Post card-ing pt.2

I've printed out 6x6 different post cards that I can send out to people.

As I said before, I intend to stagger the sending so that I have stuff to send potential clients for a few months to come. I'm going to order some business cards from Moo this week, and then I'll send the two out together

Portfolio making - publishing and book design

As part of a specialised portfolio to send out to publishers, I lumped together my favourite bits of work related to publishing and book design to send PDFs of.

It only contains five pieces of work since I don't want to take too much of their time while they browse e-mails. Sending this and then following up with the post cards would be an ideal strategy.

In terms of the ordering, I lumped the more illustrative projects at the end, with the more typographic ones at the beginning in order to immediately show I can use both type and image together.

List making

Jim Stoddart: Art Director at Penguin Books since 2001
http://www.jimstoddart.co.uk/read-me/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/about-us/offices/strand/

David Pearson: AD and designer, Penguin
http://typeasimage.com

Cara Petrus: AD and designer, Penguin USA
http://www.carapetrus.com

Penguin Offices
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
+1-212-366-2000

Donna Payne: Art Director at Faber since 2005
http://www.dandad.org/profiles/person/246152/donna-payne/
74-77 Great Russell Street
berthold wolpe - faber design history!

Lucie Stericker: Creative Director, Orion Books
http://creativeinterviews.com/publishing/lucie-stericker/

Steve Marking: AD and designer Orion books
 steve.marking@orionbooks.co.uk
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
https://paraicodonnell.com/2015/08/21/the-maker-of-swans-the-making-of-a-cover/

Jo Walker: AD at HarperCollins
http://www.jowalker.com

Richard Ogle: AD at Transworld
https://mobile.twitter.com/misterogle?lang=en-gb
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/about-us/offices/ealing/
http://creativeinterviews.com/publishing/richard-ogle/


Suzanne Dean: AD at Penguin Vintage
http://suzannedean.co.uk/contact/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.uk/about-us/offices/vauxhall-bridge-road/
listen to podcast


Henry Steadman: no longer Art Directorat HarperCollins, working freelance
http://www.henrysteadman.com/#!about/cnmv



http://illustrationage.com/adcontacts/

Owen Freeman-ing pt.2

Got a reply back from Owen Freeman, sounds like his method of getting into publishing was really simple and doable which is encouraging as long as I work hard and be nice.

Owen Freeman-ing

Really dig Owen's work - spent quite a bit of time on his blog where he posts a lot of process pics and insights into his practice. I discovered his work through his series of William Burroughs book covers in which he worked with art director Jo Walker of Harper Collins (must send her an email too at some point). It's really good to see his process when designing those covers, particularly as he mentions they were inspired by screen prints he had done previously. 

Perhaps I could also begin to think more in terms of screen print in order to more effectively plan out colour and composition - this would benefit both the print and screen based sides of my practice.

Post card-ing

I've designed some post cards that can be sent out to potential clients. Their designs are based heavily on my business cards. The backs of each post card contains further information about the illustration on the front. The self-portrait of me contains the bio that can be found on my website.

I don't want to make a whole elaborate promo pack, but I would like to send out these in small envelopes along with a business card. I was originally planning to send out a whole pack of these to one client, but Teresa reminded me it's better to have things to send out over several months - therefore, I think I will send out one at a time along with a business card in order to give my 'campaign' more longevity.

Business card-ing pt.2

Updated with the new self-portrait, coming in four variations. Will probably send this off to Moo later this week for printing. Can still use the raised glossy effect on the face 'e' to even more interesting effect. Good stuff.

Portrait-ing

I finally updated that silly portrait of me that I had on my site with something much cooler and indicative of my practice.

Having done this, I now have more work to do updating all my other bits of branding to include this portrait (which will include the tumblr side bar thing I just updated).
Anyway, I'm a lot happier with this portrait and the potential it has to go on a variety of items.

Invoicing

The grey that I have been using so far for everything, including my website is HEX #dddddd along with regular black.

