Self Promotion

One thing I have learnt from the Professional Practice unit is Self Promotion and how important it is an Illustrator (Graphic designer, Animator) to promote yourself and your work, to get seen and get known in the industry. There are many ways to do this such as entering your work into competitions, the saying is true "you have to be in it to win it" there are many competitions for Illustrators to enter and it is a good way to see what others in the field are doing and how they are working.

It seems that everyone and everything is online these days, also another great way to promote yourself as nearly everyone has access to the internet. Social media is so simple to use and an easy way to get your work seen.

I have created a Facebook page so people can follow along with my work and I have also linked back to my blog so that they can read about what I am working on and what is inspiring me.

In this module we are required to design promotional materials to drive traffic to our blogs. One of the items we were asked to create was postcards to be able to send to potential clients and to build relationships with people in the art world.

Here is the postcard I designed. From this course I have discovered that my work has quite a 'child-like' feel (my first tattoo was Peter Pan because I don't want to grow up) so this is reflected in my postcard. I illustrated a few of my favourite things that I feel represent me and my work well. Although it is quite a simple design I think this works best for my work instead of having it all too busy. I have been consistent with my font throughout so it is recognisable as a brand.

Another item i created is a poster that I can send out. I decided to use some of my previous work, the one which I most enjoyed working on.

This was my comic for the Thought Bubble Art competition and I feel this is a good representation of me and my work. I also feel it is quite unique and eye-catching.

Something i have found throughout this module is that I find it difficult to write and talk about my illustration work. I have another blog where I write about my quilting and sewing and I find that much easier to write and far less scary. But this module is all about teaching you for the real world and being to talk about yourself and your work, so that you are able to get a job and be a 'proper' adult!