Mar/104
5 Things To Bring to GDC (for Artists)
Well it’s Spring Break, so I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down and write!
I spent the first few days of my break in San Francisco, where I attended the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC). While I’d have liked to attended the entirety of the convention, I only got to spend the final day, Saturday, wandering the halls because of finals.
First off, GDC is definitely a great place to go for business. Many game companies set up shop there specifically to recruit for job positions they are trying to fill- which ranges from programmers to business people to full-time artists, and Saturday of the convention is “Student Day”, where students can get in for just $75.
To my surprise, the vast majority of the students I saw were art students! Most of them were local to San Francisco, armed with some great-looking portfolios and hunger in their eyes. Some companies (namely Blizzard that I saw, but probably others) had art directors on site to review portfolios.
So, if you are planning on going to GDC to get your portfolio reviewed and maybe get some jobs out of it, you’ll need the following:
1) Your Student ID- Must Be Current
Unfortunately, Student Day is for students. Not to say that working professionals cannot attend- they are encouraged to, but they pay a higher price tag to get in the door ($250 for Expo-only vs. $75 for students). Whether or not that is worth it to you is really up to you. Many of the companies attending GDC will also be at PAX East two weeks later, and PAX is only $50 for a three-day pass. It depends on where you live, obviously.
2) A Portfolio with Your Best Work that Fits the Company/Companies You Are Targeting
The biggest complaint I heard from companies was that artists were showing up with portfolios full of, as one woman put it “Barbie-doll-proportioned anime characters”. I guess if you wanted to do concept art for Bayonetta, that might be alright (joke), but honestly it’s not going to fly in most of the industry. She went on to say that that might be nice, but it’s not what they do, and it’s a waste of her time to look at that portfolio. Many companies are looking for high quality, nicely colored and well rendered work, but all companies are looking for work that already fits the feel of their current products. This is great news, on the one hand, because it means that if you want to do work for a certain company, you should get super familiar with their style, which might mean playing lots of games, and who doesn’t like that?
3) An Elevator Pitch
Believe it or not your art does not only speak for itself. You should also be able to give some quick background about who you are, what your experience is, and what you want to do. Doing this in just 30 seconds is best, because it gives people a sense of who you are without wasting much time. This 30-second self-explanation is called an “Elevator Pitch” because it should be done in the time that it takes you to ride in an elevator with your pitch target. Obviously you don’t have to be in an elevator to do an elevator pitch- the showroom floor will do just fine.
A good format for the elevator pitch is:
- Who you are
- What you want/are trying to accomplish
- Your background/experience
- Your interest in specific company
You don’t have to get too flowery, but having this at the ready will be very beneficial to you. I also recommend practicing it (out loud) before you go straight up to a company you really have your heart set on so you aren’t as nervous.
4) A Love of Networking
At GDC, as with many conventions, a lot of the connections happen not just at the convention, but at the bar afterwards. Many GDC attendees were having drinks starting at around 2pm onward for most days, and you NEVER know who you’ll meet or what opportunities may come out of it. Do bring your portfolio (preferably not on an iPhone but on paper), do have a drink, do talk industry talk (talk about games!), but don’t bust out your portfolio unless it comes up naturally in the conversation. Have fun! Networking isn’t hard, it’s just socializing, and people LOVE to talk about games at GDC– and if you want to work in the industry, I’m betting you love games too.
5) Business Cards
As always, an easy way for people to contact you. At minimum, your name, phone number, email address and website. If you want to be really clever, make sure your cards are blank backed and quickly draw something on it to be memorable. Make sure your website is up-to-date, easy to navigate, and has clear examples of your style.
With those things and a positive attitude, you should be able to make some inroads.
What do you think- have you had any experience shopping your portfolio at GDC that you’d like to share?
Sep/091
Marketing Your Art
I received this great question from Chantal Fournier, who asks:
I was wondering if you have any advice to offer on paying for advertising, online or offline. Have you or Jeff ever tried it, and was it worth it?
Since advertising falls into the larger scope of “marketing” in my mind, I’d like to address marketing as a whole. It can be a tricky subject, especially depending on what specific niche of the art industry you are interested in pursuing, and how you are planning on growing your business.
