. “Alright then,” he takes a long drink from his mug. “Make the advert about a shouting cat instead.”
EDIT EDIT EDIT. Which the plucky art director did in order to keep his job (And I may have to do to this entry…). Editing will save your skin and help trim unrequited edges away.
To have a good reputation, don’t steal or plagiarise, common sense, and have strong ideas that relate back to your core theme - Use colours to enhance emotions, repeat patterns and pronounce important details. The key to a good theme is simplicity, hidden behind a veil of cleverness.
Which is perhaps something I should invest in more.
Difficult briefs. They’re difficult for a reason. We must all learn to take these difficult briefs and bend them to our wills. The rewards for tackling something with high stakes will be much higher than gluing your art to the side of a lampost and hoping for the best. Since most of us aren’t Banksy we’ll have to toughen up our hides and start entering major competitions.
Treat all customers individually and be uplifting. Recycle ideas and pay attention to detail.
We are global learners. Learning globally. Together.
Making advertising that works as people can switch off and walk away due to the technology available to them. A good example of this is the television. A good number of people watch their televisions with a laptop, phone or MP3 player within close reach. Adverts are little more than a break in which to check emails, send a text message or listen to the same song over and over again until the boring thing goes away. (Some people keep sketchbooks, novels or kettles close by, though they’re rather more prone to walking away or hitting mute on the controller.) The trick then has to be to make yourself more interesting than an email, text message or illegally downloaded pop song.
Sop interrupting what people are interested in. BE what they’re interested in. Otherwise they’ll ignore you. Which is bad. Unless what you were advertising was something like ‘cultural distancing of the customer from the advertiser’ which is a silly idea.
The trick to being interesting enough to drag peoples attentions away from their cups of tea, games of minesweeper and reblogged pictures of cats on Tumblr is actually very simple. You meverly need to know what’s out there. How to manipulate it to your advantage and how to present it in just the right way. That’s difficult though. Which is why most adverts merely choose to try and shout at us. Which is a major, killing flaw.
Self filter - know flaws before the customer has a chance to see them, so you can explain yourself.
“Why is that fellow merely shouting about insurance in the advert?” the big business tycoon asks as he leans over his frappichino, staring at the unkempt art director before him.
The art director merely smiles and waves his hand nonchalantly through the air. He wishes he had a frappichino too, but alas he is too poor. “That’s very simple sir,” he remarks, suddenly aware that the business tycoon is perched upon a chair made from panda fur. “We did some research. People shouting is what the teen demographic are into.”
“Really?” The tycoon cocks his well plucked brow and looking rather cynical about this whole ridiculous lapse into narrative. “Are you sure?”
The art director nods. “Shouting and cat videos make up over ten percent of the internet.”
This doesn’t please the tycoon at all, and he leers at his subordinate. Chair creaking as he leans forward. “Is that all?”
“Well, the rest of it is made of porn and we’re not allowed to show that during the Top of the Pops.”
The big business tycoon considers this before nodding. “Alright then,” he takes a long drink from his mug. “Make the advert about a shouting cat instead.”
EDIT EDIT EDIT. Which the plucky art director did in order to keep his job (And I may have to do to this entry…). Editing will save your skin and help trim unrequited edges away.
To have a good reputation, don’t steal or plagiarise, common sense, and have strong ideas that relate back to your core theme - Use colours to enhance emotions, repeat patterns and pronounce important details. The key to a good theme is simplicity, hidden behind a veil of cleverness.
Which is perhaps something I should invest in more.
Childrens Illustration - Creative futures.
Children’s Illustration - Helen Papworth.
To get into children’s illustration it helps if you love books, drawing and writing and desire to work from home, with a flexible work schedule. These are things that everybody wants. But remember to always keep a tight eye on your finances. It also helps if you stop eating for a while. A little hard work and soon your efforts will pay off, and you can eat all the decadent chocolates you desire. The best way to achieve this level of chocolate saturation is through effectively getting your name out there. This can be done in many ways. Entering high stakes competitions, submitting to magazines, slapping your name on a billboard or even more effective than that, use the internet.
