After Breakfast! (mmmmmmmm delicious breakfast)

Alright, after having a little breakfast and reviewing the last post and it's blatant negativity, I thought I'd expound a bit on the lighter notes that received an unbecoming treatment, especially considering their significance, in my last post.

In that post, I mentioned several jobs that I have gotten since graduation, but neglected to divulge how I got them.

So, here goes.

The comic and "the job that pays the bills" (freelancing for GreenPhotoshop as a Production Manager/Art Director/Business Developer) were both sought out on Craigslist. Believe it or not. I spent a solid 3 months of my summer looking for work. I went to tons of interviews, and applied for jobs I didn't even know existed before leaving Pratt. Nothing came out of any of them. My search wasn't limited to Craigslist by all means, but it seemed to have the best success rate once I set up my email to take advantage of it.

Throughout the job hunt, my resume was constantly being updated at the rate of once a month and I had different resumes for different kinds of work. It seemed to me that, the more resumes I sent out, the more replies I got. My resume was constantly being revised and improved upon. As was perhaps the most important part of the whole process, the cover letter. By the end of the summer, people were replying back to me at the rate of around 1 in 6 instead of the 1 in 20-30 it started out as. Dogged determination wins the day in this case, as well as a better understanding of what jobs my skillset was geared toward securing.

The search also extended to my illustration career and my desire to develop that into a successful enterprise. And, ultimately, the main consumer of my time. To that end, I had much success from the beginning and have continued to have replies/requests for work as an illustrator as well as a painter. Once again, the significance of writing a good solid cover letter has, no doubt, been extremely helpful in determining who looks at my illustration portfolio and who does not.

Aside from that, working for ELLE had more to do with who I know than anything else. My buddy had done work for them before, they needed someone else, he said I could do it, I got the job. No resume. No cover letter. Just a friend vouching for my competence. Pretty sweet.

The only really difficult thing about all this work suddenly being thrown into my lap after the dry spell, has been juggling my time to get the work done. Sometimes doing two jobs at once in order to fit my schedule into the short time that is our average day. All the while, still looking for the next illustration job around the corner for when the current freelance work finishes.

I think that's about it really.

Pretty crazy if ya ask me.

Ciao

It's bad, but...it gets better!

So! The summer directly following my...release, capitulation, graduation, or, more appropriately, acceptance into the great and wonderful world of waning wallet sizes, was...well...it wasn't what I had reckoned(I know, but it sounds like a 'w' when you say it!). It was worse.

Woefully unprepared for the upending that I received, along with everyone else who lived in Willoughby, and the unceremonious walk down the block to my temporary abode, I began my summer.

In the beginning Grant created for himself a place to stay and a place to do work (Both of which were in the same room). And, after 107 days and 107 sleepless nights, I was finally able to start paying my bills again! However, at this point I had incurred the wrath of the worst, most gruesomely evil, many headed serpent that has ever been seen on this earth! Every financial institution that this lovely land has allowed me to lavish with my personal information, in exchange for a "lending" hand, had suddenly turned on me! Where once they were so kind, they now acted stealthily, like a ninja, adding fees, increasing debt, calling me to put me on hold and other ninja like activities done behind my back to increase the efficiency of the killing stroke. All of which was done as if they had some sixth sense informing them of my newly acquired position and impending climb out of the hole I'd dug. Almost like they didn't want me to get out from the vast well that constitutes their collective coffers.

On top of that, my landlord, who, like the banks, once seemed like such a nice man, progressively became worse and worse as the days of my summer were whittled away. And now, at the end of summer days, the four of us who gathered under this roof have had it. The keys have slowly begun to hammer the notes of the apartment hunting song once again, in anticipation of our joyous departure from the harrowing experience that was this home.

It wasn't all bad though. I started working on a new comic, posted lots of new stuff to my portfolio, got a job that pays the bills and did some work for ELLE.com (which ought to give me a nice little birthday present in a couple months). Plus! I get to do all of this from the comfort of my own home!

Given a chance to do it again, I would have done a lot more prep about 3 months prior to leaving Pratt so that I wouldn't have had so many snakes snapping at my savings, but I guess that's advice for someone else to follow. Hope it helps!

Till next time!

Ciao!

Pratt Show!

After being selected for the Pratt Show, I had the unenviable task of preparing for the Pratt Show. The weekend prior to the show was full of printing and prepping my prints for presentation. The only major problem I ran into during the whole process was that my business cards were a day late, even though I ordered them the day after I got into the show! I improvised by picking up a couple sheets of business card paper and printed them in Imaging. Luckily the cards and promos came in the next day and I was able to put them up for family night. When I came in the next day everything I'd set out was gone!

At the show I met the Senior Art Director for Dell Magazine and gave her my card. Surprisingly she was there pretty early in the afternoon. I also met several other prospective clients and was recently contacted by someone who'd seen my stuff when I wasn't even there! All-in-all I'd say it was worth the hectic weekend leading up to the festivities. Several of my friends have already been hired by contacts made at the show and one is even doing work for Cartoon Network!!

Check back soon for Post Pratt Show and Graduation!

Finals!!!

Finals are finally over!! But there's no time to celebrate. Well, maybe a little. Woot!

