Practitioner Visit & Portfolio Feedback 5: Gina Cross

Gina Cross, a former Guardian Art Editor, Designer, Educator, Gallery/Agency Owner, came in to give us all a talk on portfolios and promotions. Her extensive experience in commissioning illustration gives her a broad knowledge in how to be successful in the industry. She told us that there many ways that a portfolio can be interpreted within different markets. When she graduated an illustrator stayed working in illustration, didm;t branch out and try working in of areas. This has changed, the boundaries are broader. Many are now seen as 'Image-makers' who crossover the mediums and disciplines in their work.

After looking through my portfolio she had a few points of advice for me:

Style:

• Postcards- example of promotion, keep sending stuff out to potential clients, 2 or 3 pieces or updated work very few months.
• My work would fit well in Food/Home/Lifestyle magazines - the textures in my collage would work well in them
• My inked buildings from mu customs/traditions remaindered her of work in in-flight magazines
• Editorial/Packaging could also be an area my style would fit in to.

In regards to the presentation of my work:

• Try to put similar pieces/styles together. My circus work and the customs/traditions together.
• Other pieces in my portfolio are different, more exploratory, they feel different.
• My work is strong but I need to find direction
• Advised us all to build a strong presence on social media - lets you see how people react to the work.

Future Self: Part 2 Progress

I have developed my original idea into the set of promotional postcards that I had hoped for at the start of Part 2. These are a few of my final designs for my circus postcards inspired by polish poster art. These and my other designs will be professionally printed by the deadline.

Business Card Design 2

I needed to develop my original designs from Future Self part 1 and get them professional printing in time for the deadline. I have made a few different changes on the side which holds my information but have decided to keep my main image of my collaged stones as I like the image and think it works well as a simple pattern which will represent me.

I have decided to keep the inked name but change the smaller info to a digital font so that its clearer. I also like the stones continued on to the front of the card, I think they work well on the white background and will be quite striking when printed.

The back of my business card will be kept as the stones, as shown above.

Practitioner Visit & Portfolio Feedback 4: Fig Taylor

We had a visit last week from Fig Taylor, a portfolio consultant from the AOI who talked through with us the key do's and don't's of portfolios and promotion, along with other general advice on getting work in the industry. She has experience of working as a designer and an agent so has knowledge of how it is on both sides of the table. 

The main areas she discussed:

• To start she emphasised the point many visiting industry people have, not to include work in my portfolio that I don't like myself and that I don't want to do or can't finish in the time ill be give by a client.
• Try to get a face to face appointment with potential clients. These will be difficult to get but important as the conversation and connections that can arise from meetings will happen more than with a simple email conversation.
• The clients are lazy, they will need to be spoon fed. Show who you are and your style clearly in the small body of work in the portfolio, no red herrings to confuse them.
• Digital portfolios can be presented as a PDF, blog or website. Make sure the way in which these are shown to the client during interviews is smooth and organised. 
• PDF portfolios shouldn't have the same amount of images as the website, a small concise selection only. The website is where multiple finished projects can be seen. A blog will be less formal and show the creative process involved in the work shown in the portfolio.
• With self promotion, writing to a client is important but in a letter rather than an email.
• Research the kind of work I want before making contact with potential clients. See what type of illustration they commission - is this like my work?
• First thing to do after graduation- get my portfolio to a good standard, business cards and website completed and professional before I start contacting clients for interviews.

Next she looked at our portfolios and gave her opinion on the areas within the industry that would be best for us to research. With my work she felt Lifestyle/Home Magazines, Food/Beauty Mags/packaging, Gardening/Wildlife mags Magazines would suit my collage/ink work best as they are rather decorative. This needs to be researched and work made specifically for it, to show clients my work could be used in their publication. Next she pointed out Many of my piece could be linked to children. This is a hard area to get into and I would need to think about the age range I'd be focusing on and the subject matter. 

Future Self Pt 2: Research

For my circus inspired designs I have decided to stick with the layout of the polish poster designs for the circus made throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Many of these consist of one simple striking image on a bright single colour background. The only information is the word "Cyrk", Polish for Circus. This simple layout is what I am going to try to emulate in my own postcard designs and I hope I will end up with something as distinctive and strong as these old posters.

Examples I've been looking at:

Images from: www.contemporaryposters.com