Q: If I have just begun working as a cartoonist/illustrator what should I include in my portfolio since I never gotten published before? I know I should include my best work but what’s the subject for me to illustrate? Finally, how to get my work noticed?

A: These days a “portfolio”, meaning a little case that contains samples of your illustration work, is almost a thing of the past. It’s the electronic age, and websites have taken the place of the traditional leather portfolio. Website porfolios have so many benefits over thier physical counterparts… they are accessible 24/7. They do not need to be dropped off or returned, thus the client has it at their fingertips always, you can change it easily while sitting at home with no pants on, etc. I can’t remember the last time I sent out my actual portfolio or brought it to show to an art director. Still, many of the concepts that apply to the preparing and presentation of the old fashioned leather portfolio still apply to the virtual kind. Preparing a portfolio is like any exercise in marketing: you identify your target audience and their needs, tailor your presentation to fulfill those needs and then present it to them in an easily digestible form.

Your target audience is of course your potential client and their readership or audience. You determine what they are looking for by examining their magazine/publication to see what kind of content they publish. I’m not talking about looking at the illustration work already in their and trying to show them something similar (although the type of illustration they use can tell you if your style is something that might or might not appeal to them), I’m talking about seeing what kind of articles and audience they are reaching. If it’s a magazine about sports, showing them product illustrations of sandwiches probably won’t be very effective. Some things are universal… like illustrations of people and people interacting is some kind of scene, but it’s best to show them work that fits within the scope of their audience. If it’s a sports magazine, show illustrations of athletes and people playing various sports. If it’s a magazine for the entertainment industry, caricatures of celebrities are always good. Medical magazines want illustrators that can draw hospital equipment and doctors in uniform, etc. Art directors as a rule won’t spend any time trying to imagine if the artist who’s unrelated work they are looking at would be able to draw their kind of subject matter. They want to look at pieces in a portfolio that they could imagine being printed as they are in their publication.

It might seem unrealistic to tailor a portfolio for a single client like this… it likely would involve doing some sample pieces specially for that client, and who has time for that? True, but you can generalize and use many pieces for multiple portfolios. A caricature of a baseball player could be shown to any sports related publication, but would also fit well for showing to newspapers, entertainment magazines (especially if the player is A-Rod or some other tabloid darling), health and fitness magazines or any publication that might use caricature. A humorous hospital scene would be good to show not only medical themed publications but those dealing with insurance, finance, business or health in general. In fact a humorous scene like that would be good to show any art director looking for humorous illustrations.

Also, you need not have every single piece in your portfolio specifically targeted to the client in question. Actually just a few of them would do, as long as the rest are in general of the type that would appeal to them. If you are showing your work to a serious art colletors magazine, having a bunch of goofy cartoon work in it would probably not be wise. Likewise if you are showing a portfolio to a kid’s entertainment magazine (if there even is such a thing anymore) it’s pointless to show them realistic paintings of ducks.

The virtual online portfolio is a little harder to tailor to a specific client since you don’t show it just to them but it is there for the entire world. In that case it’s best to break your work into categories of sections, possible using tags and simple links for things like “Caricature”, “Sports”, “Humorous”, etc. It’s tempting to put every piece you’ve ever done on the website since you have virtually unlimited room, but too much work makes it unappealing and overwhelming to browse. Limit yourself to a few dozen pieces at most, or create more specific sections with similar themed artwork in multiple mini-portfolios like the categories previously mentioned. If you want a great template for creating a solid onlien portfolio, visit this link at FreelanceSwitch.

Finally, there are some things you DON’T want to include in your portfolio. Sketchbook work is one. It’s fun to look at people’s sketchbooks… if you are another artist or a fan. If you are a professional art director you don’t give a damn about a potential illustrator’s creative process or how good they draw stealth caricatures of people in the coffee shop. They want to see publication-ready work. Likewise do not include life drawings, which are just another kind of sketchbook drawing and have no commercial applications. Don’t include x-rated or possibly offensive stuff unless that’s the kind of work you are aiming for.

