Creative Biz Note #13

The Missing Tear Sheet Link

The "PixelBoys" (that's what our rep calls us) feel "it's" one of the most important elements to have on your portfolio website...very few artist sites have it and art directors love it...it's called a downloadable PDF tear sheet or a "virtual tear sheet".

Some of you that are just starting out may be saying,"What the heck is a tear sheet?" Well, a tear sheet is used in the advertising world--it's a page from a publication to prove to a client that an advertisement was published. An example, illustrators will receive about 500-1000 tear sheet pages from publishers for ads they place in source books. These ad pages can be handed out or placed in the back of a portfolio or even mailed for promotional purposes.

So, as an illustrator, you would want to have on your website/blog a downloadable PDF page (or two) displaying your best pieces. Everyone can view a PDF--Acrobat Reader is standard on most machines.

A Quick Story: From an art director's perspective, when I flip through a 400-page source book and find that one perfect illustrator--I eventually look on his or her website. I want to see more. At this point I will need to probably color copy the ad out of the cumbersome book and may even need a job number to make a damn color copy (if I work at a large agency)!!! Then I can take my color copy to the creative director's meeting to push the artist as a possibility for the project. I may be sticking this copied page on the wall as a reminder for a project that isn't scheduled to start until two months from now. Either path, a downloadable PDF would instantly place your art on the art director's machine allowing he or she to show other team players and print it out with ease. This is a very helpful tool.

The Idea: Make it easy for art directors and art buyers to sell your artwork.

Sites I've read on this subject: http://www.adbase.com/Insight

Next Creative Biz Note #14---Deductions: Keeping More of Your Money
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Sketch Pad 03

(Click to Enlarge Image)

Project: McGraw Educational Book
These sketches were character concepts for an educational children's book. We spent little time on the sketch phase due to the schedule. Making the client happy and keeping the work within budget is our goal. A few of the characters had multiple options. I also added a rough for one of the twelve illustrations. We develop the characters in "detail" on a separate page and then the interior illustrations can be down and dirty--focusing only on layout. This way pencil alterations are no hassle. Of course, we would approach a picture book differently. See the some of the finals on our website.

Creative Biz Note #12

Keeping Momentum During Hard Times

I see it in the forums and have heard it on podcasts...the world has changed during these difficult times. Jobless friends, companies going under and clients not paying as quickly--everyone has a story. But there is work out there...the world has not stopped. A few of my colleagues even believe it's starting to pick-up!

Creative Biz Note #11

Best Format for Clients

I noticed a simple question on the IM forum that received a ton of readers--"What is the best format that illustrators find to send to clients?" So, I decided to post my lengthy response.

I go back and forth. JPEGs are typically viewable through a browser window. If I have a more than two images to send to a client, then I use a PDF and gang them into one file--make sure the images open up so they can view the entire image within their window (command D in Acrobat) and have the page panel open for them so they see that there are the other pages to view. We did this all the time in the advertising world. Make it easy for the client.

For hi-res files I send out a TIFF file (not JPEG--no compression). Stuff-it and/or put on a server for easy downloading. I try to make the process of receiving hi-res files easy and flawless. No passwords and user names to input to get to a ftp server. I copy my properties of the file on our server and the make a hyper-link on an email for the client to click. One click and it downloads to their desktop. Check out SendSpace Pro for an easy set-up.

Also, if I'm sending out a blast of emails (blindly) to unknown art directors sometimes their servers block random emails with attachments. Virus protection. It has happened to me before and I've read about it online with my e-mailing service. Embed images into the email giving it a better chance of making it through.

My experiences with cross-platform...file format doesn't matter so much. BUT most of the art industry is on Macs..if you work on a PC, remember that even with a Pantone Huey Pro correcting colors on your screen--an image on the PC will display slightly darker on the Mac. Adjust the image on the Mac with a PSD curve before you send it out.

Another point---Adobe Illustrator can be fussy when saving as a PDF format. A more involved process that holds all the raster effects that sometimes get messed up is to literally drag the art over to Photoshop--save it as a JPG or EPS and then output as a PDF from there or drag it over to Acrobat. Also, make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Pro...the software has improved ten fold over the last few years.

: ) Just how I do it.

Next Creative Biz Note #12---Keeping Momentum During Hard Times
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Bright Idea Pumpkin

Our rep in the U.K. recently held a pumpkin direct mail contest among the artists--this was our submission. This was a quick one!!