I've designed a basic invoice using this colour to make it stand out a bit more:

Along with this, a letter head that could go on correspondence. It is based on the header of the invoice:

Sampling

My sample pack from Moo arrived today and all their products look really nice - it has re-affirmed my decision to go with them for my business card printing.

The cards which attract me the most are the raised glossy ones, seen above. I want to go for this finish with my business card, making the 'e' raised and embossed as seen in this simulation:

Could look pretty cool.

Tumblr-ing

At the AOI lecture, Lou Bones mentioned the importance of maintaining a blog alongside your portfolio website. She said that unless you post on it very regularly, you shouldn't have one at all as it can actually hurt your online presence.

Having heard this, I've recently started changing the way I treat my tumblr. I looked on my /archive page and realised I was posting only once a week, sometimes even only twice a month. Since I have my website, I can use that to post finished work, and now start blogging more experimental stuff and other weird things I do.

In the first three weeks of March I've made 10 posts that include things I wouldn't necessarily put on my portfolio site. This is also making me feel a bit more confident about my work output these days.

I've also changed the sidebar to reflect my updated branding since I've stopped using that self-portrait.

emanuelsg.tumblr.com

Business card-ing

I've been trying to come up with a business card idea since last year's one is no good anymore. I like the idea of using the 'e' from my handwritten name as a more compact logo:

Front and back

Front with alternate back

Not sure which I will go with - I feel as though the alternate uses some nice design to lead the reader from my name to my details, but it's kind of repeating the front.

I also want to experiment with the Magritte-esque portrait of myself with the e over my face to see if that could also go on my business card to make it more 'illustration-y'

Regardless, I think I'm going to keep on using this 'e' when branding other material of mine.

I am looking to order business cards from Moo.com, as the last set of business cards I got printed in college were a little misaligned on the back. I've ordered a sample pack which should arrive in several days.

Portfolio grouping 1

I had a go at grouping certain pieces of work together into one portfolio. The main concern for these images was large areas of block colour and graphic imagery. I think some are more graphic than others, but I tried to make them flow in terms of colour and amount of open space.

I'm not too sure about the final piece in the apartment building as it's quite detailed, but the approach to making the image was similar to the rest of the pieces in the portfolio so it can stay there for now.

In contact with the Brudenell

Received this email a few days ago from the Brudenell. Wasn't really expecting to hear back from them, but I replied saying that I do indeed already have prints but would be need to/be willing to do more to sell at the gig. They haven't replied yet, but at least I'm being passed on.

Bell Jar book cover

Next book cover - takes a little bit after what I did for COP. Luckily that module produced more than enough research for tackling this cover. I will try and do one or two more covers before I compile them somehow for sending to a potential client.

Andy Singleton talk

To be honest, I didn't get a whole lot out of this, but his work was very nice to look at, especially the more illustrative stuff which boasts some great photographic composition and colour - he placed great importance on the quality of photographing your objects well, since it's these photos that will be circulated on the internet and people will see.

He also mentioned that after uni, as part of a personal project he was fascinated by photos of nebulae out in space. This led to him just doing lots of cut out installations based on these photos. Him and a friend eventually set up a gallery exhibition in New York that was funded by Kickstarter.
He also placed great emphasis on being pro-active in trying to get stuff like this done, it's not that hard. I found the bit about him making work based on photos of nebulae really inspiring since I'm on a bit of a space craze myself - I want to carry on this momentum of fascination after uni. I want to keep on painting planets and making work like this.

He also mentioned the website artsjobs.com, which posts just that. Should keep an eye on it.

Naked Lunch book cover

As part of building a portfolio of book covers, I revisited Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" which was the basis of my printed/moving pictures brief from second year.

 

I've produced two variations. Will fiddle a bit more before committing to one for the portfolio

mock up:

Buying screens

https://www.daveroper.co.uk/store/product/used-22x32-aluminium-frame-screens-new-mesh

Spoke to Mike in the print room about where to buy screens - I knew that printed textiles students had bought screens through the College, but Mike told me the specific distributors.

