I’ll be selling screened paper dolls for $20. Quite a bargain for a screen print! I wanted to make affordable art for everyone to enjoy. A portion of the proceeds will benefit OC Fashion Association to help fund OC Fashion Week coming up May 18th through May 22nd, 2011 in Downtown Santa Ana’s Artist Village. I will also have paintings from my new “Chicks with Glasses” series!

The Los Angeles Times Illustration

Please be on the lookout for my illustration appearing in The Los Angeles Time’s Kid’s Reading Room section on March 20th, 2011! It’s my first illustration for a famous newspaper!

Grrl Fair Speaking Engagement

I will be speaking about Self-Promotion for Artists at the 10th Annual Grrl Fair in Santa Ana on March 12th, 2011 from 4pm to 5pm. It’s free! Stick around to listen to live music, attend workshops, and buy arts and crafts and swing by “Unseamingly OC: Fashion and Art Collide” in Anaheim between 6pm and 10pm.

“It Can Be Done: BDM, United Airlines, and a Campaign the Took Wing” Barrie D’Rozario Murphy

• Connect to brands through storytelling
• To do great work, you need a great client
• Great work is made by cutting through the clutter and cliches
• Illustrators are found through reps, promo snail mail, email marketing, annuals, children’s books, personal blogs, and through illustrators recommending their friends
• When contacting through promotional material, add a personal note to engage
• The process of creating work:
• artists will first be contacted via email with a list of concepts to interpret
• artists create 6, 8 or 10 line sketches
• they pay a sketch fee
• doesn’t matter if the sketches are rough or finished-looking, they’re looking for ideas
• once the sketches are narrowed down, they put headlines to ‘em
• they put together illustrator sheets that combine sketches with examples of illustrator’s previous work that’s finished to give the clients the gist of what the finished product will be

“Au Currant: Two with Passion for Fashion” Bil Donovan

• studied illustration, graphics, digital arts, color, and composition. went back to school to further his studies
• in fashion illustration, you work with an elongated figure and focus on the fluidity of line
• there’s further opportunities in licensing, animation, and package design
• fashion illustration expands to become fashion lifestyle illustration: travel, entertainment and leisure
• started out with collage and pastels. worked in Italy: Italian Vogue, Marie Claire, Lancome
• in fashion illustration background defines the figure and creates the narrative
• not only does the figure have to chic, so does the background
• use diagonals for movement
• the luxury market values excellence in every nuance of experience
• the beauty industry values movement and use of the flare line
• the character always has to be going somewhere
• elegance is portrayed with the use of perspective: bird’s eye, view from beneath of the perfume bottle: heroic
• use photoshop minimally
• in dining selectivity is important. don’t draw every detail. less is more.
• reportage (drawing on site) is fun
• you can use fashion illustration in department store signage. also music and publishing
• it’s helpful to know textiles. work with scale, contrast sharply, exaggerate
• use selectivity to get in touch with the essence
• you can draw on set, for special events, do portraits
• use fashion illustration for branding, do in house notecards and invitations
• passion, versatility, evolve

John Jay Cabuay

• illustrated for CosmoGirl, Paper Mag Screaming Mimis ads, Japan Vogue
• first focused on the figure and situations
• then focused on the environment and got more work based environments
• did the WWD Nautica for Obama illustration
• in France erotic comic books are huge

“Cracking the Code: Making Sense of Contracts” Kathryn Adams

• write your own contracts and keep them simple and straightforward
• clients might not be educated
• first rights: right to be the first user for one time
• never use the phrase “all rights”
• you can control rights to your work
• once you create the work you own the copyright inherently and maintain authorship, ownership and control the rights + usage
• when selling usage specify the time and place
• full buyout: transfer of all usage rights (ownership to buyer)
• make sure you retain authorship so it’s OK to put works on your site for promotional purposes
• it’s OK to have a repeating motif in the context of a larger image. but clients might have a problem with you using a character they paid for usage for in other works
• limited buyout: when the client doesn’t want or can’t afford a full buyout. it’s for a specific industry
• residual rights: rights the client hasn’t paid for remain yours
• if you see your work ending up somewhere the client hasn’t paid for, you say “here’s what you owe me for the additional usage”
• work for hire (wfh): transfer of ownership and authorship to buyer. intended for in-house. grants transfer rights and derivatives are OK
• in perpetuity: means forever
• moral rights: to make sure you maintain the integrity of the creation and it isn’t changed into something you don’t morally agree with
• waive: give up
• derivative rights: image based on already existing piece. don’t give ‘em away. give them a fixed image
• sublicensing rights: right of buyer to sell to 3rd parties
• non-exclusive rights or use authorizes right to license residual rights (caution: client can relicense too!)

