Portfolio Idea.

My idea for my portfolio for the summer show, will be a different format to that of everyone else.

The idea I had in mind is to create a book which is filled with my work, that'll be on my digital portfolio, this will act as a catalogue for clients to look at my work, and it will work out cheaper then buying a portfolio folder. The only downside I can see happening is if I create any future works, I won't be able to add them into my book, but the aim will be to use this portfolio book as a catalogue, and it'll be easier to carry around then a portfolio folder.

T-shirt Idea

For New Designers, I was planning on creating a T-shirt design to wear for when I pop up there and have a look around. The T-shirt idea is a great idea for advertisement, seeing as you will be the walking advert, and everyone will see your design on either the front or the back of the shirt.

The design I was going towards is based highly on the Weirdfish design, where the main design is on the back full blown, and on the front near the heart the weird fish logo circles a smaller version of the design on the back, this idea is what I'll be aiming to achieve with my design.

The T-shirt design will be sent off to a local printer who is based in Torquay, who will print off a couple of t-shirts for me, as a bulk order it seems cheaper to have 5 items printed, then one. Also I have already asked a local art shop owner if he would stock my t-shirt's and he sounded positive with the idea of selling my t-shirt to tourist's who flock Torquay every summer.

Below are the process's of the t-shirt design, the bottom design is the design that'll be sent off to the printers.

 

Online Promo

In the modern technology age, online advertising seems to be the way forward, now with people using the internet more then we have ever done, and with the decline of the retail world, people seem to be doing more online shopping then they are shop wise. 

 

Looking around the web, there is an abundance of sites to promote your artwork and promoting yourself as an artist, sites like Behance, Blogger, Tumblr to promote your artwork, and sites like Linkedin which people have praised over the numerous times people have received work from this site, and how employers seem to be using this site more then any other to find new young would be employee's. etc.

Over the eyars I have used Blogger more times then any other site, and have received vast amounts of viewers around the world, more recently I have started to use other sites such as Behance, which seems to be more of a professional artist site which is full of great work and of course I have created a Facebook account, which seems to me a must do, especially with the popularity of Facebook. 

I have created a LinkedIn account, but I haven't sued it to its full potential yet, and I have now created a profile on the Cargo Collective sites, which looks better to have on your business card then say a blog, looking online at certain portfolio sites and agencies a lot of sites won't accept blog sites or Facebook pages, only web pages, creating a cargo site also seems to be appear more professional having one then not having one.

Cargo Collective.

Blogger.

 Behance.

 Linkedin.

Facebook.

self promotional strategy's

As part of being a freelance Illustrator, to reach out to to publishers I always find that sending items out to people is better then sending a digital portfolio, plus it goes to show that you are intuitive and that you are willing to go the extra mile, and in all honesty people prefer to have something physical then having a digital format stuck on the screen, which they can't really touch nor do anything else with it apart from view the files.

Below are a few self promo ways that are financially affordable, can be collectible items and items that can be used for other things aside from promotional means.  

The barbarian Hamsters will be predominately used during the self promo set up, the reason for this is that I feel they cater to the viewer which side of illustration I wish to venture into (children illustration) and that I am more based upon creating characters then being based on logo's etc.


 Postcards.

Postcards are something new to me, something which I never really gave much thought to when I thought about self promotion. Having looked at the one I was given by my tutors, I'm quite impressed by them and can see why they are quite a useful tool in promotion and how they are becoming a bigger form of promotion in the artworld. After education I may enquire more about postcards and perhaps create a series of postcard designs (for example 5 postcards - 5 different hamster members maybe or 5 different illustrations to show my diverse skills in illustration.) and perhaps either send them off to publishers/ agencies or sell them at a local store, which again would attract tourists who flog Torquay on a yearly basis, these are some good idea, and something I'll be considering in the future.




 Business cards.

 

Business card's are the main way of handing out contact details to potential clients, and a great way for people to remember you, and your work. Business cards usually have some form of artwork from the artist in question, my aim with my business cards is to have 5 different images on the back, so as to give some form of variation to what is a vital part of self promotion.

The series of images in question that I will be using are of course my horde of hamsters characters, which seems fitting seeing as my last project was based upon them, and they are the characters that I find most attractive to the eye, because they show some form of humour and characteristics and some idea as to what I want to achieve after I finish education.  

The front of the card I want to be left plain and simple, with just my name, what I am, and my email and various site addresses so that the potential client isn't overwhelmed with too much information, i've also used the site logo's from the sites which I've included onto my business card, these will be used to easily capture the clients eye and give them a clear indication what site I prefer to use and what usually is updated more commonly then other sites.

Stickers.

Stickers are used more now by modern day artists then they have done in the past. The main usage for stickers in the art world in mainly "Sticker Bombing", this is where the artist goes around towns/cities bombing the city as it were with numerous stickers advertising the artist, the artists work, and in general just to gain a way to gain interest from the market and from people across the world, as you won't know who may stumble across your stickers.

Also stickers again are a great way to send items to people that can be used practically or collected as a series by a client or singularly.

Folio

http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/index

Part of the brief was to research and look for any online agencies that I think would accept my work and allow me to show my work on their website. I found one agency called "Folio" that I believe would accept my work and it wouldn't look out of place among the work they already contain.

After looking at some of the artist on there I feel this agency would be quite easy to picture my work being on the site.

Illustration submissions.

We welcome illustration submissions from artists and illustrators looking for representation.  We recommend emailing a few sample images (low resolution JPEG files) with a link to your website, if you have one. Please use the following link to email submissions to us: Submissions@folioart.co.uk.

Illustrators Agency

http://theillustratorsagency.com/

At first glance on this agency's site, you can tell straight away that their members are solely into children illustration, which is where I want to go into when I finish university, as I feel its one of my strong points in illustration and its an area I can express humour and characteristics with each creature I create. Below are some images of some oft he artists that are already on this site, and gives you an example of what I mean about the illustrators being primarily portrayed as children illustrators. The only problem with this site which would hinder me if I was to apply when I finish uni, is the fact they want people who have had 5 years experience of being a illustrator, so this site may be considered in the future when I've gained a bit more experience later in life.

Beehive Illustrations

http://www.beehiveillustration.co.uk

This agency is primarily and solely based on Children book illustrators, although looking around the site, there isn't generally a great amount of "submissions", seems to be more based on selling the peoples work on the site, although having looked at the contact page they do accept new illustrators from time to time. There isn't much info about commissions or submissions on the contact section, although you are allowed to send the company an email to inquire about any of these questions.