This website, Dave Roper, sells second hand screens at really good prices, but I also asked Mike about what the numbers with the 't's next to them meant - they're the amount of holes in the mesh per square inch, meaning that the higher the number, the more intricate your design can be while still printing successfully. The paper screens in the print room are around 120t, so this is what i should be looking to buy.

http://silkscreeningprintsupplies.co.uk/23-x-31-used-frame-new-mesh-1444-p.asp

this place also seems quite cheap - lots of second hand stuff too.

and this one:

http://www.wickedprintingstuff.com

Creative Networks - The Future of Colour and Application

Some interesting talkers this evening. The content of the talkers' work was diverse and their ideas behind colour were interesting.

Kit Miles:

Has two sides to his practice - Very classical botanical style repeat wallpapers, but also the more futuristic shape based stuff. He said with these shape based designs, that what made them interesting was the strange adjacency of colours to create drama in the piece. I think this is most evident in the first image with the pink emerging at the bottom.

Shape based work has colour at its core. When using shape, the strength of the image is built upon how they interact and build the image. He believed that form and colour are interlinked, the two help build each other.
Even though my work is primarily line based, I found this really interesting, since I do try to soften the obviousness of line in my work by colouring in my line work as well to create more harmonious connections between spaces of colour.

Kit takes inspiration for colour from old master paintings, particularly Piero Della Francesca. He also said blue is the colour of dreams.
The combination of orange and grey in the third image really appeals to me. Must try this sort of thing out myself at some point.

Dennis Parren:

Glow 2014: color noise from Studio Dennis Parren on Vimeo.

Harder to relate this stuff to my practice specifically, but Dennis Parren is a Dutch artist who graduated in 2011 and has made lots of light installations and sculptures. What I did find interesting was the flexibility of the appearance of his installations by making them all white and then using coloured light to change them.

He likes working with LEDs, particularly for his lamps because they are small and easy to conceal, while also giving sharp shadows. If I ever want to go into 3D that will be good to know.

Blond and Bieber, a Berlin-based designer duo were even less relatable to my practice, but were still very interesting to hear talk - they were into making sustainable textile designs from using things like algae as colour pigment. What I did note down was the way they were able to make yellow, maroon and green work together as a colour palette in one of their images. Must try that as well at some point.

Stuff to do after AOI lecture

• Re-jigger my website, make it more easy to contact me
• Re-evaluate my use of my tumblr. Change format, update it more often with creative process and etc.
• Bought a copy of "The Illustrator's guide to business and law". Read this.
• Do a letterhead. Produce some self-promotional material.

Vote for Adam

I drew a picture of Adam for his election campaign. I think he looks nice.

Seeing this up and around the college, it definitely stood out, especially compared to the other election posters. I think just the fact that it was a bold, striking image with minimal text was the reason. It certainly paid off since Adam's campaign was successful and he is now next year's student president.

The image is wholly digital however - I wanted to go over in brush pen to make the lines more organic, but didn't have time. The whole thing was completed in only a couple hours though, so it's pretty good considering.

AOI lecture

This was intense. Key notes:

• Blue and orange is becoming overdone. 

Self-promotion:

• Make contact details as easy to find as possible on website. E-mail immediately being visible is good
• Blog should be a place to put my creative process - use it to nurture self-initiated projects. Don't be too inspired by trends. Don't blog at all if you won't do it well or often enough.
• Keep aware of NDAs in relation to posting 'sneak peeks' of jobs in progress.

Mailers:

• Keep A5/A6 - letter sized.
• Include a short statement about who I am why I want to work for them, why I fit in their company. Something handwritten? Make it more personal.
• Creative directors keep pin boards - they will probably pin something that they like the look of
• Follow this up with a PDF of 3ish illustrations.
• THE PUBLISHING DIRECTORY - client list to contact
• Avoid "Dear sir/madam" - Find these peoples' names out.

