A little Q+A

As part of my new degree I have to conduct case studies on other artists and how they work. I've been sending out this very rough and ready Q+A to people I already know and have been amazed by the responses i've got so far- seems artists really like filling in questionaires (or is it more likely they like to procrastinate?). I thought i'd post it on here and if any of you want to add your answers please do so- either in the comments or email me.

Who are you and what do you do?

What are the tools of your trade? Do you have favourite brands/materials/suppliers?

Have you made a business plan?

How do you support yourself financially?

Did you do work experience/ unpaid/paid internship-did you find this useful?

What are you inspirations and influences?

Did you train/what in/where/when?

Have you always been based in one location?

Do you set yourself goals/targets i.e. ‘if I’m not doing x by y then z’?

What problems have you faced?

Is it worth it/ what keeps you going?

What exhibitions have you had?

How does the internet aid/ promote you- do you have a website?

Do you have any links/useful contacts-materials/galleries etc?

At the moment your answers will only be seen by me and tutors, but as some of the information i'm getting in already has been so useful i'm considering making some of it into either blog posts or a mini zine- so let me know if you want to be included in any of that.

Thanks to:
Meg Hunt
Bjørn Lie
Alika Cooper
Gabrielle Gamboa
Leila Johnston
Deth P Sun
Kirsty Hall
Edith Abeyta
Ruth Boyask
Allyson Shaw
Meghan Murphy
Mardou
Missy Kulik
Jenny Louie
and David from Peskimo

for already helping me out with their answers- go take a look at their websites, they are all awesome!

Studio Friday: Portfolio

This week's topic for Friday February 2nd suggested by Jo: PORTFOLIO!

"I've never put one together. I would be very interested to see and hear what everyone else has as a portfolio and what makes up one"

~ Jo


This is a timely topic as at the moment most of my friends at college are getting all stressed out about getting their portfolios together. I probably should be getting stressed out, but as I don't have any interviews to go to i'm not worrying too much at the moment.

For interviews we are expected to put together an A1 portfolio with about 20 sleeves, in addition to that a whole bunch of sketchbooks and supporting work are needed, not to mention picking out the right outfit for the interview! (Yesterday my tutor said that red or pink hair is pretty much a 'must have' when applying to art school, and I had to remember that when I went off to do my degree I did in fact have pink and red hair...)

My portfolio looks a lot like this:



And is a beast to lug around to interviews etc- I think it's designed specially so that it's uncomfortable to carry under the arm, or using the shoulder strap- either way it's not long before you start cursing and wishing you did all your work in minature, or digitally and could just take along a disc.

Thinking about it, it's probably high time I updated the work that's in my portfolio- the last time I did that was nearly two years ago, and as my work has progressed a lot in those two years, my portfolio should be representing that. It's tempting to keep old favourites in your portfolio- pieces of work that you were pleased with at the time, but if they are 10 years old and you can't show any evidence of any more recent work then it's not really going to matter how good they were originally.

Here are some links to sites that can explain far better than me what makes a good portfolio:

Art-Support.com- what makes a good portfolio

A-N magazine has loads of resources, but you do need to subscrube to get the most benefit

ArtQuest has a whole bunch of resources and guides to promoting yourself

and it would be well worth you keeping your eyes on Meg Hunt's new Trade Secrets blog where she is posting some of her trade secrets for success in the field of illustration, which are easy to adapt to whatever art form you favour.