We're continuing to put together our international panel of judges for our 2011 shows, check below for the names of our judges so far and deadlines. Call for Entries will start to be sent out in January.
Professional Show No. 8
To date we have Jason Treat, DD, The Atlantic; DJ Stout, Pentagram; Mark Reddy, AD, BBH, UK; Haika Hinze, AD, Die Zeit, Germany and illustrators Oliver Weiss, Germany; Emiliano Ponzi, Italy; Andrea Innocent, Australia and Andrew Bannecker, USA.
Deadline for the ProShow is March 4. Be sure to add your name to our list by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
Student Show No. 8
To date we have Steven Guarnaccia (Parsons), Allan Drummond (SCAD), Andrew Foster (Central St. Martin's, UK), Frazer Hudson (Sheffield, UK), Chris Buzelli (USA) and Lars Henkel (Germany) illustrators.
Deadline for the Student Show is March 25. Call for Entries go out in January. Be sure to add your name to the list by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
Children's Show No. 8
We're putting together our panel of judges for the 2011 Children's Show. Stay tuned for the Call for Entries announcement in January.
Deadline for entries is April 22. Call for Entries go out in February. Be sure to add your name to the list by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
Sign-up for our Call for Entries
To be added to our Call for Entries mailing list please email us at shows@3x3mag.com with the subject line: Call for Entries. Please specify which call for entries you're interested in: Student, Professional or Children's—you may select more than one category.
Please include your full name, email address and mailing address so we may enter you into our database for our email blasts.
Important: Please add shows@3x3mag.com to your address book to ensure you receive our mailings.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Illustration Program Director Opening
The New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University is seeking an accomplished illustrator to join our new Bachelor of Fine Arts program in Illustration as Program Director and faculty member. Applicants will be evaluated comprehensively with consideration given to the totality of their professional and educational accomplishments.
The illustration curriculum emphasizes foundational drawing, painting and design skills, and the development of those skills in both traditional and digital media. Our mission is to equip our students with the means to pursue creative and meaningful careers as professional illustrators.
This full-time, tenure-track position, at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, will begin in the fall of 2011. In addition to teaching in and overseeing the BFA program in Illustration, the successful candidate will be expected to assist in marketing and publicizing the new major, spearhead continued curriculum development, take part in departmental and/or university committee work, advise major students, oversee independent study work with individual students, and participate in the recruitment of students as well as full-time and adjunct faculty.
Specific Skills
The successful candidate will hold a graduate degree, preferably an MFA, in illustration or a related discipline and will present significant evidence of professional work in the field of illustration. Three years of college-level teaching is required; administrative and curriculum development experience is highly desirable. Professional experience, involving the application of illustration skills to a variety of challenges and situations and involving current practices in digital as well as traditional media, is required. In addition to experience, candidates should have demonstrated achievement in the field, as evidenced by peer recognition, professional honors, prominence of clientele and contributions to the field.
How To Apply
Email: wdavis@suffolk.edu
Other Ways To Apply
Mail to:
William M. Davis, Chairman
New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University
75 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116
Submission Details
This position is subject to final budget approval.
The deadline for applications is January 28, 2011 and a final decision is expected by April 1, 2011. All application materials, including a cover letter, CV and electronic portfolio (a minimum of 20 examples of professional work and 20 examples of student work), should be emailed to: William M. Davis, Chairman, The New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University at wdavis@suffolk.edu
The illustration curriculum emphasizes foundational drawing, painting and design skills, and the development of those skills in both traditional and digital media. Our mission is to equip our students with the means to pursue creative and meaningful careers as professional illustrators.
This full-time, tenure-track position, at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, will begin in the fall of 2011. In addition to teaching in and overseeing the BFA program in Illustration, the successful candidate will be expected to assist in marketing and publicizing the new major, spearhead continued curriculum development, take part in departmental and/or university committee work, advise major students, oversee independent study work with individual students, and participate in the recruitment of students as well as full-time and adjunct faculty.
Specific Skills
The successful candidate will hold a graduate degree, preferably an MFA, in illustration or a related discipline and will present significant evidence of professional work in the field of illustration. Three years of college-level teaching is required; administrative and curriculum development experience is highly desirable. Professional experience, involving the application of illustration skills to a variety of challenges and situations and involving current practices in digital as well as traditional media, is required. In addition to experience, candidates should have demonstrated achievement in the field, as evidenced by peer recognition, professional honors, prominence of clientele and contributions to the field.
How To Apply
Email: wdavis@suffolk.edu
Other Ways To Apply
Mail to:
William M. Davis, Chairman
New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University
75 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116
Submission Details
This position is subject to final budget approval.
The deadline for applications is January 28, 2011 and a final decision is expected by April 1, 2011. All application materials, including a cover letter, CV and electronic portfolio (a minimum of 20 examples of professional work and 20 examples of student work), should be emailed to: William M. Davis, Chairman, The New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University at wdavis@suffolk.edu
Monday, December 13, 2010
Illustrator Confidence Level is High for 2011
The results of our recent survey shows illustrators see a brighter future for 2011. Based on 469 respondents from the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia, 45% see themselves as better off financially in 2011, 24% will be about the same and only 7% say they will be worse off. This compares nicely to the AIGA Designers Confidence Index that had 42.7% of graphic designers saying it would be better off, 47% about the same and only 10.1% worse. A major difference was 24% of illustrators answered that they didn't know if they would be better off, worse off or the same.
Asked about fees, 10% responded that fees had gone up, 29% that fees had gone down and the majority, 46%, saying fees remained the same.
Asked about the number of projects, 32% saw an increase in the past twelve months, 31% saw the number drop off and 28% saw the number of assignments remain the same; 9% were unsure.
Participants included 53% from the US, 11% each from Canada and the UK, 18% from Europe and 7% from Asia. 53% were full-time illustrators, 34% were part-time. 52% had a bachelor's degree, 31% had a graduate degree; 58% were male, 42% female, 59% were between the ages of 25-44.
We will be able to break down the research in more specific areas of age, years in the industry and education in an upcoming announcement but for now we wanted to share these top-line results.
Asked about fees, 10% responded that fees had gone up, 29% that fees had gone down and the majority, 46%, saying fees remained the same.
Asked about the number of projects, 32% saw an increase in the past twelve months, 31% saw the number drop off and 28% saw the number of assignments remain the same; 9% were unsure.
Participants included 53% from the US, 11% each from Canada and the UK, 18% from Europe and 7% from Asia. 53% were full-time illustrators, 34% were part-time. 52% had a bachelor's degree, 31% had a graduate degree; 58% were male, 42% female, 59% were between the ages of 25-44.
We will be able to break down the research in more specific areas of age, years in the industry and education in an upcoming announcement but for now we wanted to share these top-line results.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Public Speaking at Its Best
I just watched the new HBO Documentary Public Speaking, a film by Martin Scorsese about a New York institution. Here's what the New York Times had to say:
"To many Americans — millions, really — the name Fran Lebowitz doesn’t mean much. But in certain precincts, vital to the cultural functioning of both coasts, she is famously a friend, a crank, a climber, a cautionary tale, an iconoclast and a mouth. In “Public Speaking,” Martin Scorsese’s enormously enjoyable and perceptive documentary about her, Ms. Lebowitz’s endearing narcissism is a study in the notion that arrogance and insecurity are largely two sides of the same cocktail coaster."
For more than twenty years she has been famous in part for not writing Exterior Signs of Wealth, a long-overdue novel purportedly about rich people who want to be artists, and artists who want to be rich. She also made several appearances on Late Night With David Letterman during the early part of its run. Recently she has made recurring appearances as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television drama Law & Order.
As the Times says, "Nothing, Ms. Lebowitz says in the film, leaves her as fearful as writing. But the certainty with which she declaims (on gender, on connoisseurship, on Times Square and, all too reductively and even nonsensically, on race and politics) suggests that she isn’t afraid of writing because she worries she won’t be good enough. She is afraid of writing because she worries that she won’t be Alex de Tocqueville enough."
Substitute the word writing for the word illustrating and you come to realize how similar the art forms really are.
