Wednesday, February 04, 2009

NY Comic Con is this weekend, here are five ways not to introduce yourself to an art director.

I've never re-posted anything before but with NY ComicCon coming up this Friday, I thought this was worth a repeat. Here are five things that happened to me last year that didn't exactly show the artist's best foot forward.

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Five Ways Not to Introduce Yourself to an Art Director:

1) Don't give me your postcard and then take it back to cross out your web address because "the work there isn't good."

2) Don't let me flip through half a portfolio and then stop me mid way to say "the rest is older work, you're probably not interested, and it's not good anyway."

3) Don't show me one, and only one, image on an iPhone. In fact, unless you know I am very familiar with your work, don't show me an iPhone portfolio at all.

4) "Hello, my name is.....We're MySpace friends." Followed by silence thinking I'm going to remember you off the top of my head. Hell, I can hardly remember the names of people I actually meet.

5) 35mm slides!? I didn't think you could buy slide film anymore.

Guys, you’re at ComicCon. Chances of running into an art director are, well, high. You didn't just happen to run into the ADs for every major gaming, comic, movie, and publishing companies at a neighborhood barbecue, so get your ducks in a row before making that first impression.

10 comments:

ces said...

don't forget to post this on conceptArt.Org (no, I haven't looked there yet - it's about 5 stops away).

Jorge Mascarenhas said...

An A.D. job never gets boring.

MaTT said...

You know anyone who wants to show an Art Director their work via an Iphone isn't really serious about finding work eh!

Sleemo said...

i've got some pics on my RAZR...how about that?

Erik van Elven said...

6. I don't have my portfolio with me now but I could draw something on the palm of your hand right now if you have a pen.

Irene Gallo said...

I should say, sitting around the convention bar and hanging out with people, _then_ it's fun to get a quick look at someone's work on an iPhone. It just shouldn't be your actual "hello, please consider me for work yes I am a professional" portfolio.

bill said...

what's an iPhone?

Unknown said...

hi. i worked in comics for years and started out by going to SD con and introducing myself. i'll be the first to admit that i wasn't the best colorist in the world but i found that by taking the job seriously (including the editor/art director and more importantly myself) i was able to make connections that ended up in full time work for about 5 years until i left the business.

one thing i got a lot of compliments on was my portfolio presentation. i bought a small but sturdy laptop sized carrying case from office depot which was super easy to open for presentation at a table or at a bar or even standing up while outside on the sidewalk. i printed a smaller trifold color pamphlet version as a leave behind with all my info clearly stated, a few examples of my work and of course always a business card, also simply printed on my home printer. easy stuff and it will make a big difference.

2 things to remember, never make a potential clients life harder and even though you may not be the best, being professional and reliable is much more important.

hope this helps and good luck.

Erika "Thrivis" Harm said...

Haha - I thought of putting my portfolio on my iPod Photo, but never kept it up because it was just... ridiculously small. It was more to show just friends or family when I'm out, but even then it was a bad idea!

Parka said...

Nice. How about posting an entry on funny introductions?