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!