Shot in The Waverly Inn we're also treated to the wall murals of illustrator Ed Sorel, whom Fran gives a shout-out in the film.
If you're a New Yorker—you can only claim that if you've lived in the city over ten years—or just love this city, this is the film for you.
A poignant reminder about the AIDS epidemic is included here, as Fran points out not only did we lose some of our best artists, we lost the audience who loved and supported them. The revelation is clear: we're just not as cultivated as we once were. The film will have you thinking, laughing and commiserating all at the same time. Check it out.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Give and Receive
Here's an idea, want to get more business as an illustrator? Promote illustration to art directors and don't do it for yourself, do it for the industry. Every art director knows when they're being sold something, so no matter how great your promotional mailing, it's coming across as selling. Try another tack.
Give a subscription to an art director whose given you an assignment, or send an annual as a gift. And it's not necessary to be in the magazine or annual though that doesn't hurt. What you're doing is promoting the work of illustrators and the industry as a whole. Sure it exposes them to other illustrators and that could mean more competition for you, but overall it'll be good for the industry. It will help art directors believe that illustration is vital. It's a soft-sell that can work.
Whether it's the Society's annual or ours, a subscription to Juxtapoz, Varoom or 3x3, making more art directors aware of how great illustration can be will mean more work for everyone.
Give a subscription to an art director whose given you an assignment, or send an annual as a gift. And it's not necessary to be in the magazine or annual though that doesn't hurt. What you're doing is promoting the work of illustrators and the industry as a whole. Sure it exposes them to other illustrators and that could mean more competition for you, but overall it'll be good for the industry. It will help art directors believe that illustration is vital. It's a soft-sell that can work.
Whether it's the Society's annual or ours, a subscription to Juxtapoz, Varoom or 3x3, making more art directors aware of how great illustration can be will mean more work for everyone.
For What It's Worth 25
In writing the blurb for the backcover of our new illustration annual I decided to focus on a problem we all face. Why not more illustration?
I’m often asked why art directors don’t use more illustration. And the truthful answer is that far too few know anything about illustration. They’ve never been taught about their choices. When I was coming up through the ranks I knew I had three tools in my toolbox: photography, typography and illustration. Today’s educators emphasize only two of these tools. So young art directors have no clue that illustration exists and even if they do they are fearful of finding and working with an artist.
What will the client say?
How do I know what I’m going to get?
What if I don’t like what I get?
Here's what I tell art directors:
Finding illustrators is easy, you’ll generally find them in the same locations as photographers: in annuals, juried shows, galleries and publications.
Hiring them is easy, too. It’s really no different than hiring a photographer with one exception: You can work with the illustrator to develop the visual. And many times a much better one than you can imagine yourself.
In my day I’d always show the client something in the layout but made it clear that I was asking for other ideas from the illustrator. And it always worked, good clients will respect a better idea.
I tell art directors working with illustrators is fun, asking for ideas from someone whose job is visual imagery means you have an extra pair of hands and brain on tap.
Naturally being a subjective world there will be times when no one agrees and at that point everyone is back to square one. But take heart, illustrators will work with you to make it right.
Showing a comp photo leaves little to the imagination, making the leap of faith with an illustrator can mean you’ll end up with an even better idea.
And finally I say: Working with an illustrator may be something new for you but isn’t that a gamble you’re willing to make?
I’m often asked why art directors don’t use more illustration. And the truthful answer is that far too few know anything about illustration. They’ve never been taught about their choices. When I was coming up through the ranks I knew I had three tools in my toolbox: photography, typography and illustration. Today’s educators emphasize only two of these tools. So young art directors have no clue that illustration exists and even if they do they are fearful of finding and working with an artist.
What will the client say?
How do I know what I’m going to get?
What if I don’t like what I get?
Here's what I tell art directors:
Finding illustrators is easy, you’ll generally find them in the same locations as photographers: in annuals, juried shows, galleries and publications.
Hiring them is easy, too. It’s really no different than hiring a photographer with one exception: You can work with the illustrator to develop the visual. And many times a much better one than you can imagine yourself.
In my day I’d always show the client something in the layout but made it clear that I was asking for other ideas from the illustrator. And it always worked, good clients will respect a better idea.
I tell art directors working with illustrators is fun, asking for ideas from someone whose job is visual imagery means you have an extra pair of hands and brain on tap.
Naturally being a subjective world there will be times when no one agrees and at that point everyone is back to square one. But take heart, illustrators will work with you to make it right.
Showing a comp photo leaves little to the imagination, making the leap of faith with an illustrator can mean you’ll end up with an even better idea.
And finally I say: Working with an illustrator may be something new for you but isn’t that a gamble you’re willing to make?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
3x3 in Print
Only forty-two design firms were selected from New York City; only five designers had quotes featured in the section. I'm honored to have been included in such a prestigious group. Quite a coup for a design firm whose principal's commute is a 15-second walk from bedroom to office.
After-Hours: Davor Bakara
Two of his classmates—who graduated a year ahead of him at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart—were Christoph Nieman and Thomas Fuchs. His professor was the inimitable artist and designer Heinz Edelmann. The bar had been set high. And Davor will admit to being intimidated by both Christoph and Thomas, yet he came to realize he was his own artist and that was just fine.
Davor was one of founders and editors of Moga Mobo and now concentrates on editorial illustration. He has been honored by Freistil, Zelxs and 3x3 and exhibits his work in Germany and New York. And is a member of the Illustratoren Organisation—Germany's illustration organization.
Our three-hour conversation compared the US to Germany with respect to art directors, assignments, fee structures and promotion. One of his favorite landmarks in the world is the Brooklyn Bridge, he'd eyed it from afar on his computer and after his walk across a new drawing appeared in his sketchbook. He had arrived. We have a feeling he'll be back.
Monday, November 15, 2010
After-Hours: Stephanie Wunderlich & Jens Bonnke
We had the pleasure of meeting several illustrators from Germany last week, among those were Stephanie Wunderlich from Hamburg and Jens Bonnke from Berlin. We had met Jens several years ago when I was a speaker at Illustrative: Berlin; both Jens and Stephanie have been regulars in our annual shows.
The illustrators were in town for the American Illustration Party and of course taking in the sites in New York. They met through a mutual friend, Orlando Hoetzel who was Stephanie's studio-mate in Hamburg and now is sharing a studio with Jens in Berlin. Contacts count. Stephanie was staying with Nora Krug in Prospect Heights—Monika Aichele had introduced the two when they both lived in Hamburg. Jens was staying with his friend Ingo Fast in Red Hook.
Stephanie and Jens were on their way to dinner at Nora's and had time to sample our homemade guacamole and tortilla chips appetizer accompanied by fresh lime margaritas!
Lunch with Peter Diamond
Last week's American Illustration Party drew a number of foreign visitors to the city and we had the pleasure of having one of those illustrators over to the studio for lunch. Peter Diamond is a native of Canada and attended art school in Nova Scotia, receiving a degree in fine art. He only took two illustration classes as part of his schooling and pursued a freelance career working with small bands in Canada before concentrating on editorial illustration. He now calls Vienna, Austria home. How did he end up there? His girlfriend who he met in school is from there and it was less trouble for him to move to Vienna than for her to move to Canada. At some point he might consider returning to North America but for now he is content with his new life in Europe.
The really interesting part of our lunches with illustrators is to hear the backstory of how they got to where they are today. Peter's was no less interesting. He would call himself a born-slacker, dabbling in this and that and not really concentrating on his studies or listening to the words of his professors. And then two things happened, the death of his mother and leaving school and having to make a living. Both forced him to grow up fast.
I'm sure the transformation didn't happen overnight, but in conversation he has the sensibilities of a successful illustrator who's been doing this for the past ten years or so, not the two that is reality. I was curious how this happened, but in the discussion it was apparent that he was simply smart enough to know what he didn't know about the business side of illustration: how to find work, how to promote, how to be an illustrator. And he just started looking for answers, a slacker no more. His father was an ornithologist who had various government jobs in Canada and his mother was an archivist, neither would be an influence on his newborn business acumen though he can attribute his organizational skills to his mother.
