At a recent event I was asked two questions:
1."When is your portfolio drop-off day"
2."Do you like getting 'portfolio' cards in the mail.
I had the same answer for both "No".
Now this is by no means a universal opinion but rather my own. My answer got me to thinking of the why? Why do I feel this way. I see a ton of cards pass my desk everyday which I scan through so fast that it seriously isn't worth the time that is but into them or the money. Some are really amazing. But I think they might be a waste, at least for me. What I would rather see is work on a website or Blog or some sort of online posting. Save your sell some stamps and some trees and get your work online.
Second I like most art directors these days don't have much time left in there day to see new portfolios on drop-off days. We will call artist in when we need to see there work. ( which we find on sites, from reps, and artist recommendations) Why is this? It was not long ago that an Art Director would have illustrators in to look over there work together. The Art Director had more time in a way to see new work. Before computers publishers worked on fewer books and thus had more time to look and cultivate new talent. When you work on over 70 books, plus 26 calendars a year, unfortunately you have little time to see new work. This doesn't mean I don't want to, I do. But working on more books means that there is more work out there than there was 20 or even 10 years ago.
So how do you get me to see your work?
As I suggested before, get your work online. I love looking at new sites. We all waste time in the morning on the Internet. So why not have me looking at your site over a tasty sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. But again, how do you get me to look at you site. I have created a email address for you to send your site address too. This way you are not clogging up my work email which can be quiet troublesome.
portfoliodrop@gmail.com
Let's see how this little experiment works out.
1."When is your portfolio drop-off day"
2."Do you like getting 'portfolio' cards in the mail.
I had the same answer for both "No".
Now this is by no means a universal opinion but rather my own. My answer got me to thinking of the why? Why do I feel this way. I see a ton of cards pass my desk everyday which I scan through so fast that it seriously isn't worth the time that is but into them or the money. Some are really amazing. But I think they might be a waste, at least for me. What I would rather see is work on a website or Blog or some sort of online posting. Save your sell some stamps and some trees and get your work online.
Second I like most art directors these days don't have much time left in there day to see new portfolios on drop-off days. We will call artist in when we need to see there work. ( which we find on sites, from reps, and artist recommendations) Why is this? It was not long ago that an Art Director would have illustrators in to look over there work together. The Art Director had more time in a way to see new work. Before computers publishers worked on fewer books and thus had more time to look and cultivate new talent. When you work on over 70 books, plus 26 calendars a year, unfortunately you have little time to see new work. This doesn't mean I don't want to, I do. But working on more books means that there is more work out there than there was 20 or even 10 years ago.
So how do you get me to see your work?
As I suggested before, get your work online. I love looking at new sites. We all waste time in the morning on the Internet. So why not have me looking at your site over a tasty sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. But again, how do you get me to look at you site. I have created a email address for you to send your site address too. This way you are not clogging up my work email which can be quiet troublesome.
portfoliodrop@gmail.com
Let's see how this little experiment works out.