Tuesday 16 February 2016

Ben Jones talk

Ben did a good talk today, some stuff on editorial and publishing, which are his main areas of work. Some notes:

  • Ben charges £150/day as a day rate.
  • Is a fan of Roland Topor.
  • Lots of personal work in his portfolio and on the Heart agency website. This has encouraged me to not be too shy about the personal/client-led work ratio in my portfolio. Personal projects may work well for Folio Society.
  • Read a lot of theory after he didn't get into Royal College of Art: Ricky Poyner, Steven Heller, David Crowe

  • All magazines have a budget, don't do editorial for free.
  • Guardian cover = £800, quarter page = £125
  • Should try and send out work to places like Guardian, even if you feel your work isn't right since maybe they can direct you in the right direction.
  • Penguin Essentials have highly illustrated covers - good place for your work to end up. Ben also had work in Rotland Press, which got seen by people like David Lynch.
  • Go out and look at WHO is commissioning people, find out their names and contact them.
  • Avoid certain words when e-mailing people, such as 'portfolio', 'new work' to avoid it going into their junk folder.
  • Could send some low-res images in an e-mail, maybe also follow up every 2 months.
  • Small screen printed ephemera might be good for self-promotion.
  • E-mail people before you turn up to their agency/studio/company. Mention you're a recent graduate before going somewhere with a portfolio.
An illustrator is someone with a set look.
An image maker is someone with ideas.

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