The work itself shows a maturity of someone who had studied illustration for four years, maybe even having a graduate degree, not someone who dabbled in fine art. Peter attributes this to a career-changing workshop given by Yuko Shimizu in Venice and more recently an online Tutormill session with Chris Buzelli and Marcos Chin.
He has recently made a concerted effort to make himself more visible in the marketplace, not only to potential clients but to the illustration community at large. He was overjoyed at being in the midst of the enormous talent pool that showed up at Thursday's AI Party and waded through the crowd to meet as many of his heroes as possible. He also came as a representative of a fledgling new illustration organization in Vienna, Illustria, hoping to share what he found with his compatriots back home.
Looking back on our lunch conversation it reminds me of watching a plant grow: you plant it, feed it, water it and it sprouts new growth, get's taller and begins to bear fruit. Peter is no different.
When I saw Peter's work for the first time I was convinced that he had been around a long time and that somehow I had overlooked him. I expected to be visited by a wise older artist, the wise part was evident and he comes off as much older than his years.
3x3 Illustration Annual No 7 - On Press
We're happy to report that the next 3x3 Illustration Annual is at the printer's and we expect delivery in approximately three weeks. Delivery in the States should be around the first of December, in the UK and Europe, by mid-December. All subscriber copies will be mailed directly from the printer.
The 564-page annual is double the size of last year's with a new layout, larger images and credits for the illustrator and art director on each page with full credits in the index. The redesign allows us to make most images full-page and to devote spreads to series of work by individual artists.
This year's cover artist is Alessandro Gottardo, aka Shout and our Educator of the Year is Massachusetts College of Art and Design's instructor Scott Bakal. Scott is being recognized for his many artistic accomplishments as well as his devotion to students. Scott is on the Board of Directors at the Society of Illustrators in New York City and besides his position as Treasurer, he chairs the Student Scholarship Competition and Zankel Scholarship which are the largest illustration student competitions in the world. In 2009, he was also elected to the Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Collection as a Committee Member at the New Britain Museum of American Art.
The annual will be available on leading newsstands in bookstores in the US, Canada, the UK, parts of Europe and Asia. The annual will also be available this week for purchase online and through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com after December 1.
Cover artist Shout
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Design Leaders Slightly More Confident in 3rd Qtr
As a member of the AIGA I receive the results of a variety of surveys, this one is a positive one. Contrasting broader economic trends, the design industry confidence rises:
AIGA’s Design Leaders Confidence Index increased slightly to 98.99 from 96.13 in the third quarter of 2010, consistent with levels in October 2009 when it rose to 99.01. In rating the current design economy as compared to six months ago, 42.7 percent of the design leaders surveyed believed it was better; 47.2 percent about the same; and only 10.1 percent rated it as worse.
This relative optimism defies the broader trends in the economy. The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which was unchanged in the second quarter of 2010, declined in the third quarter. The measure now reads 50, down from 62 last quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses). Less than one third of respondents say conditions have improved compared to six months ago.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased slightly in October, now standing at 50.2, up from 48.6 in September. The Present Situation Index increased to 23.9 from 23.3. The Expectations Index improved to 67.8 from 65.5.
Looking ahead in the design economy
Of surveyed design leaders, 57.9 percent estimated that the economy will be better six months from now; 36.8 percent expected it to be the same; and only 5.3 percent believed it would be worse. Only 15.6 percent believed the chances of hiring staff were worse now than on July 1, 2010; only 13.8 percent believed they were less likely to purchase hardware or software than three months ago.
The next Design Leaders Confidence Index survey will be conducted in mid-January 2011.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Desk Space Available in Push Pin Studio
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Hungarian Haiku
Istvan Banyai forwarded me the following as a response to this issue's cover that appears over there on the right:
13 drops of blood...even without the character on the cover says it all about illustration,
The moment before death,
The visible sign of:
the idea
the pain,
humiliation,
the argument,
the art director
the editor,
the colors
the composition
the after hours.
the changes
the stress
the smoking
and
the payment!
13 drops of blood...even without the character on the cover says it all about illustration,
The moment before death,
The visible sign of:
the idea
the pain,
humiliation,
the argument,
the art director
the editor,
the colors
the composition
the after hours.
the changes
the stress
the smoking
and
the payment!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Victoria & Albert Museum Illustration Awards
The V&A Illustration Awards are held annually to highlight the best book and editorial illustration published in the UK in the previous year. Their aim is to encourage, recognise and celebrate high standards of creativity in the industry. The awards are free to enter and offer some of the most substantial financial prizes for illustration in the UK.
There are four different categories:
2011 Student Illustrator Award
2011 Book Cover Illustration Award
2011 Editorial Illustrator Awards
2011 Book Illustration Award
Entrants may submit up to three images of their work. All images uploaded must be in the JPEG format, maximum file size of 1MB and not larger than 900 pixels in width.
Eligibility
The awards are open to illustrators living in the UK or publishing within the UK Market. Work published in 2010 are eligible for this year’s awards.
Student Illustrator Award entries are encouraged from anyone who has attended an illustration course at any time during 2007 2009 or 2010. The brief is open. Students may submit material set as coursework by their tutors or they may define their own brief.
Prize
The winner for each category will receive £2,000 and a trophy. The overall winner of the V&A Illustration Awards will receive an additional £2,000.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Fit for Print
The editors at the Print Regional Design Annual asked a series of questions of each of the winning design firms, below are my answers:
1. What's your favorite thing about being a designer in your city or town?
Being a designer in New York City – though technically we’re located in Brooklyn.
The most challenging?
Space. Dollars per square foot.
2. What was the single greatest challenge or obstacle in making this piece, and how did you overcome it?
Trying to make each issue perfect and perfectly un-designed.
3. Is there an interesting backstory to any of the materials or elements you incorporated—the typeface(s), paper, photos, or illustrations?
The covers are a new direction for us where we ask each featured illustrator to somehow incorporate the issue number on the cover in an interesting way. And hopefully an interesting, non-obvious, unusual way. No. 12 and 13 have been the most successful in my eyes and what we are hoping for with each cover.
When I asked if we might be able to purchase the Martin Haake’s cover art for Issue 11 I was surprised to learn that it was all digital.
Issue 12’s model is the illustrator, Krister Flodin’s girlfriend who is also an illustrator. She doesn’t have six fingers.
Issue 13 began when our illustrator was going into the hospital, he promised the sketches before going in but warned us that he would be out of commission for at least 30-days. We didn’t worry about the deadline, we did offer to reschedule his feature for another issue but he insisted we go ahead. He delivered the final, we finished the article, it went on the newsstand and then we did another piece on him in our sister publication, Creative Quarterly. He went back in the hospital in early January and passed away at the end of the month. Nick Dewar was only 37 years old.
4. What was the process like for this piece? Did your client give you a lot of leeway, or were you sticking to a strict brief?
We are our own client; we’re not a publisher, we’re a design studio that produces two art/design magazines, an annual, directory and books, oh, and we did our first annual conference this year.
5. If you could do one thing differently in designing this piece, what would it be?
Size. I would love to have a larger format or at the very least more pages. We’d love to show more environmental photos as this is a very popular feature of 3x3.
6. What sorts of clients do you normally work for? Large, small? Any particular type of industry or institution?
In my career I’ve worked in advertising agencies large, medium and small. I’ve owned two of my own and now operate an independent design studio with self-generated projects. We also do the occasional branding project but quite frankly I prefer being my own client.
7. How do you get most of your work? Self-promotion, word-of-mouth, other approach?
A combination of approaches has always worked for me, primarily publicity and direct mail. I have always believed in being as visible as possible whether it was through a press release or entering a show. Publicity has brought more work over the transom than anything. It gets people talking which leads to being invited to a pitch.
8. How has the economy changed your design business? Has it affected the designers in your area, and if so, how?
It’s scarier. We have three shows for 3x3 and four shows for Creative Quarterly—I sweat bullets for a full thirty days prior to every show deadline. I don’t sleep well, I check my email more than usual, I tally the total entries every night--I worry constantly whether anyone or enough people will enter the show. It hasn’t been any different since we started in 2003, but this year was scarier than usual. But I have to add that it has been our most successful year to date. And the entries were of a very high caliber, fewer marginal pieces than prior years.