As far as “getting your work noticed”, well, that’s the trick. Having a strong portfolio is great but doesn’t do you much good if nobody sees it. You need to aggressively look for publications and clients who you think your style would appeal to, and then get your work out to them. Doing a postcard mailing with a few samples on it and your website URL is a good direct marketing technique, but it involves a lot of legwork to find the contact info you need. There are mailing list services that will provide you with a list of buyers of illustration for a price, and that might be a good place to start. Postcards and mailings cost money, but you have to do some investing in your business to get it off the ground. Other possibilities are source books like the Directory of Illustration or the Workbook. which cost a fair amount of money to be a part of.  There are also online source books like the iSpot. Again, these cost money and may or may not be effective for you. I would start with the direct marketing mailers and go from there.

Thanks to Kim Chen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

We might be seeing this ugly guy a bit over the next two weeks… I’ve got a lot on my plate just now.

Q: Have you ever had a client that wanted things done in a certain way that looked bad? Did you try to educate them, refuse to do the project, or just complete it as they asked even if you thought it looked bad?

A: Yes, certainly. There have been many times where I disagreed with the art director/client’s idea of what would result in the best solution for their project.

There are basically three kinds of art directors:

1. The “do whatever you want” ones- These are the ones that tell you what the project is and then let you do whatever you want without direction. These are very rare, and although it sounds like it would be the best type of scenario that is not the case. I prefer the art director to be engaged in the project and to explain what they want and provide feedback at the various stages. Letting me do whatever I want might be fun but it doesn’t guarantee the client will be pleased with the final result. It’s the AD’s job to communicate the client’s needs to me and usually this type provides little of that communication.
2. The “open minded but informed” ones- these are the best to work with. They value the creative input of the illustrator and fully participate in the process. They usually begin with a detailed description of the project’s needs and then let me as the illustrator come up with my ideas for possible end results. Then they provide direct and smart feedback and direction to take my ideas and make them work with the client’s needs to create a solution that is both successful and artistically strong. They are sometimes tough but they never refuse to listen to my thoughts and can be persuaded if I feel strongly about a certain concept or direction if my arguments are strong enough.
3. The “my way or the highway” ones- these are single minded, stubborn folks who think their ideas are genius and there is no room for another idea or solution. They have a clear cut vision of the final result and hire an illustrator not as a creative collaborator but as a “wrist” who just executes their vision. If the idea is ineffective or just plain stupid they do not care, they don’t want to hear any alternatives. The worst part of this interaction is if a client ends up not liking the final result, this type of AD will blame the illustrator rather than confessing it was their idea all along.

The scenario you are asking the question about would relate to the last two types of art directors. If the AD is such a case as a type 2, I would present my ideas and discuss why I think they might work better. If they were a type 3, then I’d just save my breath. I might persuade the type 2 AD my concept was a better solution, and I might not. Either way the fact they are willing to listen and consider my point of view is appreciated.

No matter which type I was dealing with, I would absolutely follow through with the project and complete it to the client’s satisfaction. I can usually take any idea and still execute a piece of art I don’t mind my name being signed to, but I suppose if it came to really hating something I was embarrassed by (and I cannot envision a scenario where that would happen) I might ask them not to credit me. I would never not fulfill my agreed upon obligations nor complain once my ideas were rejected over the completion of a job. I might refuse to ever work for that client or art director again if the experience was truly terrible, but refuse to finish a job as long as they were fulfilling their end of the bargain as far as the agreement and compensation went? Never. Unprofessional.

Thanks to Sharprm for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

FYI- This Sunday Mailbag post was written and posted en route from Hartford Connecticut to Minneapolis, Minnesota at 34,000 feet via an inflight wifi internet connect… ain’t technology wonderful!

Not a whole lot on the board right now. That’s a good thing as I have to travel over the next two weeks opening up my theme park operations in Missouri and Massachusetts. I always have to turn down a few jobs at this time of year because of the theme park demands. I just wrapped up a series of storyboards for some animated segments in a movie as well as a few additional character designs for it, and another Marlin Co. poster illustration.

