I’ve been on an alligator kick lately. I have a huge empty canvas hanging in Ocee’s room waiting for an alligator to appear on it, but I can decide what I want it to look like yet. I’ve got sketches galore but not settled on one, but I have seemed to show up in some other pieces. This one is for our current promo mailer for Illustration For Kids:

One day I’ll decide on “his” but for now I’ll just stare at the white canvas. At least he doesn’t know it’s not supposed to be blank.

Later gators!

I’ve been working on doing some re-branding for myself since my efforts to separately market the children’s & licensing side of my business hasn’t work like I planned. They tend to crossover all the time, so I’ve decided to brand them as one and not try so hard to keep them separated. I’ve been playing with ideas for a while and really wanted something I could easily change if I wanted to, while still keeping a consistent look. I have a entire page filled up with characters and objects so I’ll never get bored. Here are just a few:

Now I just need to get my sites all combined and I’ll be set!

Target recently contacted me (via a contact made at SURTEX) to send them “my book” to share with their creative team. My 3-ring binder of samples or my black leather portfolio was not going to be good enough for them, no, no. I needed something that said “Hey, look at me!”, showed off my style from the front to the back and incorporated my love for found objects, lettering & color, so I created an entire customize album (that I can use later) where the contents can be easily edited and expand to any size.

I mailed it off a few weeks ago and got it back today in the same condition I sent it. I had a professor in college who had made this really cool portfolio that turned into a house (as part of her application for a architectural graduate program) and when it came back to her, she said the person looking through it must have been eating a snickers bar. There was caramel & nugget stuck to most of the pages. So thank you Target creative team for taking such good care of it.

I was recently interviewed by Thomas James of Escape From Illustration Island about how I promote my work. The podcast is now available so take a listen. Hopefully you’ll get some ideas on how to market yourself as an illustrator. After my Surtex trip to NYC I became more aware of my southern accent so if you hear some “twang” in there, feel free to giggle. It apparently amuses those not from the south

And in other news, next year I will be relaunching Living The Creative Dream. After a year of examining what I’ve done (I’ve even written a book on marketing for illustrators – but no takers yet) and what my original plan was to do with the site – I’ve decided to stick with what I know best so I’m shifting the focus more on helping other illustrators with their marketing. So stay tuned for that.

I am determined to have an art filled weekend! I have a promo to do for the Illustration For Kids mailer, greeting card ideas to finalize, some product ideas to compile and send to a manufacturer, plus start junkin’ my pumpkin for my annual contest & exhibit (you can follow Pumpkin Junkin’ on twitter or facebook for updates)!

Thanks to Jeff Fisher, I’m quoted in the October Issue of HOW magazine which happens to be the Self-Promotion design Annual. If you are any kind of artist selling your work, this particular issue should be on your shopping list every year. This is a really great article about social networking for creatives and Jeff does a great job of it with his business. I met Jeff on the HOW forum around 8 years ago and he has always been so helpful to those newbies and veterans in the design field. Be sure to follow him on twitter and become a fan on facebook.

I thought I’d share my full interview so you could see how I use social networking:

1. Prior to your involvement in sites defined as “social networking” what
constituted the online presence/involvement of your business? Website? Forum
participation? Online portfolios? Blog?

I’ve always had an online portfolio and website, but when I first started out, I participated on a lot of forums. I read more than I commented or posted and then moved onto blogging that opened me up to other illustrators who were more on my level (career-wise) and I could connect to them better.

2. When and where did your business first venture into social networking?
LinkedIn? Facebook? MySpace? Twitter? Other?

I’ve been on LinkedIn for a good while now and have been able to find some good contacts that way. I’ve also found it to be a great place to update my mailing list. With everything going on in the economy, I’ve found that a lot of publishers have laid off their creatives so I’ve been able to see who all is where now.

I’ve never been on MySpace – it’s always seemed so “high school” to me and most of the people I’ve seen on there have beer parties every weekend!

I joined Twitter in February of this year. It became an instant addiction, but in a good way. I’ve been able to network with a lot of other artists and it makes it feel like I’m working in the studios with other colleagues. I know a lot of people on twitter just like to have large following numbers and will follow anyone just so those will follow back – I follow people who I’m truly interested whether it be their art, a service or their personality. I don’t have time to weed through people I’m not interested in.

I joined facebook a month or so after twitter. I’ve been resistant to joining facebook because I didn’t want to mix business with personal. I didn’t want to hook up with old friends (there’s a reason they are “old” friends!) and didn’t necessarily want to mix my personal conversations with business. I’ve been able to keep it pretty professional by automatically posting my tweet to my facebook status*.

*Note: since this interview, personal was bleeding over to professional a little more than I liked, so I’ve started a fan page that is business related. To get all my business “friends” to meet me over there, I posted this status:

“Attn: FB art/design friends: I’m switching business things over to a fan page to separate personal from biz here on FB. Please, don’t take it personal if I unfriend you, I just need to redirect your friendship over there -… we can still talk:) To get my updates “fan” me over here: http://www.facebook.com/HOLLiCONGERstudios and “follow” me on twitter. Thanks for understanding guys!!”

Almost everyone has fanned me over there now.

3.What business benefit did you initially see with your initial social
networking experience?

In a way it makes me more accountable. I usually let people know what I’m working on or what I have coming up and since I’ve publicly mentioned it, I feel like I really need to follow through on it. It also make me feel like I’m working with others in the studio.

