#agentdeadline

[dearartdirector]

Why did you leave my website?

I just sifted through a seemingly endless sea of online portfolio submissions. I noticed that there were three categories.

1. No, delete submission. 2. No. Save web portfolio because it was good, not what I can use. 3. Yes, email back

Category three is great for everyone. Two is good, though you might not know it because emailing everyone back with “I really like this, I’ll keep it for maybe someone else for later” is a lot when I’m trying to get through these in any sort of timely fashion.

Category one, now this is interesting. Obviously, if I just don’t like the work I don’t keep it. But that’s just one reason why I found myself quickly closing browser windows. Here are the top 5 reasons I left an online portfolio.

1. S ... L ... O ... W loading time

This really is a killer. If I’m trying to whip through a pile of submissions, and I find myself with enough time to think about the possible reasons the site isn’t loading, I probably leave. I have a lot more options.

Solution: get yourself a web provider with great stats. Don’t use flash, audio, or heavy tech or images on the front page. Have your front page be a single image, your best. It will load fast and get me to click on the portfolio.

2. 404 Page Not Found

If you submitted a url that doesn’t work, well I hope this is obvious why I’d walk.

3. Not your brand

Yes, be on portfolio sites like Behance or Hire an Illustrator, but also NO don’t make that your main portfolio. Behance sites all look like Behance sites, your look is secondary to theirs. So two things, one, their layout might not be the best for your work. Two, I can’t tell a thing about you at a glance.

And, real talk, I just saw a boatload of Behance sites with thumbs that looked like 15 different illustrators on one page. I know it’s a project-based format, but if I see a page of images and they’re not consistent, I leave. I don’t know what I’ll get from you, and I certainly don’t know if you know how to hit one look over another.

4. Not enough art

I see some sites where there’s lots of words, and buttons, and lists of services and bios on the front page. I care exactly zero about any of that _unless I already like the work_. So see the solution for number one in this list, keep your homepage simple. Let me know immediately, without reading, what you do.

Now if you’re a writer, you want words, but maybe just a few that are really your best. It’s still the same lesson: I don’t care about how you work until I know I want work from you.

5. Inconsistency

Adjacent to number 3, if you have a set of images on the front page with some kid stuff, some editorial, some drawings, some logos, again I don’t know what I’m getting and I do know I don’t have time to figure it out when I can hire someone else who does the thing I need and just that thing and really well.

TL:DR?

Show your work first. Make it fast. Make it easy to Grok. Make it consistent. Make it yours.

When you’re done, send it to me because it sounds great.

-Agent Deadline

[dearartdirector]

Love you guys! I'm wondering how an illustrator can break into doing advertising work? I've been doing editorials for awhile now and understand the process of making a portfolio, identifying clients, and showing the portfolio to the right art directors. But what about advertising campaigns through the big agencies? I was told by several people that you need a rep, but I know this can't always be the case. What's the best way to be in the right place at the right time?

Great question. An agent can certainly help land the big clients, and many big clients go to reps first.

But you don’t need a rep to get ad gigs. The best way, I’ve found, is through friends who are already doing the work. Agencies get so much work and need so many hands, get a friend to refer you, make an intro, and add the ad agency contact to your short list of people to update and follow up with, like your AD contact list. 

You might even find that the ad work you get will land you an agent.

So be nice to your peers and colleagues, and ask them to get you in the door. You never know who might show up to help.

-Agent Deadline

[dearartdirector]

In a portfolio website is it preferable to have full sized pictures opening in another tab or a light box that pops up onto the current tab?

Trick question: Neither! 

The more you can keep the images on the same page without requiring a new page or pop up of any kind, including lightbox, the better. You want, like lightbox, a solution that lets you click or scroll through images easily at a size that an AD can see and assess. You don’t want lightbox because for so long they blocked the right click download, now even if they don’t most ADs assume they do and cringe.

Here’s an example from the last D+D Q+A we really liked, both in quality of work and click flow. http://mirandameeks.com/

-Agent Deadline

[dearartdirector]

Dear ADs, I want to work with children's books but I don't think my portfolio is ready for the jobs I want yet. I need to gain experiense so I'm thinking about sending my work to less ideal companies, hoping to get any job to try my best and try to learn with... Is this a bad step? Should I just stay with the personal work??