Here are the things I am currently working on:

• 2010 NCS Reubens T-Shirt Art- My annual illustration for the cartoonists weekend
• Two personal projects- Real painting!
• Movie Poster- For the film I did the animated characters and storyboards for

Here’s the art for the latest Marlin workplace poster. … Click each image for a closer look:

Pencil Roughs

Final inks

As you can see the client had a few changes. They wanted the firefighters on each side of the grill to be wearing hazmat suits as opposed to regular firefighting gear, and one to have a hose. They also wanted to lose two of the firefighters in the background.

The finished illustration…

This is a question from a while back that I thought was timely to repost today:

Q: It’s obvious that networking is a very valuable practice in the cartooning and illustration world, but are situations such as a comic-con or other gatherings of that nature an appropriate venue to try and foster such contacts? Those with booths and tables are likely there primarily to sell their own work, so would they view that sort of thing as an annoyance or an opportunity?

A: Comic cons are weird animals, to be certain. I actually haven’t been to that many cons, but I think I know what you are driving at. You want to know if it’s worth attending a comic con as a way to network in the pursuit of bigger and better things.

The short answer is that it depends what you want to get out of it. If your goal is to directly find and pursue work, then you will likely be disappointed. If your goal is to get people in the industry to know who you are and to in turn get to know people, then comic cons are a great place to be.

Like any large gathering of people from a single industry, there are a wide variety of types of individual in attendance at a comic con. As you observe, a lot of artists are at these conventions to make a buck selling their latest self published comic or book or what have you. In fact, the majority of those in attendance are selling something. A few are there to promote their latest project they have produced themselves or for a publisher. Some just go to meet their fans and to socialize. A small few are editors or art directors and of them almost none are interested in seriously considering an artist’s portfolio, although some may look to be polite. There is almost zero direct contact for work going on at a comic con.

That’s not to say it’s not worth attending one. As you observe, networking itself is valuable. It’s smart to get out of your cave and meet other people in the industry. Not everything has to be about getting jobs… just getting to know people and have them know of you and your work is a good thing. In that context, comic cons are great. They are highly social, and you can burn through a good stack of business cards over a weekend.

Comic cons used to be places where aspiring artists brought their porfolios to show editors of comic book publishers. There would be set times for portfolio reviews, and long lines of eager artists with bad Batman drawings under their arms. Not so anymore. While people do bring their portfolios around to cons it is more about asking for opinions on the work than the pursuit of work. Editors don’t go there looking for talent.

If you are looking to do some networking, go to one of the smaller cons as opposed to the big one in San Diego. It’s easier to meet people at the smaller shows. Have a promo piece/postcard made up to give away. Introduce yourself about. If you keep your eyes and ears open you can learn a lot about the type of projects and work going on, and that might apply to some ideas of your own.

Actually I have to revise my thoughts on this a bit after attending the San Diego Comic-Con this year. This show in particular has a great deal of panels and seminars on getting into the business, what you need to have and show in your portfolio and instructional seminars on a variety of subjects and techniques. There are also a few structured portfolio “talent search” sessions by companies like DC which are obviously good places for feedback. I still stand by my opinion that very few publishers come to something like Comic-Con LOOKING for new talent, however.

Thanks to Patrick LaMontagne for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Promo art by Peter “PG” Gustafsson

“The MAD Generation” is an exhibition of MAD inspired artwork showing at The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo in Atlanta, GA. It only runs for two weeks and the final three days are today, tomorrow and Saturday. The artwork in the show are tributes to MAD and the visual images that made it successful as seen through the eyes of about 50 different artists.

This looks like a fun show and I wish it was nearby. I don’t get to Atlanta anymore after having closed up my Underground Atlanta caricature location over a year ago… not that I would have happened to be in town anyway. Still it’s a cool concept and some of the art is really outstanding.

You can see much of the artwork from the show here, but if you happen to be in the Atlanta area it looks to be a very cool show… some great pieces. Check it out.