4. What social networking sites or tools are you currently utilizing to
market and promote your business efforts?

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn

5. How do you specifically make use of these resources as a self-promotion
tool?

I mention what I’m working on and link to what I’ve been working on (usually housed on my blog agirlwhocreates.com). I’ve mentioned my online shop some (typographyphotography.com) to generate business – but overall I use it for networking.

6. Which social networking resources is currently the most effective in
bringing business to your firm?

I haven’t been on twitter long enough to see how it’s bringing business my way. LinkedIn lead to a pretty lucrative design/illustration contract that feeds me work monthly. I found the company through another contact and noticed in their profile that they were hiring in-house positions. I emailed them to see if they would be interested in working with me on a freelance basis. They said yes and they have been one of the best clients I’ve ever had!

7. Have you recently moved away from using certain social networking sites
that you used more in the past?

I don’t participate or read many forums anymore. I started finding them less and less helpful to me professionally and there tended to be a lot of nay-sayers and know-it-alls that I just didn’t like to be mixed with.

8. What social networking resources do you see your firm making greater use
of in the future?

I love twitter and see myself using that more and more. I like the real-time aspect of it.

9. How do you balance the expression your company brand and your own
personality in your social networking efforts?

I think it’s important to show your personality, but I’ve chosen to have a more professional appearance on the internet as a whole. Everything is searchable and what you say could come back to haunt you! I mention my family, etc. every now and then and talk about by daughter a good bit (she’s my studio assistant and I will miss her terribly when she starts kindergarten in the fall!) but don’t discuss my beliefs or political views. I have gotten a little more personal on twitter & facebook only because it’s more real-time and I tweet on this-and-that that’s happening right then.

10: What one piece of advice would you give other creatives as they consider
the possible use of social networking opportunities for marketing and
promotion of their business?

If you’re using twitter for your business, keep things professional. Make sure you don’t say anything you wouldn’t want your client or potential clients to read. Personalize your twitter background. I’m surprised how many creatives I follow that use one of twitters unattractive backgrounds. Take the time to add your style to it. Make sure you link to your portfolio or blog in your profile. I have several artist who follow me and I don’t follow them back because they haven’t included a link in their profile. i want to know who they are and see their work. Also, take your client list and promo mailing list and see who all is on LinkedIn and Twitter. Maximize your marketing efforts that way, plus it’s free!

Surtex is officially one month away and I still have a ways to go, but I;m feeling really good about my progress so far. I figured out my booth layout and what all I will show (the biggest stressor for me). I used my skills from my environmental design class in college to work up a to scale elevation of the booth:

The green areas are what I already have printed out, the pink areas are what I still need to print out, the blue areas are signage and the orange areas are things I need to mock-up (I’m still working on my last panel though). I spent Tuesday and Thursday this week printing. I am using someone’s large format printer by paying them per square foot. I like this better than sending it out somewhere and hoping it looks good when it’s all done. This way I can check progress as I go. Luckily I haven’t had any issues. I’ve cut everything out and will later mount it all on boards:

This week I also worked on some postcards for Surtex. I decided not to use the USPS postcards like i normally do because I’ll be writing small notes on some of the mailers and I couldn’t do that with the others. One is a mailer I plan to get out next week (we went through names yesterday and have about 220 people to send to), a bio postcard to hand out as giveaways and I had extras printed to include in any samples we mail, and thank you postcards (for Surtex and later). For the design I went with a design I originally went with
last year:

I still have to print my other giveaway goodies, so hopefully I’ll get to all that next week. Other things on the to-do list:

• Get everything printed and assembled for my press kit (everything is written, just need to print it all out)
• Mock up several physical products to show
• Mock up products to put in design book – I think I’ll get my designer to work on those next week
• Start packing my suitcase of of things I’ll need for the booth (scissors, stapler, tape, etc.) – just filling it up as I go so I won’t have to get it all together at once
• Chart out our road trip via Garmin
• Download audiobooks for the trip
• Shop for clothes and comfortable shoes

Now I’m off to spend the day preparing for the Woog’s 5th birthday party tomorrow!!

I worked on a new mailer for licensing. Not 100% sure I like it yet though. I want to go ahead and get some promos out there and then figure out what my next step is for promotion. I don’t think postcards are the entire way to go for this type of work so I’m coming up with some other ideas. I’ve found a lot of companies who have take email submissions so I’ve emailed them my tearsheets. It’s been fun watching my stats as these companies come to visit my site.

I’ve also loved having the opportunity to just play. I’ve been experimenting with textures and more collage in my work. I’ve been able to break more rules and get out of the ridgidness (is that a word?) I’ve put myself into with children’s illustration. I’m loving it!

I have big plans and expectations for my licensing work and I’ve been tackling it like I did when I first started out to become an illustrator. It’s been so fun and I’ve already learned so much!! I’ve even decided to take on a marketing assitant who will do a great job for my business and I think be a great agent/rep one day. She has a sales background and is used to the phone call, meet and greet scene (something I’m not into and don’t like very much) plus, I’ll have someone to travel with for trade shows and such. Plus part of her responsibilities is window shopping so that’s right down her alley! I’ll be sharing what all she’s doing for me throughout the process.

Thanks to everyone for the “good luck” and “advice” emails. I really want to thank Vela at Little Star Soup for being so generous with information. Isn’t her work the cutest?

By the way, my desk still looks like it does from the last post. Maybe I’ll have time to clean it today….