Most of the people I know, the really good people are busy. They may be taking on projects they normally would turn down, or do it for less just to get the job but they’re busy. The lesser talents are the ones who are really hurting.
9. Do you do any other type of work besides design? Or do you have a passion that you hope to turn into a business one day?
Since this is our business, publishing and designing magazines and books, we stay pretty busy just doing that. I have an interest in art and photography and spend more time with a camera than with brushes.
10. Is there a certain type of work you see being done by a lot of designers in your area? Do you think your location has a regional style?
I’ve always thought New York had a very sophisticated style, heavy on the conceptual side when compared to the west coast, which is more decorative and less conceptual.
11. On that note, have you worked (or trained in) any other region of the US as a designer? What differences have you noticed?
Yes, I spent the bulk of my career in Texas—Austin and Houston, moving to New York in 1999. New York is different in that you specialize; in Texas I was a generalist. I would design packaging one day and be on location the next day for a major TV shoot. When I got to New York headhunters asked me what I wanted to do, I told them “everything” and quickly learned that’s not how it’s done here.
12. What does winning a place in the Regional Design Annual mean to you personally, to your clients, to your colleagues, or all of the above?
It means a lot to our small staff (three full-time plus an intern or two) and it means a lot to our audience of international illustrators. And hopefully we’ll get more interest from art directors and designers about illustration, after all that is our mission. Throughout my career illustrators have always made me look good.
Any comments about the issue or about Print generally?
The Regional Design Issue is so important in that you get to see work by region; no one else is doing that. I’ve been a subscriber to Print for eons.
Thanks so much for your responses.
The Print staff
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The Folio Society and House of Illustration Inaugural Book Competition
The UK's House of Illustration and The Folio Society have launched an exciting new competition with the chance to win a prestigious Folio commission illustrating Albert Camus’s The Outsider.
This inaugural online competition, launched today, will require entrants to submit three illustrations and a binding design. Entrants must be over the age of 18 and not already Folio Society published illustrators.
The winner will receive a £4,000 (approximately $6,400USD) Folio commission to complete a collection of seven illustrations for the book, which will be published by The Folio Society in the autumn of 2011.
Five runners up will each receive a £500 (approximately $800USD) cash prize, and a minimum of three of the six prizes will go to students.
Flora Craig, the House of Illustration’s Project Director, said: ‘This is an extremely exciting initiative for both the House of Illustration and The Folio Society. A unique chance for established and emerging illustrators alike, we hope to encourage and help launch the careers of the best new illustration talent.’
The judges for the prize will include internationally acclaimed illustrator Quentin Blake, renowned British writer and actor, Simon Callow and illustrator, Laura Carlin.
The deadline for entries is 10 January 2011, and the winners will be announced at the beginning of February 2011.
More details online or contact info@houseofillustration.org.uk
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Freelance Illustrator Job Opening
Wieden+Kennedy New York is looking for freelance illustrators and/or freelance designers who have an illustrative aesthetic to create original images which are inspired by a pop culture reference and/or story line (which will be provided to them). Candidates must have the ability to create imagery which tells a story, whether it be through hand-drawn illustration, computer-generated design/illustration or collage style image building.
Candidates must also have the ability to work on site at the Wieden+Kennedy New York office (Soho area), within the time-frame of November 2010 through December 2010 (to start)
Fluency in other languages (especially French, German and/or Spanish) will be a plus (though definitely not a deal breaker).
Apply via email to: sarah.park@wk.com
Monday, September 27, 2010
A Must-See
I just finished viewing the 40-minute HBO documentary on Maurice Sendak by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze, Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak. This hand-held, haphazard, intricately edited movie lets us get to know the illustrator, writer and man. I laughed through parts of it, and not at the man but with him and I have to say it moved me to tears at the end, not out of sadness but out of joy. He expresses in the end what all illustrators and artists believe, that it's a joy and a privilege to get up everyday to make pictures.
For What It's Worth No. 24
I always wanted to be Seymour Chwast. I can remember the day I got The Push Pin Style in the mail back in 1971. I was like a kid at Christmas, I poured over every image, read it cover to cover and left it on the night stand kind of like when I was a kid I would take my Christmas presents to bed with me that first night—this was that kind of night. The volume was a hardcover, slipcased catalog of the studio's exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris—the Louvre no less. The exhibit travelled all over Europe, South America and Japan. The book reprints over 448 examples of the studio's innovative design work for advertising, book and record covers, magazine illustrations, posters and other graphics by the members of the studio.
Sure it wasn't just Seymour's work I was looking at but his made the most impression on me; I wanted to draw like Seymour. I hadn't felt that way since grade school when Harry Miller was the best drawer in class and I was a distant second; his poster of the Easter bunny graced the third grade classroom wall until I asked Harry if I could have it and then it became my treasure. The Push Pin Style had a major influence on my career as an illustrator and designer, it shaped my view of illustration as a powerful art form, it showed me how design and illustration can work together, it opened doors to all sorts of possibilities. It planted firmly in mind that one day I too would be working in New York. I had just graduated from college in Austin, was starting an advertising agency and wanted to combine strong concept, wit and illustration in all our projects. Push Pin Style showed me that it could be done.
The folks at Push Pin revolutionized illustration—there's a wonderful interview with co-founder Edward Sorel in this issue of 3x3 where he talks about the early, heady days at the studio and how warm the reception was to their new style of illustration and design. I'm not exactly sure how we illustrators arrive at our style—perhaps a series of happy accidents—but you can certainly trace back influences in every illustrator's work. Mine relied heavily on Alan Cober, Murray Tinkleman, Seymour Chwast, Franklin McMahon and R.O. Blechman and yet as I finished copying each style it all melted into something that looked like none of the above. Or perhaps parts of the above.
It was interesting to see that it happens with all artists. Coincidentally I watched a program on Marcel Duchamp this weekend and discovered that Duchamp started out interpreting the styles of the times imitating Cezanne, Monet, Picasso—my art history classes never covered his earler paintings. He moved from style to style discarding one for another until his ultimate triumph: his Cubist-riff Nude Descending the Staircase. Then he stopped painting. He once said that he grew bored with each style once he had mastered it; he didn't become the Duchamp we know until after he stopped copying. The Ready-Made—the non-art is what he's famous for; with this he was totally original.
I'm often puzzled and dismayed when I see work that is so heavily influenced by present-day illustrators, my hope is that these illustrators too are just on the brink of creating something truly original and not just a copy.
Sure it wasn't just Seymour's work I was looking at but his made the most impression on me; I wanted to draw like Seymour. I hadn't felt that way since grade school when Harry Miller was the best drawer in class and I was a distant second; his poster of the Easter bunny graced the third grade classroom wall until I asked Harry if I could have it and then it became my treasure. The Push Pin Style had a major influence on my career as an illustrator and designer, it shaped my view of illustration as a powerful art form, it showed me how design and illustration can work together, it opened doors to all sorts of possibilities. It planted firmly in mind that one day I too would be working in New York. I had just graduated from college in Austin, was starting an advertising agency and wanted to combine strong concept, wit and illustration in all our projects. Push Pin Style showed me that it could be done.
The folks at Push Pin revolutionized illustration—there's a wonderful interview with co-founder Edward Sorel in this issue of 3x3 where he talks about the early, heady days at the studio and how warm the reception was to their new style of illustration and design. I'm not exactly sure how we illustrators arrive at our style—perhaps a series of happy accidents—but you can certainly trace back influences in every illustrator's work. Mine relied heavily on Alan Cober, Murray Tinkleman, Seymour Chwast, Franklin McMahon and R.O. Blechman and yet as I finished copying each style it all melted into something that looked like none of the above. Or perhaps parts of the above.
