And it's probably because i'm most afraid of writing about my experience about trying to become a well known artist. This feild is so competitive, and everything is starting to look the same, it's all a bit distressing if you ask me.
My spelling on this blog my not be the brightest, and my sentence structure might not be the smartest or even understandable. Post's might not be frequent enough, or could even be month by month. The point of this blog is to get these scrambled words inside my head somewhere out in the world to let other people know that they are not alone in what they are trying to aspire to, whether it be competitive or not. But to know that if you dream so. It's reachable.
So lets start in 2010 near the end of the year:
In school i've never been the smartest, don't get me wrong. i LOVE to learn, but it was remembering that got me, i seem to forget everything or just second guess the answers. ALWAYS.
And so in 2010 I got the worset ATAR (score to get into Uni), due to scaling and whatever else, and all my preferences that i had chosen for Uni (to do with visual art/ art design/ illustration) had slipped out of reach, it was the most shocking thing to happen in my life. Nothing seemed do-able then, art was all i had, the only thing i loved and was good at.
Prior to all this happening when i was selecting Uni course's i started to look in to what i wanted to become. I decided designing what was on shirts (male&female), tea cups, undies, posters what not, was for me. So i looked up Mambo and Paul Frank.
I went on to the Mambo website, which listed all their Artists and emailed them.
http://www.mambo.com.au/artists/
out of the 13, some i was unable to email because they didn't have an email address, 2 were busy with "extreme weather conditions" or just plain busy and couldn't reply so i had an automatic email sent back to me. But 4 did reply, and they were Ben Brown, James P., Mark Drew and Marty S. so it just shows that most artists do have time and you should email them for tips and pointers and what not.
The email i sent to them said (remember this was BEFORE my ATAR and when i was choosing uni courses):
Ben Brown replied:
"Hi Olli
I only work on a freelance basis for mambo - I work for a lot of other people as well.
The best way to stand out is to make sure your work looks original and different, but
at the same time fits in with the markets you are trying to break in to.
Persistence and showing your work to anyone and everyone is the key.
send your work to magazines, labels etc. that you like - try to get yourself out there.
it is hard - and you have to stick with it.
good luck Olli"
James P. replied:
"It's graduate show season in Sydney and I've been seeing a lot of graduate work and noticing more and more that everything looks the same and I've been wondering why and how things could have been different.
Early on in your studies it is good to explore your work and not get too tied down in a style or theme because then you won't develop, but in two or three years you should start considering what makes you unique and develop those concepts. Present an interesting personal voice with your work. A lot of designers and illustrators try to be as adaptable as possible so they can get work afterward illustrating broader ranges of subjects from animals, celebrities, scenes etc. but in being so broad you can lose your personal voice. You won't have to worry about this till a lot later though.
In speaking to a lot of graduates as well the general idea I get is that everyone is lazy and really like making up excuses. "The lecturer made us do it this way." "It was just too hard." "I just wanted it to be finished I don't care", these are the same excuses you get from designers and illustrators working in the field as well "The budget sucked" "No one's gonna see it so why should I care" etc. You really need to commit to the image, if you can make it amazing make it amazing, never half-ass anything, because you'll be judged on everything, and if you work harder, you grow from that, and you'll always get better.
A lot of things you just have to learn along the way, but above all you need to be passionate about it, and I don't mean that in a pseudo-inspirational sense, I mean that you need to live and breathe this stuff, always be aware of what makes an image work, what influences you have, allegory, metaphors, all these things that can make it into your work. No one ever got big doing something half assed, and going home at 5pm everyday. This industry is a 24/7 thing."
Mark Drew replied:
"Hey Olli,
Basically just develop your own thing. Freelance is very tough, as you aren't given a set amount of work each week - you have to find it yourself, at the start. Usually you have to do a lot of free jobs, which is good for experience, and to build up your portfolio, but can also be frustrating. Anyways, for the first year, people tend to do a lot of free jobs, or cheap jobs. Think of it positively though.
The hardest thing is becoming known. I managed to do it by running an art gallery, working with many artists over the years, and also working with various companies. On top of that, I was in many group exhibitions and solo shows - which is what lead mambo to first contact me and ask for tshirt designs. My advice is get a job as a junior so they can train you further after uni, before you try freelance. you can always do freelance stuff on the side. and find out from one of your teachers if there is someone you can do volunteer intern experience with, during uni. like one day a week or something. But do answer your first question, to become a well known artist, you need to be involved in art shows, and make stuff that people consider interesting. it doesn't need to be about money. design is about money. art is about ideas.
Good luck!
~Mark"
Marty S. replied:
"Hi Olli,
Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you. Sheesh tough question, but in my experiences it's the most simple, original and funny ideas that usually get picked up by companies like Mambo etc. An appealing style that's not copied from someone else obviously helps but not always. I hope that helps.
thanks
Marty"
Now back to finding out about my horrible ATAR score and feeling lost in the world:
When i found out about my ATAR i messaged Marty S. he seemed to know exactly what to say, and quite genuine. He replied;
"Hi Olli, I don't really know. I'm a high school drop out who taught myself how to draw but I worked really hard on the basics of drawing and cartooning. Take a life drawing class they're the best thing to do for your drawing. Study books, take photos but importantly just pick what you enjoy most, and just have fun running with it. get a website or blog going so you can show clients/ friends what you do. and get a gang of art buddies going and do some cool stuff together occasionally. It can be very isolating so having like minded people around is really important. More fun too."
Even though those words were comforting, you can't get into that industry any more by just being good, you need some type of resume that says "i've been to tafe or uni, and i'm amazing" then they look at your portfolio. Well thats what i believe what happens.
I applied to TAFE course's as soon as i could, my plan was to always go to Uni and get work experience during. But since that didn't work TAFE is all i have now.
A couple of weeks later of stressing about my future Uni sent me a letter. The two course's i had applied to we're having a second chance for students who didn't get a good score and could submit in a portfolio and personal statement. And boy did i write my personal statment as good as i could. They don't want to read about how good you are, they want to read about how you want to learn more, why would they accept you if you were already good? Thats what i learn't in a portfolio course i took at TAFE prior to my uni choices.
Today:
Yesterday, which was the 3/2/2011 was when Uni was meant to tell me if i had been accepted or not, and still no word. I've called up and apparently there was a chance i might have "slipped through the cracks" what a shame. Luckily i found out that a TAFE course had accepted me, the course goes for 1 year full time, and thats my key to the padlock of Uni.
When i finish that course i'm not sure what will happen next, Tafe is more hands on rather then Uni, which is practical, so i might go to another TAFE course that goes for longer and covers what i want to do.
But thats for another Post to tell.