IllustrationFriday.com is one of many art based websites that allows artists (and those pesky art lovers) to view each others work. It offers a weekly theme to work around if you so desire. But it is also open and free to use for everyone who wishes to. There’s no pressure or heavy criticism and offers everyone a chance to put themselves out there and meet others with similar tastes and interests. Places such as conceptart.org is very similar, but with much higher stakes. A place for professionals to submit work and get hard cutting critiques on their work. It has to be said however that getting your work torn to shreds is quite common. I’ve never been brave enough to venture forth.
Books can be produced on a small laptop, so use what resources you have. Self publishing and marketing is getting easier every day. But with that comes the threat of over saturation of the market. Make sure your work is as polished and professional as it can be. Standing out and offering up a good product will always work in your favour. It’s very rare that doing something badly will take off, but there are exceptions. Stephanie Meyers ‘Twilight’ series is popular for a reason. A good layer of polish can even sell an item that might otherwise be avoided.
The research will usually be more interesting than the illustration you produce and the facts of any given research will usually be much more bizarre. The best work we can ever do will educate people and make them want to learn and research the subject you’ve told them about. Make it interesting, fun and memorable. If a person becomes a fan of something because you’ve pointed them in the right direction, they will likely be interested in other things you can offer them. For instance, if you draw a children’s book about the wild west, presenting it in such a way that sparks off an interest in research, then that person might possibly be as interested in those other Cowboy children books you’ve written, and that history of America and the field guide to horses you illustrated. Good research will always shine through in your work. If you’re lucky, you’ll give others the research fever and make some choice comrades and customers out of it.
Keep ideas stored away, they might not work now but might be useful in the future and be sure to share them. Allowing ideas to cross pollinate and evolve stops them from becoming stale. Refer back to them, add to them and edit them. Never leave ideas to fester completely. Even a bad idea can come good in the end if you give it some care and attention, allow the context of it to shift and adapt to the projects you come across or the media you find.
Capture images and collect information. Being educated in as much as possible is never bad. Never stop at just the things you enjoy, dip your toe into subjects that challenge you, that you disagree with or find objectionable. You may feel uncomfortable but at least you will have learned something and become aware of just how many things truly exist. Sometimes you might even stumble across something you never knew existed by doing so.
Use local information, especially if you’re directing a piece of work at an audience. Remember you can tell a story without using words, which makes it easier for a story to cross cultures. But always use a beta when possible.
It’s hard to copy styles.
Always study the context. Then you can make a change in culture.
To get into children’s illustration it helps if you love books, drawing and writing and desire to work from home, with a flexible work schedule. These are things that everybody wants. But remember to always keep a tight eye on your finances. It also helps if you stop eating for a while. A little hard work and soon your efforts will pay off, and you can eat all the decadent chocolates you desire. The best way to achieve this level of chocolate saturation is through effectively getting your name out there. This can be done in many ways. Entering high stakes competitions, submitting to magazines, slapping your name on a billboard or even more effective than that, use the internet.
IllustrationFriday.com is one of many art based websites that allows artists (and those pesky art lovers) to view each others work. It offers a weekly theme to work around if you so desire. But it is also open and free to use for everyone who wishes to. There’s no pressure or heavy criticism and offers everyone a chance to put themselves out there and meet others with similar tastes and interests. Places such as conceptart.org is very similar, but with much higher stakes. A place for professionals to submit work and get hard cutting critiques on their work. It has to be said however that getting your work torn to shreds is quite common. I’ve never been brave enough to venture forth.
Books can be produced on a small laptop, so use what resources you have. Self publishing and marketing is getting easier every day. But with that comes the threat of over saturation of the market. Make sure your work is as polished and professional as it can be. Standing out and offering up a good product will always work in your favour. It’s very rare that doing something badly will take off, but there are exceptions. Stephanie Meyers ‘Twilight’ series is popular for a reason. A good layer of polish can even sell an item that might otherwise be avoided.