It was interesting to see that it happens with all artists. Coincidentally I watched a program on Marcel Duchamp this weekend and discovered that Duchamp started out interpreting the styles of the times imitating Cezanne, Monet, Picasso—my art history classes never covered his earler paintings. He moved from style to style discarding one for another until his ultimate triumph: his Cubist-riff Nude Descending the Staircase. Then he stopped painting. He once said that he grew bored with each style once he had mastered it; he didn't become the Duchamp we know until after he stopped copying. The Ready-Made—the non-art is what he's famous for; with this he was totally original.
I'm often puzzled and dismayed when I see work that is so heavily influenced by present-day illustrators, my hope is that these illustrators too are just on the brink of creating something truly original and not just a copy.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
For What It's Worth No. 23
Advertising Age just revealed the annual Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey showing affluent Americans—those making more than $100,000 per year—are moving away from print to the internet. Magazine readership dropped 16% while internet viewership increased by 12%. What's ironic is that television viewing remained static at an average of 17.6 hours per week. This all reminded me of what my mother used to say: "Too much television will make you go blind." Now I'm sure she really didn't mean blind, but she did realize it wasn't good for the eyes to stare at the screen for a long time. She spent her childhood without television and her nearsighted vision lasted her all of her 87 years—she really only ever needed reading glasses—while her son required glasses by the time he turned 12 and still wears them. Mom grew up on a farm and I'm sure her eyes got a workout in the field as well as on the front porch, scanning the horizon or watching out for what may be underfoot.
The Ipsos study shows that on average affluent Americans spend a total of 42.9 hours on the internet and television combined. I don't know about you but my eyes are extremely tired by the end of the day to the point of blurriness which is to be expected when my screen is about a foot away from me—that would be like sitting that close to the TV for over eight hours each day. It just can't be good for us. Yet that's where we're headed, away from looking at the distance and only looking at things close up, the internet, e-readers, i-Phones and the like. In fact if you walk down the street in Manhattan you'll see dozens of New Yorkers who aren't looking up they're looking down reading or texting—and we thought tourists were a nuisance!
There's so much of the real world to see I'm continually troubled by how many hours we stay locked in our room in front of a screen. While we may think we're having the foresight to keep up with the latest technology we're actually becoming more farsighted. And that just can't be good for us.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Drinks with Phil Wrigglesworth and Jakob Hinrichs
Asked if there was much difference between art directors here and across the pond, the answer was no, not really. They have both received welcome invitations to see art directors while in New York—not just drop off their books. Perhaps it's because they have such a good reputation or perhaps it's because they are telling their prospects that they're only in town for a week, whatever it is it is working.
Both enjoy working in the US market. Phil is with Gerald & Cullen Rapp, and Jakob represents himself and both promote themselves vigorously. And they don't see each other as competition so it's natural that they in tandem present their work; art directors get two portfolio views for the price of one's time.
In this photo, left to right, Phil Wrigglesworth, Sarah Munt and Jakob Hinrichs
Friday, September 10, 2010
A Trio of Print Regional Design Awards
Our philosophy about shows is to enter every one simply because we are getting a chance to be in front of creative directors, art directors, art buyers and editors—our message has a built-in audience in shows. While we may not win every time, we are at the very least exposing these judges to what we want them to see, and hopefully get excited about. And when we win we are exposed to an even larger audience. There's never a bad reason to enter shows though every year it becomes more costly.
Congratulations to all our featured illustrators, advertisers, writers and photographers for making us look so good. And thank you to Sarah and Jessica who help me get each and every issue out the door.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Issue 15 Goes to Press
In addition we have David Humphries and Freddy Boo (UK), Jakob Westman (Sweden) and Hiromichi Ito (Japan) in our Showcase. And in our Gallery we have Peter Diamond (Austria), IC4Design (Japan), Timothy Cook, Dante Terzigni, Cathy Choi (US), Tim Dinter (Germany) and Christiane Beauregard and Mathieu Lavoie (Canada).
Our Icon is Push Pin Studio co-founder, Edward Sorel. Andrew Bannecker's Coca-Cola, Copenhagen is our campaign and Tor art director Irene Gallo is our Profile. We continue our Nuts & Bolts CareerTalk special series talking about the all-important business plan in this issue.
Order your subscription or single-copy issues online.
For What It's Worth No. 22
It’s been a busy summer. Business trips and pleasure trips and visits from people we love. Our first visitor this summer was my son, Geoffrey who is a chef at the four seasons in Houston, Texas. He came to New York with the expectation of working in a few restaurants just for the experience. He brought his knifes as any good chef would but ended up being inspired not by the kitchens he worked in but by the visual treats that is New York. Days turned into weeks and not once did he sit foot in a restaurant other than as a customer. He walked the upper and lower east side and west side, uptown and downtown; he took in the sites of Brooklyn and Prospect Park. And he endured the oppressive heat that is so unusual for the east coast and learned to live without air conditioning—something he could or would never do in Texas. It was a good time to bond and as a parent you come to fully appreciate your kids when they become peers especially when they turn out smarter than yourself.
Our second visitors were my daughter and my grandson, the differences and similarities could not have been more stark. Here is my grandson, Quentin, three decades younger than my son yet he seemed inspired by his new surroundings, different from what he sees in his hometown of Dallas. It got me thinking about the decades we live in, the first decade through the last of our lives. When I look back on my son’s three decades I marvel at all the changes that have taken place, then I look at my six decades and all the many more changes that happened.
I grew up in the era of radio and television, newspapers and magazines, the Sunday funnies. Where shopping was done in the Sears Roebuck catalog or at their brick-and-mortar store. Where S&H green stamps could fulfill dreams. Where coffee, tea and milk were hand-delivered on a set schedule. Where transportation was the streetcar, bus or train. Where everyone wrote letters or postcards and corresponded by mail. And libraries were sanctuaries of knowledge. Where magazines were over sized and comics were our entertainment—both providing the color in our lives. Where a radio gave us our music, Popular Mechanics gave us ideas on how to build things and Playboy gave us lust. Where having a typewriter in the home was a rarity and a fountain pen a prized-possession. Our single phone hung in the kitchen connected directly to a pole outside. Our TV relied on a pair of rabbit ears to bring in the blown-out black and white images. Our news came at 6pm every night unless it was bad news, which would interrupt our regularly scheduled program. Where we lived with three painful assassinations and put a man on the moon.
My son grew up in the beginnings of the computer age, today he downloads music, full-length movies, games and videos, he flies when he doesn’t drive—I can’t think of a time when he’s been on either a bus or train. He hand-builds computers. He orders everything online and rarely sets foot in an actual store. He gets his hard news 24-7 and his soft news from blogs and emails and texts. His need for information is just a Google search away. His keyboard follows him everywhere he goes. My grandson begins his journey in a fully-digital era where an iPhone is common and apps multiply like rabbits. Where e-books and i-Pads are becoming the norm. What’s ahead in the next ten years? What, oh what, do the next three decades hold in store for us?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Lunch with Oliver Weiss
A native of Munich, Oliver laments how illustration in Germany before the war was vibrant and original and wonders what has changed all that. Too many German illustrators must find the really exciting projects here in the States—he doesn't have a good reason for why that should be the case. He senses that the publications in Germany are far more conservative than you may find elsewhere. And he chuckles when someone refers to his work as "kindergarten" since most of his drawings are humorous, humor is relegated to children's literature in Germany—a tough climate for someone who likes to poke fun at institutions and the absurdities of the world.
We had a spirited debate concerning styles and having more than one; the fact is Oliver has dozens of styles and prefers it that way. The solution to the problem should define the style used is his mantra and he's had some success exploring different ways to solve problems visually. My caution was that in America there tends to be singular styles and it is expected when showing work to an art director. Perhaps Oliver is so successful at promoting unique solutions to each problem because of his editorial background; maybe there is more trust from the other side of the desk due to his experience.
On the subject of reps, he was adamant that he didn't want a rep—ever. He had had one for a week and was so disappointed by the contract that he pulled out and hasn't looked back. He is a big believer in illustrators having solid contracts and approaching projects using good business sense.
In talking about insecurity, he admitted as did I that insecurity is a positive thing, it keeps us grounded. As I related every great designer or illustrator I know has some insecurity, and it was most evident in our latest issue when I interviewed Ed Sorel who candidly replied that he is afraid of every job that comes in the door, afraid that he can't do the job. Great designers are always fearful of being found out as shams.