A track record isn’t a bad thing to have, not if you’re doing your best work even for a “less ideal” company. So less ideal is up to you. 

I might be unpopular for saying this, but if a company wants to pay you for work you love, why not do it? If you can create portfolio pieces and get paid then why not? If you do work above and beyond their expectations, that’s never a bad thing. Just don’t do crap work because they’re not on your dream list.

No, you shouldn’t work for companies that have crappy terms or take all your rights. And you don’t have to look very far to hear about companies that don’t pay that much. That’s a whole separate conversation. But the truth is, everyone needs a stepping stone, and the ones who climb higher just make careful steps, even on small stones. I think that metaphor went about as far as I could take it. You’re welcome.

Meanwhile, in the time that you’re waiting to hear back you can and should work on your own projects, samples, and portfolio.

Even superheroes stop to save a kitty from a tree now and then.

-Agent Deadline

[dearartdirector]

I've noticed that education systems focused specifically on either the craft or business of illustration are priced exclusively for those with financial privilege. How could it be possible to make illustration education more inclusive, especially to those of lower socioeconomic standing?

You don’t need to pay for an education anymore. There are lots of sources of free information. With some time, energy, and persistence you can certainly educate yourself. There’s a few books by Anya Kamanetz telling you all about it. DIY U, and the now free e-book The Edupunk’s Guide to a DIY Credential. 

What I see now are schools, courses, camps, and mentorship programs that are being put out by individuals and freelancers who, like anyone, need to be paid for their time to survive. If someone takes the time and energy to put together a package of information that makes it easier for me to digest and find what I need, then hell yes they should be paid for their time. If someone is taking time away from their career to further mine, they deserve to be paid. If someone is giving me personal attention to coach me to a bigger yearly take-home, or even a better handle on what I’m doing and the confidence to go after it, they deserve to be paid.

So there is lots of free information. You don’t _need_ a course or school to learn just about anything. What you’re paying for is someone’s time, and the convenience of having that information served up all in one place all at once.But that’s doesn’t answer your question. What if you don’t have money, and you don’t have much time because you’re at 2 or 3 jobs putting rent together?

Well, let’s deal with the real source of the issue (hint: it’s not other creatives creating, sharing, and even selling information). If college tuition was reasonable or free, as it is in many countries outside the US, then there wouldn’t be a barrier at all. States fund less and less each year while tuitions rise steadily around 16% over 5 years for private colleges (from about 16k in 1975 to 42k in 2015 … per year). More and more people live their lives in debt just for getting an education. And for more and more Americans, an education is out of reach. Let’s not even start with the racial biases built into the education system. If we want to make this a better place for all of us who want a higher education, we can start by organizing and calling our Senators. Here are all their phone numbers and emails.Meantime, what I’m seeing now is the people taking back the system. Charging, yes, but charging less and giving more.

As for the information. It is accessible. You have to hunt for it. It’s all out there. It just takes time.

- Agent Deadline

[dearartdirector]

Do you prefer postcards or email introductions (with a web link) from a new artist or does it matter? I feel like emails would just get auto-binned or lost. But then, what do you actually do with the postcards? Use them to start your after hours, shamanistic ritual bonfires? Or prop up wonky tables?

Hi tomparsonsart 

Every AD has their own preference for ways that artists stay in contact with them, and before anyone else gets a chance I’m going to put my 2 cents in  :)

I love physical items - business cards, postcards, etc. I hang onto the good ones and keep them on file, or on my wall for easy reference.

—AgentOrder

…and now the rest of the gang can chime in :)

AgentDeadline here,

I like Emails! I keep very few postcards and feel bad for the trees. 

Postcards are ok IF a) I like the art and b) it’s art I can use for one of my projects. Option A is hard to predict, but you can research option B and save a tree if I don’t ever use anything that looks like your work.

—AgentDeadline

I find physical mailers a waste of time/money unless it’s something more involved/special than a postcard. If it’s just an image of your work I’d rather get it via email with a link to your site. But I’m lazy and don’t like to type in URLs. But clearly other ADs feel differently. It’s not going to hurt you if you send me a postcard, but if you think I’m keeping every one of a thousand postcards/bizcards i get a year and could even find them when I needed them, you crazy.

—Agent KillFee