First off, to answer the question straight away, Jeff and I have paid for a bunch of marketing tools, but never gone directly for buying ads in a magazine or on a website. Part of this is because the market that we’re in is not very sensitive to advertising, and relies more on brand recognition and word-of-mouth advertising. The idea is that after building up a body of work for certain companies and on certain products, the art sells itself to collectors/fans. We don’t need to sink money into advertising to art directors, because the art is either good, or it’s not. A quick review of Jeff’s website will tell an AD if they want to hire him, and we can maintain and update his portfolio there for very little cost.
Some pay-services are great, and some are a huge waste of time. People interested in children’s illustration would do well to get an agent, since the industry is hard to break into without one. Some marketing/advertising expenses that are just plain necessary to the modern artist are:
- A website
- Business cards
- Submission fees to industry-specific publications
The business savvy artist can find ways to get many marketing tools for free (use those social media and networking tools!), but you are best off paying for assets like a quality website and nice, professional business cards.
Website
Having a good, easily navigable, attractive website is absolutely, unequivocally essential. It is the first thing that many art directors or potential clients will see of your work, and if it is sloppy or hard to figure out, they will leave with a bad taste in their mouth, or worse, not even bother to wade through the muck to get to the good stuff. It doesn’t matter how great your art is if they can’t find it or if they give up.
Some rules for making a good website:
- Get your own domain. Preferably yourname.com, or yournameart.com. It looks more professional and serious to have your own domain name, and it’s easier to remember one name than two. Registering a domain name can be done very cheaply (here and here). Plus, once you own it, it’s an asset! Which means it goes on your balance sheet. A domain is a must, but I really recommend getting a comprehensive hosting package. There are many good hosts on the market to choose from, I prefer hostgator, myself.
- Make your gallery page (or some of your best work) your FIRST page. The people coming to your website want to see your your art, so show them your art! Not your blog, not your bio, not even a cover page! I’m paraphrasing, but I believe that credit goes to the incomparable Irene Gallo, who said something along the lines of, “If I have to click more than twice to see your art, I’m already annoyed.” Don’t annoy art directors, it’s bad.
- Make it easy to understand and view. An awesome example of an easily navigable website is Mike Sass’s site. Using it is a no-brainer! Another site that has great click-thru capability is Joshua Middleton’s. Setting up a click-thru gallery like this can be done simply with wordpress gallery plugins, or the very user-friendly squarespace.
Get help! If you cannot program or manage your own website, you should tap your contacts to see if there is any poor webslave out there who will do it for you. It is really best if you can do your own content management, which is why a self-hosted wordpress or the regular squarespace package can be so great for artists who aren’t code-savvy.
Business Cards
Oh yes, that old essential. The business card will never die.
Lots of people I’ve met recently have gotten these neat little half sized cards, or over-sized cards. These can be great for quick contact info or for a bigger image that highlights a great piece.
Me, though? I prefer the standard-sized business card. My card-holder is made to fit the standard 3.5″ by 2″ card, and as long as it has a website, an email, and a phone number on it, I’m good to go. There are many places where you can get business cards printed and shipped to you for very little cost. I’ve used both VistaPrint and Overnight Prints, and honestly haven’t seen a huge difference in the quality of the cards. Another site friends have recommended is Moo. To be very cost effective, you can print your own cards with the right paper and a good paper cutter, but the cost of the online cards is pretty comparable to what you’d spend on supplies and time, anyway.
Submission Fees
Books
I wouldn’t pay to get your artwork into a book that isn’t judged. There are look-books out there that are carried in art stores for AD’s to find potential hire-ees, but the things are huge, there is no barrier to entry but payment (meaning there is awful work alongside your good work), they aren’t industry specific.
There are books that are very industry specific and some charge a submission fee, with no guarantee of getting published. Books I know of are Spectrum, Exposé.
Magazines
A lot of times magazine submissions are free, so just do a bit of research. Find artistic genres that fit your style, and submit to those publications. There are magazines for every niche of artist out there, ImagineFX, 3×3, Illustration, Illo… the list goes on and on. Figure where you want your art seen (scene?) and go from there. Submitting to online magazines is also a great idea. The more places you can display your art for free, the better, because you’re maximizing your exposure.