“Because You’re Worth It: Price Negotiation” Maria Piscipo

1. what do you charge? when you hear this question, the thing to do is change the client’s perception of value

• you’ll be tempted to answer too quickly. say you will get back to them
• change the question from “what do you charge?” to “what does it cost?” don’t ever personalize price
• it’s not “I charge” or “I want” it’s “it costs…”

2. what is the project budget?

• they might not want to say but there’s always a budget
• if you ask the project budget there might be money available but it might be called something else
• if you do not ask, the answer is no

3. what will be the deciding hiring criteria? who else is giving a proposal?

• finding out who else is giving a proposal will determine if the client is looking for price or value. if it’s a comparative or competitive bid. also if the grandson in school or a famous person is proposing, that gives you an idea of the mindset of the client
• if they come in with a low bid, you can ask how can the project be done for less money?
• what will the client get when they pay less?
• cost has different aspects: time, energy, attention, prestige, etc
• what will it cost to pay less? do they want to know now or be surprised later? (not recommended)
• it’s not always about money. time, energy and attention to fix a lower cost work will make the project higher in cost later

4. get and give information: get a complete and thorough job description

• never agree to less money without negotiation of some consideration (change to the job description)
• “from what you described, it would cost $$$. how does that fit your budget?”
• be careful not to ask closed questions
• clients will respond to what you say and how you behave, not how you feel

5. negotiations

• if it fits go to #7 and put it in writing
• if not a fit, walk away or negotiate
• “let’s see how it can be done for that price”
• so, why not drop your price? because you’ll never get paid what you’re worth, they’ll tell others

6. considerations

• what does the client value?
• to pay less they can pay for less usage
• what do you value? to pay less, the client can give more time, credit, better payment terms, prints/samples

7. put it in value

• prove your value. package your proposal to help sell it to your client
• include an estimate confirmation, cover letter discussing benefits of working with you, samples of work done related to the project
• this tells the client “yes, this is what it costa but LOOK at what you get!”

Magnet Reps:

• random fact: they get 6-10 inquiries a day and only took on 4 new illustrators last year

“Euro Smash: Illustration Across the Pond” Rod Hunt

• does a huge amount of self-promotion
• to build a brand you need to create a visual identity
• build your profile by being an expert in interviews
• invest in your career: time, money, and resources
• direct marketing: target clients, sends 1000+ cards every 6 months
• use double sided cards with two illustrations
• have a branded envelope
• get a portfolio on behance and other commercial portfolio sites
• post on design blogs, portals, and inspirational sites
• have an email newsletter and press releases
• for editorial work in europe, they mostly use local people because of cultural differences
• book publishing: usually there’s co-editions so the initial publishing company hires
• ad and design: open to worldwide hiring
• there’s many countries in Europe but the UK is the easiest to break into
• find directories: theaoi.com, bikinilists (UK agency access), aoiportfolios.com, hireanillustrator.com, contactacreative.com, debutart.com, centralillustration.com, arenaworks.com, illustrationweb.com, folioart.co.uk, SAA Society of Artist Agents saahub.com
• enter competitions: aoiimages.com (if you did work for a UK client)
• aoi.com: illo in UK
• the illustrators guide to law
• events: Pick Me Up (40k people), Illustrative, Bologna Book Fair (children’s books)

Melinda Beck

• Trust your gut
• chooses either the labor of love or the bags o’ money client

Wayne White

• “real world humor”
• into underground comics
• not “visual artist” or “illustrator”… “creationist”!
• both innovative and proud of traditions
• the art world needs laughs
• outsider and likes it

Todd Oldham

• Book Dept. is his publishing company and labor of love
• “go ape shit on your house”

***

Thank you for reading! I have one more day of coverage of ICON 6 coming up and then Comic Con!

If you have a chance, check out the additional coverage of the event on Escape From Illustration Island.

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FYI, I have a couple of events coming up:

Saturday, August 7th -Piecemakers Peddler’s Market, 8am – 3pm, 1720 Adams Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Saturday, August 14th – Thrown Together, Glass House Records art show, 7-11pm, more info TBA

Saturday, August 21st – ARTery art show, TBA

photo of me by Jeehyun Hoke

I had never been to a conference before so I had no idea what to expect. I was expecting to sell myself to every person I met like what happens at conventions. This was not the case. It was more like summer camp for illustrators complete with scary stories of evil art directors, bonding over inside jokes, and a general giddiness that comes from hangin’ with your tribe.