After a delightful quiche, a few glasses of red wine and a homemade raspberry/red wine sorbet, the lunch was over and Oliver was on his way back to the City, the city he might one day call home.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
For What It's Worth No. 21
Design is hard. Good design is harder. Great design is near impossible. I am about to start designing the next issue of 3x3 and I've been putting it off for weeks now. I fret and worry, stall and stir around ideas in my head, pay bills, check my email and Facebook all delaying my attempt at designing the magazine. It should be easy, the grid is there, the images have been selected, the text has been written and edited but I'm scared to start for the fear that I won't create anything really special.
A friend of mine and I were having a fairly heated discussion about design the other day—of course it wasn't face to face it was on Facebook. He had asked what I thought of his new design for a magazine that he's an art director, creative director, design director—whatever label you want to use—of. I had been afraid he'd ask that question but I had to tell him I honestly thought it was a poor design. He had taken a fairly dull, uninteresting publication and transformed into something that wasn't that but in my opinon had turned into something butt-ugly. Every page literally shouted with heavy-handed type, bright colors and uneven columns of type. No rhythm—no ups and downs, just ups. No air to breathe, no pause to take. His rationale was that there was a rhythm when everything is shouting. It became apparent in the conversation that his interest was not in conveying information it was to put out a visual forcefield in hopes of attracting a new audience or at the very least keeping the readership they have. Content was of no matter, design was king. My old age started to show, I've been designing for over three decades now—four if I tell the truth and my goal has never been for the design to be king—quite the contrary, I don't want the reader to see the design. It's the same way I created television spots—I called them dumb spots— I drained all the glamor and put the message out there as simply as I could. The idea was king and that's what people remember and respond to. I remember one spot in particular, it was our first Subway Sandwich spot where we showed greasy food, a man's button popping off his shirt and the tagline: Half of Subway sandwiches have 6 grams of fat or less. The spot ran on Sunday, Monday at lunch they ran out of food and had customers lining up outside the door. We became heroes, no one had ever created a spot in their thirty-year history that saw such dramatic sales numbers; we were invited to the national conference and a franchisee there said while he liked the spot he said, "We can't run that spot on national television." It didn't meet his criteria for a national spot. But it worked and it worked in every market it ran in and it worked better than the spot national ran with all the glitz and glamor. A good idea is all that matters.
Content i.e. text can be the hero or visuals can be the hero, sure they can work together but not at the same time. His comment about the state of design publications is that they are all dying, his goal was to save at least his publication from that fate. I brought the conversation back to content, too many publications offer the same content—the same personalities, the same advice, the same stories with just a slight twist. It's difficult to find good content, we only have so many stars in our industry so everyone knows that's a good read and a draw for an audience to buy or subscribe. So we end up recycling stories and that's why these publications are dying. Face it do we need more than one graphic design magazine, one illustration one, one fine art or photography magazine? I think not.
I agree design plays a part in keeping magazines alive, there are magazines that I cannot bear to read, they are not inviting no matter the content and sure there are dull magazines as well that show no life no matter the glossy images. But must we scream our message for anyone to hear? I own a collection of Alexey Brodovitch's Portfolio magazine—there are only four published back in the early 50s—and have long admired his use of space, texture and type; certainly he broke the rules in format, design and committed the ultimate sin, no advertising. He had free reign in design but each and every page is built around content and it looks as fresh today as it did the day it was created. That's my hope for 3x3, that someone sixty years from now will be picking up a copy and marveling not at the design but the lack of it.
A friend of mine and I were having a fairly heated discussion about design the other day—of course it wasn't face to face it was on Facebook. He had asked what I thought of his new design for a magazine that he's an art director, creative director, design director—whatever label you want to use—of. I had been afraid he'd ask that question but I had to tell him I honestly thought it was a poor design. He had taken a fairly dull, uninteresting publication and transformed into something that wasn't that but in my opinon had turned into something butt-ugly. Every page literally shouted with heavy-handed type, bright colors and uneven columns of type. No rhythm—no ups and downs, just ups. No air to breathe, no pause to take. His rationale was that there was a rhythm when everything is shouting. It became apparent in the conversation that his interest was not in conveying information it was to put out a visual forcefield in hopes of attracting a new audience or at the very least keeping the readership they have. Content was of no matter, design was king. My old age started to show, I've been designing for over three decades now—four if I tell the truth and my goal has never been for the design to be king—quite the contrary, I don't want the reader to see the design. It's the same way I created television spots—I called them dumb spots— I drained all the glamor and put the message out there as simply as I could. The idea was king and that's what people remember and respond to. I remember one spot in particular, it was our first Subway Sandwich spot where we showed greasy food, a man's button popping off his shirt and the tagline: Half of Subway sandwiches have 6 grams of fat or less. The spot ran on Sunday, Monday at lunch they ran out of food and had customers lining up outside the door. We became heroes, no one had ever created a spot in their thirty-year history that saw such dramatic sales numbers; we were invited to the national conference and a franchisee there said while he liked the spot he said, "We can't run that spot on national television." It didn't meet his criteria for a national spot. But it worked and it worked in every market it ran in and it worked better than the spot national ran with all the glitz and glamor. A good idea is all that matters.
Content i.e. text can be the hero or visuals can be the hero, sure they can work together but not at the same time. His comment about the state of design publications is that they are all dying, his goal was to save at least his publication from that fate. I brought the conversation back to content, too many publications offer the same content—the same personalities, the same advice, the same stories with just a slight twist. It's difficult to find good content, we only have so many stars in our industry so everyone knows that's a good read and a draw for an audience to buy or subscribe. So we end up recycling stories and that's why these publications are dying. Face it do we need more than one graphic design magazine, one illustration one, one fine art or photography magazine? I think not.
I agree design plays a part in keeping magazines alive, there are magazines that I cannot bear to read, they are not inviting no matter the content and sure there are dull magazines as well that show no life no matter the glossy images. But must we scream our message for anyone to hear? I own a collection of Alexey Brodovitch's Portfolio magazine—there are only four published back in the early 50s—and have long admired his use of space, texture and type; certainly he broke the rules in format, design and committed the ultimate sin, no advertising. He had free reign in design but each and every page is built around content and it looks as fresh today as it did the day it was created. That's my hope for 3x3, that someone sixty years from now will be picking up a copy and marveling not at the design but the lack of it.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Nuts & Bolts Book Now Available
No school has time to adequately prepare a student illustrator—or designer or fine artist for that matter—for the real world and as a result the illustration industry remains static. Fees haven’t changed in forty years. Illustration has lost much of the respect it once had among art directors, editors and advertisers. But I feel that can change if we provide young illustrators with a better set of tools.What I’ve discovered is that successful illustrators are all very astute business people as well as being talented illustrators. I think this book will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of starting your career as an illustrator. That’s good for your career. And ultimately that’s good for the industry.
From Amazon.com:
Nuts & Bolts is a culmination of over seven years of intense observation of the illustration field and the contact that the author has had personally with successful illustrators. And he is coming from the perspective of a former advertising agency art director and graphic designer as well as publisher of 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. He is in a unique position to see the best and worst of illustrator’s web sites and promotions as not only does he look at them now but he’s been on the receiving end of artist’s promotions for most of his thirty-plus year career. On top of that he actually started out as an illustrator so can identify with the problems illustrators face.
Based on a series of 2009 lectures in the United Kingdom, Nuts & Bolts talks about the three things every successful illustrator knows and the do’s and don’ts for young illustrators entering the market. Professors, Andrew Foster and Gary Powell at Central St Martin’s in London had this to say about his lecture:
“Charles Hively’s candid lecture to the current cohort of MA illustration students at St Martins School of Art & Design in London in 2009, was full of energy and an in-depth knowledge about the subject of illustration.
Issues were raised about the importance of draftsmanship, observational skills, intelligent creative ideas, and an awareness of professional practice was all fundamental in the pursuit of a successful illustrative career.