Free Exposure
Competitions
There are always competitions going on somewhere on the internet for artists. These competitions are great ways to get a foot in the door, get your art seen by a good number of people, as well as practice your craft. Many competitions have no entry fee, some have a nominal fee. Just be careful about what competition you take part in: make sure your style matches the acceptable styles for the genre that you are submitting to. You wouldn’t want to see painterly art in a graphic design competition, or children’s illustration style art in a painterly competition. Assess the audience, and play to your strengths.
Podcasts
Interestingly enough, although people listening to a podcast don’t see your art directly, they will often go look you up if they hear you on a podcast somewhere. Podcasts can be great marketing tools because of the exposure factor, and are just plain fun to do. Plus, when you put out a podcast you’re giving something to the world, which is just cool. 
As I develop my marketing tools, I’ll probably have a lot more to say on this subject, but for now, I hope this is helpful!
Aug/091
A Business(wo)man’s Guide to GenCon
Today we’re going to break down the business details of going to a convention like GenCon and having a table in the Art Show. I’m basing this off of current costs, keeping in mind that costs may increase for future years. GenCon is all about gaming, so this guide is most useful for those focusing on gaming companies as clients for their business.
Why GenCon?
First of all, why go to a convention like GenCon at all? There are a few reasons, some of them will be more worthwhile than others, depending on where you are in your career. Your illustration is a business, and with that in mind, you should expect that sometimes you are going to take a loss as part of a future investment. Hopefully, your investment pays off in the long run even if you are initially out some cash.
The first reason to go to GenCon is to sell your work. People browse the art show specifically looking for art to purchase- be it originals or prints. There are a few different types of buyers, too, and different work will appeal to different people. Artists with a standing reputation and a following can make a decent amount of money at GenCon. Of course, they got to that point by taking some losses their first years and continuing to come back and be an established part of the art show.
The second reason to go to GenCon is to network within the artistic community. GenCon is a great place to meet artists who are doing what you do and are passionate about their work. Artists can give each other great tips and critiques as well as offer really solid advice about where to seek work. You’ll also get the skinny on pitfalls to avoid that people wouldn’t necessarily talk about in a public forum.
The last big reason to go is that it is THE place to get work in the gaming industry. Companies will either have portfolio review sessions or they will have an art director on hand to look at portfolios. Beyond getting very, very helpful critique from this, you can also get jobs. While all these companies have online ways to submit your portfolio, making face time is always good in any business.
Money
Time to get into the nitty-gritty. If you are planning on attending GenCon as an artist in the Art Show, here are a lists of costs you should prepare for.
Table: $250 -$320 (rates may go up for next year)
Hotel: $145-160/night, plus tax (if staying in the con hotel). Artists are guaranteed rooms in nearby hotels at discounted rates. Yeah… $160 is discounted, if you can believe it.
Parking: $15-$30/day (depending on where you park)
Food and drink: Budget generously, $50/day, and if you don’t spend it, be glad!
Travel: $150-$600, depending on flights or gas costs. Book early if you can. Driving is cheaper but much more exhausing. Flying means you’ll have to package your work very very carefully and ship it there or only bring what you can carry onto the plane.
Supplies: Varies depending on how you are making your prints. If you are making archival prints, you’ll have to splurge for a bit more. Read about the differences between archival and non-archival here.
Making Your Own Prints
First of all, you’ll need a printer that can make prints at least 11″ x 17″, preferably 13″ x 19″. There are a few options out there, so shop around. We have the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer, which prints beautifully, but has very costly ink at nearly $20/cartridge for six cartridges. Fortunately, there are places you can get discount ink cartridges. Check out CISinks and InksOutlet for cheap ink, but beware- these cartridges are finikey and can give you some trouble. But at $6 as opposed to $20 per cartridge, it’s worth a little risk. If you are getting the free shipping will need to order far enough in advance to allow for slow ground shipping (7-9 days at least).
If you want to make archival prints, you should be looking for acid-free paper like Moab paper. A lot of retail companies (HP, Epson, Cannon) put logos on the back of their paper, which can be fine, but looks unprofessional in my opinion. I found that Ilford Galerie paper, while not acid free, is nice, has no logos, and is compatible with most printers. You can find it online for very reasonable prices, too. I like the Smooth Pearl Paper, but the Classic Pearl looks nice, too. I also found a cool sample pack of paper from Moab, if you want to do some printing tests.