I promised to share my notes with everyone who wasn’t able to attend–and I took copious notes. There was such a plethora of information and I’ve got work to catch up on, so my notes are succinct. If you would like me to clarify or expand upon anything, please feel free to ask!

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Day One – Collage Workshop:

7/15/10 – Collage Workshop: With Maria Rendon, Katherine Streeter, Ellen Weinstein, and Brian Stauffer

The collage workshop began with the presenters sharing their influences and process. Afterwards, they posed the design project “Los Angeles: A city of angels, the city of angles.” I interpreted that from a model/actress point of view. Star struck folks in LA seek their time in the spotlight. I created a collage of angels with wings that were fashion accessories in photo frames bathed in the light bulb’s sunlight. It’s their heavenly moment! Keep in mind we only had a couple of hours for the project! It’s messy!

As I said, the presenters Maria Rendon, Katherine Streeter, Ellen Weinstein, and Brian Stauffer all shared their influences, process, and tips. Thank you Maria, Katherine, Ellen, and Brian for sharing your many years of valuable experience!

Influences:

Joseph Cornell – 40s/50s dimensional work, shadow boxes

Calder – wire figures, circus video on YouTube.

Hannah Hoch – German Dadaist, photo montage

John Heartfield - anti-nazi controversial art

Raymond Hains – removed layers by building and tearing away

Metropolitan Museum of Art – “Playing With Pictures: Art of Victorian Collage”

Raoul Hausmann – Berlin Dadaist

Max Ernst – Dadaist and Surrealist

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Process and Tips for Collage:

Katherine Streeter

• work more conceptual than literal
• with first time clients: do sketches first, explain the stages, send many concepts
• check out “Cannonball Lady”, French illustration magazine
• “American Illustration” magazine

Maria Rendon

• process send 3-5 sketches, line drawings, then fabricate
• uses scroll saw for wood

Ellen Weinstein

• photograph friends for reference poses
• paint textures to scan in
• likes to twist everyday objects in unexpected ways
• important to do personal work, for shows

Brian Stauffer

• collects textures and shapes to use for something else, scan in fabric, wood, etc
• used old magazine photograph of a can for: bomb, condom, shark
• uses the dodge and burn tool in Photoshop to fill in detail
• made smoke in Photoshop with a solid color twisted and warped

More tips:

• used old family photos, no worries about copyright
• if hired by a publication see if you can use their photo archives
• be consistent in your work because folks hiring want to know what they are getting
• don’t ever give your rights away

I hope that these notes are somewhat useful! Like I said, if you need further clarification, please don’t hesitate to ask! I’ll be posting more about ICON 6 soon.

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By the way, I commented on the Keynote Presentation on Friday, July 16th on the future of illustration on the PRINT magazine blog by Michael Dooley. Check it out and contribute your thoughts:

http://imprint.printmag.com/animation/icon-reax-is-animation-the-future-of-illustration/

For the past couple of months, I've been settling into my new place–I moved in with Matt!  I'm still in Costa Mesa, a great city for art + culture in OC.  My year-long contract at Mattel also ended a couple of months ago.  Working on the Barbie brand was great, but honestly that 1 1/2 hour commute was getting to me!  So, I've been working at home mostly on freelance gigs:  t-shirt graphic design, textile design, and trend boards.  I also have been super prolific with my artwork.

Here's some projects I've got in the works:  Halloween cards for the Halloween show at the ARTery, artwork for screen printing class, humane society benefit art, 2010 calendar, and brainstorming on how to do a 'zine of my sketches/mini portfolio/brochure.

Matt was a dear and got me an Epson R1900 large format archival inkjet printer for my birthday!  I figured out how to get rid of the jaggedy lines that were happening (can't print straight from Illustrator, gotta use Acrobat.  weird).  I'm playing with the settings and different paper types.  I'm also looking for deals on ink + paper (please advise!).

So, yeah, I'm keeping busy!  It's strange being home a lot.  I'm watching a ton of TV while I sketch.  My guilty pleasures are "Gossip Girl", "The Beautiful Life" (already cancelled!), "Veronica Mars", "Alias", "Ugly Betty", "Charmed", "Eastwick", "The Vampire Diaries"…  Mostly chick stuff that involves fashion, the supernatural, or spy adventures.  I watch "Lost" and "House" with Matt.  Suggestions?

I'll keep you all updated on my projects.  I expect to have many things done soon!  : )

Here’s a photo of me at work preparing trend boards for a presentation! Yeah, I work hard for the money.