Last Tuesday was my last Survey at Pratt. Thanks to everyone who stopped by my post and said hi. Most of you who were there after noon probably saw me diligently finishing a job that was due later that day. You might see that work around campus in the very near future if you keep your eyes peeled;) Now, I'm working on printing things for the Pratt Show and finding an apartment before they kick me out of Willoughby. It's shaping up to be another busy week!

Thanks to Leo Vasquez from The Sound of Art for coming in and hanging out with us in Chang's class on Thursday before Survey. Check out his site for some of the cool events he puts on.

Head over to my blog for some new illustrations.

Google!

This is the last month before the big graduation day and the final step before getting into the "real world". Fittingly, I've been getting little to no sleep and haven't stopped working for the past 2 weeks straight. Since Monday I'd say that I've gotten about 18hrs of sleep.

On top of that, I lost my wallet on Tuesday! ARRGGGHHH! Never carry around every bit of identification you own!! On the up side, the amount of work I'm finishing is astounding!! Nearly two pieces in three days! Look for an update to my blog within the next week!

For those of you who don't know yet. Kadir Nelson is coming to the COMD department on Thursday! See you there!

P.S. If you type Grant Newton into google my profile is in the top ten!! lol

The Illustrators Club!

Last week Chang brought 4 happening young illustrators into class; Doug Cowan, Jashar Awan, Ilana Kohn, and Matthew Smith. They're all doing some amazing work and I can't thank them enough for coming into class and chatting with us!

This week I also updated my blog again with some sweet illustrations and life drawings!

PS A little guerilla advertising campaign for the Senior Blogs is in the works! Prepare to see some of my drawings around within the next month;)

Working Hard!

I've just finished updating my Portfolio Blog! Go check it out and look for new stuff in the illustration, life painting, life drawing, and sketches sections.

SOI!

This little guy landed himself a spot in the finals over at the Society of Illustrators student competition! Thanks to everybody that helped out last semester! I also finished a painting, started a new one, and updated my portfolio! (click me name in the links section to check it out)

Check back soon for more updates! Ciao

NYC CC!

What a Riot! I accomplished all of my goals and had fun to boot! After waiting in the surprisingly short line and running into various characters from Star Wars and Batman, we finally made it inside.


My first order of business was to drop by Wizards of the Coast and say, "Hi" to an AD friend. I introduced a buddy of mine and was in turn introduced to another WotC employee. We chatted with them for a while and watched a couple portfolio reviews, then took a trip up to the Artist Alley.


The Artist Alley is three long, tightly packed corridors where all the artists at the event gather to hock their wares. After perusing the alleys and gleaning as much as possible from artists like Paolo Rivera, John Paul Leon and others, we all decided to grab a bite at the local Mexigrill.


Finally, with aching backs and full stomachs, we made the BLOODY COLD! trip back to Willoughby.


Reflection
You can't go wrong with an event like this. If you keep your eyes peeled and your brain on you'll find ways to take advantage of what's there... or what's not. I left with three concrete and very viable business ideas, as well as a crystal clear vision of how I would run a table in the Artist Alley. Plus, I met several new business contacts, learned more about what various companies are looking for, and I know a simple way to improve the experience of next years attendees. All that for thirty dollars and a subway fare.

ComicCon!!

Change of plans. To interject a little spice into things I decided to alter the line-up for this week. Later today I'll be attending ComicCon and will fill in the juicy details Sunday morning.

Why I'm going:

Learn
Scope things out so that I know what to expect next time i.e.
-See what other artists are doing.
-Look for potential business opportunities.
-Listen to advice being given.
-Pick up cards and fliers from potential clients.
-Grab a bite to eat with fellow artists.
-Smell all the sweaty people waiting in line.

Remind
Say hello to former business acquaintances.

Basically I'm treating this trip as a learning opportunity so that when I go to the ComicCon in San Diego later this year I'm better prepared to take advantage of my time there. Catcha l8r

Research! Research! Research!

Welcome back for the first installment of awesome information that will help you get hired!

Before you start cold calling art directors, negotiating prices, and finding out the ADs name, you need to figure out where your stuff will sell!! Take a good hard look at what you've got in your portfolio and then thumb through as many different magazines, bookshelves, advertising images, etc. and look at what they're buying!

Hopefully you'll hit on some that have work which you could see yourself doing.

If so, flip to the front of the publication (if it's another source write the company name) and jot down:

-the company that published it
-the AD's name
-the Editor's name


Once you've got all that info. simply go to the companies website, find out the office number (usually in the contact link at the bottom of the page), and find out as much as you can about the work that the AD/Editor (sometimes the editor is the AD) has done so that you know a little more about the person you're going to be talking to in the near future!


That's enough for this week. Come by next week and I'll talk a little more about prep work that should be done before calling an AD.

Numero Uno!

HELLO everyone and welcome to my first Senior Blog post! In the coming weeks I will be posting every Friday between the hours of 1 and 5 pm (eastern) about various tidbits and interesting anecdotes in my search for work. Including the inevitable trials and tribulations I'll likely encounter and important steps one needs to go through in order to secure clients. Check back next week for step one: Research! Happy Painting!