Accounting:

• Must register for income tax within 3 months of declaring self-employment
• Keep up to date with accounts
• Retain claimable receipts
• Keep all paperwork for all jobs
• Cultural expenditure can help you gain more on your tax returns

Copyright:

• Your original artwork is still yours - you are only providing clients with a LICENSE to copy and reproduce (for a set time) your illustration.
• If a company becomes more successful/grows after you have licensed an illustration to them and they come back asking to re-license it, you can charge more.
• Combining references will help you sidestep any serious copyright infringement
• Reference fees are a thing - whether for you to pay, or others to pay you. (See: Flour babies re-edition)
• Ideas can't be copyrighted
• You should never assign copyright unless for things like logos. If you do, the price should be very high. 
• Must ask permission before putting something of assigned copyright in portfolio.
• Try and stick a copyright symbol on every page of website. Try and get my name in the filenames too.
• If the client wants to buy original artwork from a job, consider this entirely separate from the job itself and charge whatever in terms of materials, time, personal value, etc.

Contracts:

• Don't entertain 'verbal' or 'unspoken' contracts. All business agreements need contracts.
• Look out for copyright assignments in contracts/moral rights waivers:
• Rights of paternity=the right to be identified as creator
• Rights of integrity=the right to not have your work subjected to derogatory treatment/bastardization
• Crucial clauses to read: Termination, cancellation, rejection, sub-licensing
• The illustrator DOES have the right to strike things out and re-negotiate contracts.
• Make sure final payment is on DELIVERY of artwork, not after something else comes through on client's part, i.e. publishing of book or raising of billboards. These events may not even be in contract.

Pricing:

• Don't work a day rate - this implies employment, e.g. what you are making is company property. 
• Avoid "Work for hire" jobs as this is a similar thing.
• Quotes are legally binding - never give one until you have ALL job details:
• Squeeze as much information about client as you can - number of outlets, worldwide or not, number of staff. You ARE allowed to know this information.
• If it's advertising, ask what kind - editorial, billboard, etc.

Advertising: 

Above the line = Publicity material appearing within paid spaces and advertising, i.e. Print- mag/newspapers, ads, posters, billboards, "out of home".

Below the line = More targeted, within home. Direct communication through e-mail or advertising on feeds based on assumed interests.

• Large snack company - UK, 1 year license, all print and digital medias: £6500-£7000
• Skincare brand - Worldwide, 1 year license, below the line: £500-£550 per illustration
• Local barber - [Liverpool]: £280-£300

Editorial:

Consider size of client = based on circulation. 

Consider usage = cover, spread, full page, half page, spot

• Free paper - UK, interior illustration: £350-£400 per illustration, up to half page.
• Consumer magazine - UK, 1 month license, print/web: £230-£250, quarter page.

Packaging:

Consider duration - In general: Limited (1yr), 3yr, 5yr

• Large UK supermarket - UK, 5 years, 12 packets, spot, £400-£450 per illustration. The price is reduced slightly per illustration due to the large number you are producing.
• Large drinks brand - Worldwide, 1 year, all packaging (bottles, boxes): £2750-£3000

Publishing:

Self publishers are "risk clients". License them for the initial run only in order to maximise payment.

Education provides the least amount of money.

Flat-fees = same as the products/editorials as above. Generally for fiction, non-fiction and educational.

Advance + royalties = advance payment + royalty %. Generally for children's pic books/novelty books.

• Working as illustrator only - picture book, worldwide, flat fee: £4500-£5000 OR advance against royalty: £2500-£3600 + 5%-7% of RRP as royalties.
• Adult fiction cover - UK: £800-£1000.

Licensing:

• Duration: 1 year = [£300]
• 2 years = 60-70% of original
• 3 years = 2 x original
• 5 years = 3 x original
• 10 years = 5 x original

extensions are generally 60-70% of original for an extra year.