The research will usually be more interesting than the illustration you produce and the facts of any given research will usually be much more bizarre. The best work we can ever do will educate people and make them want to learn and research the subject you’ve told them about. Make it interesting, fun and memorable. If a person becomes a fan of something because you’ve pointed them in the right direction, they will likely be interested in other things you can offer them. For instance, if you draw a children’s book about the wild west, presenting it in such a way that sparks off an interest in research, then that person might possibly be as interested in those other Cowboy children books you’ve written, and that history of America and the field guide to horses you illustrated. Good research will always shine through in your work. If you’re lucky, you’ll give others the research fever and make some choice comrades and customers out of it.
Keep ideas stored away, they might not work now but might be useful in the future and be sure to share them. Allowing ideas to cross pollinate and evolve stops them from becoming stale. Refer back to them, add to them and edit them. Never leave ideas to fester completely. Even a bad idea can come good in the end if you give it some care and attention, allow the context of it to shift and adapt to the projects you come across or the media you find.
Capture images and collect information. Being educated in as much as possible is never bad. Never stop at just the things you enjoy, dip your toe into subjects that challenge you, that you disagree with or find objectionable. You may feel uncomfortable but at least you will have learned something and become aware of just how many things truly exist. Sometimes you might even stumble across something you never knew existed by doing so.
Use local information, especially if you’re directing a piece of work at an audience. Remember you can tell a story without using words, which makes it easier for a story to cross cultures. But always use a beta when possible.
It’s hard to copy styles.
Always study the context. Then you can make a change in culture.
BBC Wales. - Creative futures.
BBC (How to get a job at,)
There's alot more to the BBC than just Top Gear, Doctor Who, Antiques Roadshows and endless shows about celebrities who dance. There are also a multitude of talented men and women who work on and off screen to supply Britain (and now, the world) with programmes. Each one of them driven by the motto the BBC was first founded upon 'Educate and Entertain.' Although a good number of them simply do it for the money, which is perfectly reasonable working for the BBC would be a fantastic honour. A way of representing our country and feeling part of something large.
The chance to meet Stephen Fry is also a bonus.
The way to apply for a job and be successful is to take every opportunity presented to you and to be flexible. The BBC as a corporation hires around twenty thousand people annually for a range of jobs but it’s a global market, so competition is huge. I am kind of interested in jobs involving writing, and should look into doing courses for creative writing and screen plays? The BBC hires twelve production trainees a year and to apply for their design training they will require to see a portfolio of work.
To work for the BBC you have to be creative and interested, and you can apply at BBC.co.uk/jobs. Work experience can also be applied for, and lasts for 1 to 2 weeks.
The interview is competency based, drawn from life experiences but not necessarily from work based experience, so long as it’s relevant to the job in question. Always be concise. Like I just was there. Thousands of people will be competing, make your point and save peoples time. It helps to stand out by being different, interested, experienced with similar work and involved with similar projects. A level of flexibility and the capacity to multitask will also work well in your favour.
All new technology should be embraced in order to supply the most up to date skillsets and content available but there will always be down to earth jobs that need doing too. The trick is to be as useful as possible, so that not having you around causes a great deal of discomfort.
Never forget that the BBC is meant to invoke a sense of national pride.
There's alot more to the BBC than just Top Gear, Doctor Who, Antiques Roadshows and endless shows about celebrities who dance. There are also a multitude of talented men and women who work on and off screen to supply Britain (and now, the world) with programmes. Each one of them driven by the motto the BBC was first founded upon 'Educate and Entertain.' Although a good number of them simply do it for the money, which is perfectly reasonable working for the BBC would be a fantastic honour. A way of representing our country and feeling part of something large.
The chance to meet Stephen Fry is also a bonus.
The way to apply for a job and be successful is to take every opportunity presented to you and to be flexible. The BBC as a corporation hires around twenty thousand people annually for a range of jobs but it’s a global market, so competition is huge. I am kind of interested in jobs involving writing, and should look into doing courses for creative writing and screen plays? The BBC hires twelve production trainees a year and to apply for their design training they will require to see a portfolio of work.
To work for the BBC you have to be creative and interested, and you can apply at BBC.co.uk/jobs. Work experience can also be applied for, and lasts for 1 to 2 weeks.
The interview is competency based, drawn from life experiences but not necessarily from work based experience, so long as it’s relevant to the job in question. Always be concise. Like I just was there. Thousands of people will be competing, make your point and save peoples time. It helps to stand out by being different, interested, experienced with similar work and involved with similar projects. A level of flexibility and the capacity to multitask will also work well in your favour.