His talk was the appropriate balance between subject knowledge, fun, quality imagery and a few scary bits. The lecture raised many student questions, which in itself says a lot. His passion is contagious, even when you disagree with aspects of what he was actually saying. Good lectures should be informative, stimulating and a catalyst for inspiration, debate and questioning. This was a very good lecture, a pleasure to witness. We strongly recommend.”
Order Nuts & Bolts online or soon at Amazon.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Déjà Vu
It happened again. I was in the middle of my presentation at our Nuts & Bolts Conference and I got to our magazine cover slides and had to pause in front of Issue 13, stand back and regain my composure. I thought I'd gotten past it, I thought the sadness had left. For those of you who don't subscribe to or purchase 3x3 on the newsstand you missed my editorial in Issue 14 so if you were at our conference or have heard about what happened let me explain.
As the new year arrived I was optimistic; even with the bad economy I was looking forward to 2010, but it all changed with the death of Nick Dewar at the end of January. It hit me hard. Here was someone I barely knew, only through our emails and the article that Brian Rea submitted last issue and of course by the work that I have admired since starting this magazine. Nick was special. And the loss at such a young age is tragic.
The thought of dying never occurred to me in my twenties or thirties, I was spared from any tragedy but as I grew older I began losing people I cared about, people who had made an impact on my life. My mentor and boss in a tragic boating accident; my copywriter partner, mother of four, from a mysterious illness; my marketing director who battled most of his adult life with an arterial disease that had taken his leg. All died suddenly. A couple of them I hadn’t spoken to in years, yet with all of them the grieving process took weeks sometimes months to go through.
When I learned that an insidious rampant leukemia took Nick’s life, the loss somehow paralysed me. Fear took over, not a fear of death but of life—I was wracked by sudden doubts about the future. Optimism turns to pessimism. The what-ifs began. Would anyone enter this year’s show? How many people would continue to support the magazine in this economic climate? Could we sustain two magazines and our annuals? Would we have to lay-off people? Fear of the unknown can cripple creativity and bring everything to a halt. Conquering the what-ifs is tougher than facing the what-is.
I’ve been fearful many times in my life, there were times when I’ve been unemployed for months at a time, there have been divorces that took their toll emotionally, physically and financially and yet I survived and many times thrived as a result of these debilitating occurrences. It’s been like déjà vu these past several months, but as always the practice of moving forward without looking back can counter the what-ifs of life. That and a bit of luck. People did enter—more entries from more places than ever before. First quarter subscriptions are up. We added an intern. The issue is out. Life—is—good.
As the new year arrived I was optimistic; even with the bad economy I was looking forward to 2010, but it all changed with the death of Nick Dewar at the end of January. It hit me hard. Here was someone I barely knew, only through our emails and the article that Brian Rea submitted last issue and of course by the work that I have admired since starting this magazine. Nick was special. And the loss at such a young age is tragic.
The thought of dying never occurred to me in my twenties or thirties, I was spared from any tragedy but as I grew older I began losing people I cared about, people who had made an impact on my life. My mentor and boss in a tragic boating accident; my copywriter partner, mother of four, from a mysterious illness; my marketing director who battled most of his adult life with an arterial disease that had taken his leg. All died suddenly. A couple of them I hadn’t spoken to in years, yet with all of them the grieving process took weeks sometimes months to go through.
When I learned that an insidious rampant leukemia took Nick’s life, the loss somehow paralysed me. Fear took over, not a fear of death but of life—I was wracked by sudden doubts about the future. Optimism turns to pessimism. The what-ifs began. Would anyone enter this year’s show? How many people would continue to support the magazine in this economic climate? Could we sustain two magazines and our annuals? Would we have to lay-off people? Fear of the unknown can cripple creativity and bring everything to a halt. Conquering the what-ifs is tougher than facing the what-is.
I’ve been fearful many times in my life, there were times when I’ve been unemployed for months at a time, there have been divorces that took their toll emotionally, physically and financially and yet I survived and many times thrived as a result of these debilitating occurrences. It’s been like déjà vu these past several months, but as always the practice of moving forward without looking back can counter the what-ifs of life. That and a bit of luck. People did enter—more entries from more places than ever before. First quarter subscriptions are up. We added an intern. The issue is out. Life—is—good.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
3rd Ward Open Call Announcement
What would you create for $5,000, three months in NYC and your very own art show? You have the vision and now 3rd Ward in New York City is offering you a place in the international art world.
You are invited to submit a portfolio of your best completed artwork, work-in-progress or conceptual proposal to be considered for the 3rd Ward Solo Show. We are looking for dynamic, inventive and provocative work of all mediums: sculpture, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration, installation, graphic design, video and more!
For full details and to submit go to: www.3rdWardOpenCall.com
Enter promo-code: "3rdWardRT1" and your first submitted image is free! (This discount expires July 12)
Submissions will be evaluated by our distinguished panel of judges including: Founder & Director of Scope Art Show, Alexis Hubshman; celebrated illustrator, Yuko Shimizu; TV Personality, Alexa Chung; and 3rd Ward Founder, Jason Goodman.
Your deadline is July 28th, 2010, 11:59 p, EST.
You may submit up to 6 images for $15 per image. For 7 or more images, there is a flat discounted rate of $95. You can upload up to 15 images for the discounted rate.
You are invited to submit a portfolio of your best completed artwork, work-in-progress or conceptual proposal to be considered for the 3rd Ward Solo Show. We are looking for dynamic, inventive and provocative work of all mediums: sculpture, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration, installation, graphic design, video and more!
For full details and to submit go to: www.3rdWardOpenCall.com
Enter promo-code: "3rdWardRT1" and your first submitted image is free! (This discount expires July 12)
Submissions will be evaluated by our distinguished panel of judges including: Founder & Director of Scope Art Show, Alexis Hubshman; celebrated illustrator, Yuko Shimizu; TV Personality, Alexa Chung; and 3rd Ward Founder, Jason Goodman.
Your deadline is July 28th, 2010, 11:59 p, EST.
You may submit up to 6 images for $15 per image. For 7 or more images, there is a flat discounted rate of $95. You can upload up to 15 images for the discounted rate.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Do-It-Yourself Public Relations
This just came across my desk from Rachel Friedman,CEO of EMSI Public Relations a national firm that provides PR strategy and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. She also hosts a national weekly radio talk show, The Family Round Table, and is author of the book, Celebritize Yourself.
The cycle of marketing was once summarized in the story of the circus coming to town.
If the circus is coming to town and you buy a billboard saying “Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday,” that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed and the local paper picks it up, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.
Most of the time, it’s really difficult to get the elephant to walk where you want it. In those cases, you need to generate your own public relations, and I’ve got some basic tips for you to follow to make that happen fast and inexpensively:
Find your inner expert—Think about your business or your profession and zero in on your expertise. Pick the area you know the most about, and focus on that. Do you have a ballpark idea of what that is? Keep that in mind, and we’ll get back to that in a minute.
Surf the Internet—Just about every key news source has a Web site, so do some surfing. Go to the Web sites of the news media outlets in which you’d like to be featured and harvest their contact information to build your media database.
Read the papers—One good way to figure out if what you are doing is newsworthy or relevant is to read a newspaper to see what the press is writing. If you want their attention, you need to figure out what currently interests them. Specifically look for news stories in your area of expertise or interest.
Put it all together—In remembering your media targets and the stories they typically publish about your topic or area, go back to your expertise. Is there something that you found that was in the news related to your expertise? Is there something you can comment on with veracity and credibility? That’s how you thread the needle.
PR Tools—The press release, as a reliable tool for public relations professionals, had been on life support since 2005, when newspapers first realized that they weren’t competing with television or radio as much as they were competing against Internet news portals. Dozens of newspapers and magazines have folded, and hundreds more have scaled back their staff and even their publication size. Consider the shrinking news hole, the shrinking staff and the emphasis on competition from online outlets, and you have to ask yourself if they even have the staff to read the volume of hundreds of press releases per day that they receive from email and wire services.
So, if they aren’t reading press releases, or only selecting press releases from trusted or existing sources sparingly, how can you get through to print media editors?