Getting Prints Made
An illustrator friend referred me to CatPrint, where he got prints made very reasonably. He was very happy with the results, too, and said that not having the stress of making his own prints made it very worthwhile. He said that they have no minimum print order, prints came out to less than $1/piece for 8 1/2″ by 11″, but the prints are not archival as they use a traditional 4-color press. There are many other print shops on the internet that will do prints for you, so you can shop around for a place you like (archival printers will cost more). A note if you are working digitally: print out a test of your file so you can see how the color looks. I know that on newer Macs the screens are much brighter than older models and PC’s, and prints end up coming out much darker than they read on the screen. You can adjust the brightness (usually an increase of 25%) to compensate for this with your prints, but you’ll want to do so before you send off files to online printers.
The Extras- Matting and Bags
Some artists mat their work for display, others don’t. I think that it makes the work look more professional, so I like to do it for the display pieces. If you mat all your prints, you can charge quite a bit more for them. If you have a lot of time and patience, you can cut your own mats. Failing that, there are places to order mat in bulk. I shopped around a bit and found that Matcutter.com had good deals for the 10 packs of mats. They also sell clear bags for your work at very reasonable prices.
Selling Prints
Pricing your work where people will want to buy prints can be tricky. Our first year, we sold only 8 1/2″ by 11″ prints for $5, and we were selling things off the walls. So we doubled the price, and still sold well. It’s all a test of supply and demand: if you are selling out, raise your prices, if you are selling badly, lower them. Most illustrators are selling prints there between $10-$20 for 8 1/2″ by 11″, $15-$30 for 11″ by 17″, and $25-$50 for 13″ by 19″. Pricing originals is trickier, but the least expensive originals I saw were around $50 for smaller and older work, and the most expensive were several thousand dollars for larger and brand new work. Joe Slucher came up with an awesome idea and did small framed original character portraits and sold them for $30-$50, the idea being that that way people could afford an original piece and not break the bank.
If your work is matted, sell it for more. You can bump up the price by $5-$25 with nice matting. Just choose what you think is reasonable.
Miscellaneous Things To Expect
Have the money that you need for gencon up front. Print sales don’t go into your pocket directly, you get your check from the show afterwards. Some things you should have on hand:
- Business cards. These should have your website and email on them at the very least. Including your phone number for people who want to contact you that way is not a bad idea either.
- A metallic pen (to sign your work). Silver or gold pens are what most people bring.
- A few black and grey pens (to draw on playmats, the charity auction bags, or card backs).
- A couple ideas of what to draw on-the-spot.
- An assistant. Someone who can sit at the table when you’re showing your port, etc. Having help is very nice, and you get two “Artist” badges as part of your table costs anyway, why not take advantage?
You may want to bring:
- A sketchbook. You have long hours to pass at the table, why not work?
- A sample sheet. I’d never thought to do this but printing out some 8 1/2″ by 11″ with a few sample works and your contact info on it can be great for industry contacts to remember your work.
- A camera. There are some pretty cool costumed folks walking around the con, and you may want to snag a photo for reference. Just be sure to ask, most people wearing costumes are more than happy to pose for you.
- Friends. If you have friends who are going, having them watch the table for a bit and sharing a room can make your experience much less costly. Plus, they’ll be happy to be in a hotel near the con- not every gamer gets so lucky.
The show opens Thursday at 10 am. Have your best work up by Friday AM at the absolute latest. Friday is when the judges come around looking at all the art, and Friday night is the awards ceremony is Friday after the exhibit hall closes at 6 pm.
Ideally, you will invest less than $2000 into the weekend, and it will pay off in more than that from the sales and jobs you’ll get by being there. If you don’t feel confident that you’ll make back the costs, try just going to show your portfolio, and then get a table after you’ve done some industry work the following year.
I also talked to some artists that got a vendor booth instead of an artists table. The vendor booths cost a lot more, but they have the advantage of being all about sales. People come with their wallets open, as opposed to just browsing the art show in “gallery mode”. The vendor area also gets more foot traffic than the art show- I can’t help but think that this is because art intimidates people and they feel guilty for not buying, so they avoid the art show altogether, but that’s just my own assumption and not really based on any market research.
If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or to email me and I’ll do my best to address them!