Studio Visits: Kingston and MSU

We followed up the visit by the Emily Carr group with two other universities, Kingston, outside of London  and a group from Missouri State University. Both stretched the limits of our space and both groups were a very patient and gracious. Sorry no photos on these two groups.

The group from Kingston was led by instructor Geoffrey Grandfield whom we had met when I spoke at Kingston in late 2009. We were just one of the many stops the students had on their agenda so we did an abbreviated talk about what we do here at 3x3 and Creative Quarterly and how I see the market. I referenced my new book, Nuts & Bolts about the do's and don'ts of entering the illustration field, we gave them a copy of last year's 3x3 Illustration Directory and quite a few also purchased N&B—hey, it saves the shipping cost. Unfortunately a number of students ended up at the wrong address—thanks to the lack of GPS in our NY taxis—and just got to hear the last few minutes of the talk. We pointed them to the EFII podcast as a worthy substitute.

Our next group came in from Springfield, Missouri on their annual trip to New York City. Led by Joe O'Neill, a fellow-student, this group was a mix of graphic designers and illustrators. We treated them to pizza, they were thoughtful enough to bring us a sweet treat—which we forgot to share, sorry about that. The talk was split between what it's like running a design firm and the importance of illustration. We ended the visit with candid portfolio reviews and then we had lots of requests for Nuts & Bolts so we had to fill a lot of orders. Now we know the secret to selling books, invite people over for lunch!

We enjoy these visits, it gives us an opportunity to see what's happening out there in our colleges and universities. We'll see if we can get more chairs next time!