The answer is content. Most publications are not seeking news, but rather, ready-made content that they can plug directly into their publications, Web sites or both. The key is ensuring that the content you offer is more than just a sales pitch for you or your project. At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that this is not a marketing project or a promotional project. It’s a news project. You want to take who you are, what you do and your primary message and marry it to something already in the news. Think like a news editor and not like an artist, and you’ll find something between the lines that will resonate with the media as well as the audience.
The cycle of marketing was once summarized in the story of the circus coming to town.
If the circus is coming to town and you buy a billboard saying “Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday,” that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed and the local paper picks it up, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales.
Most of the time, it’s really difficult to get the elephant to walk where you want it. In those cases, you need to generate your own public relations, and I’ve got some basic tips for you to follow to make that happen fast and inexpensively:
Find your inner expert—Think about your business or your profession and zero in on your expertise. Pick the area you know the most about, and focus on that. Do you have a ballpark idea of what that is? Keep that in mind, and we’ll get back to that in a minute.
Surf the Internet—Just about every key news source has a Web site, so do some surfing. Go to the Web sites of the news media outlets in which you’d like to be featured and harvest their contact information to build your media database.
Read the papers—One good way to figure out if what you are doing is newsworthy or relevant is to read a newspaper to see what the press is writing. If you want their attention, you need to figure out what currently interests them. Specifically look for news stories in your area of expertise or interest.
Put it all together—In remembering your media targets and the stories they typically publish about your topic or area, go back to your expertise. Is there something that you found that was in the news related to your expertise? Is there something you can comment on with veracity and credibility? That’s how you thread the needle.
PR Tools—The press release, as a reliable tool for public relations professionals, had been on life support since 2005, when newspapers first realized that they weren’t competing with television or radio as much as they were competing against Internet news portals. Dozens of newspapers and magazines have folded, and hundreds more have scaled back their staff and even their publication size. Consider the shrinking news hole, the shrinking staff and the emphasis on competition from online outlets, and you have to ask yourself if they even have the staff to read the volume of hundreds of press releases per day that they receive from email and wire services.
So, if they aren’t reading press releases, or only selecting press releases from trusted or existing sources sparingly, how can you get through to print media editors?
The answer is content. Most publications are not seeking news, but rather, ready-made content that they can plug directly into their publications, Web sites or both. The key is ensuring that the content you offer is more than just a sales pitch for you or your project. At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that this is not a marketing project or a promotional project. It’s a news project. You want to take who you are, what you do and your primary message and marry it to something already in the news. Think like a news editor and not like an artist, and you’ll find something between the lines that will resonate with the media as well as the audience.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Animation Festival Call for Submissions
Jeff D'Silva at Quickdraw Animation passed this along to me.
The Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival is the only exclusively independent animation festival in Canada, with a focus on experimental and self-produced animated film.
GIRAF plays an essential role in the promotion, education and appreciation of independent animation from around the world, exposing hungry local audiences to the best animated content from at home and abroad.
GIRAF
Wednesday, November 3-7, 2010
Plaza Theatre, Calgary, AB Canada
Submission deadline: August 2, 2010
The Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival is the only exclusively independent animation festival in Canada, with a focus on experimental and self-produced animated film.
GIRAF plays an essential role in the promotion, education and appreciation of independent animation from around the world, exposing hungry local audiences to the best animated content from at home and abroad.
GIRAF
Wednesday, November 3-7, 2010
Plaza Theatre, Calgary, AB Canada
Submission deadline: August 2, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
A Visit from Falmouth
A group of over twenty young adults from Falmouth University in the UK stopped by the studio on one of the hottest days in June. With that many packed-in bodies not even the AC turned down to 64-degrees could cool the room down. Their original visit was scheduled just as the volcano erupted in Iceland so the trip was postponed--their original date would have been much cooler!
After a not-so-brief introduction to 3x3 and some thoughts about the current state of illustration we got to the all-important portfolio critiques. As a group there were some excellent books and some very good books and only a couple of books that just weren't there yet.
There were a number of the same projects in the portfolios but it was interesting how each illustrator approached the problem. There were only a small handful of New Yorker covers which are so difficult to show here in New York, book covers, posters, children's books, sequential, advertising and of course editorial. Most of the work was shown in context which is always nice to see. And the work was presented very nicely.
Falmouth has an excellent reputation as an art school and I'm sorry we didn't get to visit in November--they're six hours west of London.
We always enjoy the student visits, it's great to see what the next generation of illustrators is up to.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
3x3 Children's Show Winners Announced
Our final show of the season has received our judge's votes and we are pleased to announce the winners. Receiving our Best of Show award is Jamey Christoph, Children’s Book Illustration. Other winners include André da Loba, Gold - Unpublished Children’s Book Illustration; Anna & Elena Balbusso, Silver - Published Children’s Book and two Bronze winners, Vitali Konstantinov and Renata Liwska, Published Children’s Book.
Just to get in the show you must receive a majority of votes from our eight judges. To receive a medal you must receive all eight judge's votes and then a minimum of three judges must select the entry as their favorite. Congratulations to all our winners.
Best of Show
Jamey Christoph, Children’s Book Illustration
Gold
André da Loba, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Silver
Anna & Elena Balbusso, Children’s Book
Bronze
Vitali Konstantinov, Children’s Book
Renata Liwska, Children’s Book
Distinguished Merit
Martin Haake, Editorial
Red Nose Studio, Children’s Book
Merit
A. Richard Allen, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Ofra Amit, Children’s Book
Ofra Amit, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Marion Arbona*, Children’s Book
Carin Berger, Children’s Book
Orit Bergman, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Brian Biggs, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Brian Biggs, Children’s Book Illustration
Josée Bisaillon, Children’s Book Illustration
Aljoscha Blau, Children’s Book
Aaron Blecha, Book Covers
Patricia Cantor*, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Maria Carluccio, Children’s Book Illustration
Julien Chung, Editorial
Julien Chung, Children’s Book Illustration
Julien Chung, Misc
André da Loba*, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Owen Davey, Children’s Book
Victoria Davis, Book Covers
Judith Drews, Book Covers
Judith Drews, Children’s Book Illustration
Laura Filippucci, Children’s Book Illustration
Susan Gal, Children’s Book
Susan Gal, Children’s Book Illustration
Alejandro Galindo, Children’s Book Illustration
Manon Gauthier, Children’s Book Unpublished
Dean Gorissen, Children’s Book
Martin Haake, Editorial
David Hohn, Children’s Book Illustration
Tim A. Jones, Young Adult
Ilja Karsikas, Children’s Book
Young Kim*, Children’s Book Unpublished
Young Kim, Editorial
Vitali Konstantinov, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Alice Lickens, Children’s Book Unpublished
Andrew Mitchell, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Simona Mulazzani, Children’s Book Illustration
Kelly Murphy*, Children’s Book Illustration
Neil Numberman*, Children’s Book
Neil Numberman, Children’s Programming
Jim Paillot, Book Covers
Valeria Petrone, Children’s Book
Greg Pizzoli, Children’s Book
Giselle Potter, Children’s Book
Daniel Powers, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Simon Prescott, Children’s Book
Natalie Pudalov, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
John Rocco, Book Covers
John Rocco, Children’s Book Illustration
Jessica Romberg, Book Covers
Claudia Rueda, Children’s Book Unpublished
Michael Slack, Children’s Book
Michael Slack, Editorial
Michael Slack, Children’s Book Illustration
Mike Smith, Children’s Book Unpublished
Emerson Tung, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Stefano Vitale, Children’s Book
Alice Wellinger, Children’s Book Unpublished
Lee White*, Children’s Book Unpublished Illustration
Lee White*, Editorial
Lee White*, Children’s Book Illustration
Jenny Whitehead, Children’s Book
Tania Willis, Misc
Sarah Wisbey, Editorial
*multiple entries
All winners receive a complimentary copy of 3x3 Illustration Annual No. 7 due out in December 2010. Non-winning entrants will receive a discount on the annual.
We are very pleased with the quality of work that has been entered this year and the international participation that grows each year. We look forward to seeing your new entries starting in March 2011.
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