All new technology should be embraced in order to supply the most up to date skillsets and content available but there will always be down to earth jobs that need doing too. The trick is to be as useful as possible, so that not having you around causes a great deal of discomfort.
Never forget that the BBC is meant to invoke a sense of national pride.
Character design - Jonathan Edwards.
Character design - Jonathan Edwards.
Jonathon Edwards designed a character named Inspector Cumulus, a character he worked on and got turned into a collectible toy. It took a lot of refining and input to be sent to the factory to get it done. But the figure looked very good when it was complete, which is good. The final product was all down to working along side designers and being very sure about what he wanted. Being confident enough to tell people exactly how things should be takes some real guts and I admire that.
Tips that Jonathan Edwards gave to the students included, Never wait to be asked when it comes to collaborative work, if you feel like you want to work with somebody ask them -politely if you can- and if they say no then it’s their loss and all that. If you have any problems, attempt to ask somebody who will know how to resolve the problem, and possibly do it for you out of sympathy and pity.
Try and do it right. If you can’t do it right. Try harder to do it right the next time. (Rinse and repeat.)
Theming, repeat colours, shapes and ideas to sew your projects together. A theme can be as simple as basing everything around circles and colours but can expand out infinitely. We can theme around the culture we live in (Britishness) or use colours to theme around certain emotions. A theme is merely a core idea that grows out and embraces the things around it. That’s why research is so invaluable. To understand the core system your project hinges upon will help to simplify and condense your work. Make it stronger and more palatable.
Remember that things can change quickly and to always ground things in reality. And keep a sketchbook.
Jonathon Edwards designed a character named Inspector Cumulus, a character he worked on and got turned into a collectible toy. It took a lot of refining and input to be sent to the factory to get it done. But the figure looked very good when it was complete, which is good. The final product was all down to working along side designers and being very sure about what he wanted. Being confident enough to tell people exactly how things should be takes some real guts and I admire that.
Tips that Jonathan Edwards gave to the students included, Never wait to be asked when it comes to collaborative work, if you feel like you want to work with somebody ask them -politely if you can- and if they say no then it’s their loss and all that. If you have any problems, attempt to ask somebody who will know how to resolve the problem, and possibly do it for you out of sympathy and pity.
Try and do it right. If you can’t do it right. Try harder to do it right the next time. (Rinse and repeat.)
Theming, repeat colours, shapes and ideas to sew your projects together. A theme can be as simple as basing everything around circles and colours but can expand out infinitely. We can theme around the culture we live in (Britishness) or use colours to theme around certain emotions. A theme is merely a core idea that grows out and embraces the things around it. That’s why research is so invaluable. To understand the core system your project hinges upon will help to simplify and condense your work. Make it stronger and more palatable.
Remember that things can change quickly and to always ground things in reality. And keep a sketchbook.
Karen Cheung. creative Futures.
KAREN CHEUNG
BA(Hons) Natural Sciences (Zoology)
University of the West of England, Bristol
BA(Hons) Illustration 1st 2002-2003
Pembroke College, Cambridge University
MA Cantab. 2003-2006
Cheung states that she is obsessed with freaks, weirdos, outsiders and mythological beings.
Karen Cheung started out in zoology before she moved onto illustration due to being more interested in the doodles she would do while listening to her lecturers. She won the Macmillan prize for children’s picture book illustration in 2006 and has worked for many clients including Virgin Media, Paramount comedy and penguin books. As well as illustration Karen Cheung specialises in animation, winning the BBC new animator runners up prize in 2005.
Karen Cheung is represented by her agent, Jelly, who helps her track down work and stay productive. An agent takes a cut from the pay on offer, but you are more likely to find work using one.
Karen Cheung offers the advice that we should all:
Learn to take rejection. (Thicken our skin)
Be as versatile and reliable.
To always trust yourself.
Never take anything personally.
Do your Tax returns.
In the event that you want to get into editorial publishing then one should draw people, and check the roster of the company you are interested in, making sure to check that your style will fit in with the house style of anyone you might want to work with.
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