By: Monica Gupta,
on 7/11/2016
उपयोगी टिप्स – फ्रिज में क्या ना रखें इंटर नेट और गूगल सर्च ज्ञान का इतना अच्छा माध्यम हो सकता है सोचा न था.. हर तरह की मामूली से मामूली और बडी से बडी बात इसमें लिखी है. अब बात हमारी दिनचर्या को ही लें कि फ्रिज में क्या रखें और क्या न रखें . […]
The post उपयोगी टिप्स – फ्रिज में क्या ना रखें appeared first on Monica Gupta.
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By: Jessica Lanan,
on 2/5/2016
The truth is, I’m kind of a fake introvert. On those ubiquitous personality tests I hover right on the line between the two extremes. Nonetheless, a big social event like a SCBWI national conference can be overwhelming, and all the networking can push a pseudo-introvert like me to the point of social burnout. I’ve collected some tips below that have helped me have the best possible experience at one of these events. (If you want to learn more about what a SCBWI conference is, click here.)
Promo postcards and portfolio page, ready to go.
The seeds of a great experience are sown long before you get to the conference.
In addition to your underwear and toothbrush and so forth, don’t forget the following:
I probably shouldn’t be giving advice at all in this area.
For an introvert, a big conference in New York City is remarkably taxing. While the whole point of the conference is to network and go to keynotes blah blah blah, it’s okay to take some time to get away from it all in order to survive.
Have you been a national conference or book fair? What tips would you suggest? Feel free to share in the comments!
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Are you mystified by the process of creating vector shapes that don’t suck?
For this week’s Tutorial of the Week, I’m returning to Illustrative Designer Von Glitschka of IllustrationClass.com for an introductory video tutorial called Vector Build Methods.
Von Glitschka is a master of vector Illustration, and he shares his technique for achieving precise vector shapes using the pen tool, selection tools, and an Ai plugin called “Xtream Path” in this two-part series. For those eager to overcome the challenges of vector Illustration, this tutorial is a must-watch. Right now.
Related Tutorial: Artito Bandito by Von Glitschka
Did you find value in this tutorial? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Also feel free to recommend a tutorial for a future Tutorial of the Week.
This article is part 7 of the series entitled 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website, which aims to encourage Illustrators to consider some crucial features when building or refining their portfolio websites. You can find the rest of the series here.
In previous parts of this series, we’ve focused on how to approach the design of your website, image gallery, and About page. We’ve shown a proven record of successful projects, given them the opportunity to dig a little deeper with a blog, and even educated them on how we work. So how do you get them to take the most crucial step of all?
The Call to Action
We’re going to assume for the purpose of this post that you’ve maximized the potential of your portfolio website and instilled in your visitor at least a faint interest in contacting you. The best way to throw it all away is to leave out any means of doing so. This may sound silly, but I really have seen some Illustrators fail to have their contact info in a prominent location on their site.
It’s important to remember that up to this point the potential client has been operating in a mostly passive state, taking things in and looking for reasons that they should not contact you. Once you’ve gotten their attention you need to make it as easy as possible for them to switch to the more active state that is required to initiate contact. That is the only thing that will move you towards your goal of closing the deal.
The least you should do is make your contact information visible. This part is easy, but you can do so much more to inspire action, such as create a contact page and link to it from the other pages of your site.
The Importance of a Contact Page
It’s a wise business move to have your contact info on every page of your site, as long as you’re not being obnoxious by throwing it in front of your visitor’s face. One thing to keep in mind, however is that people are conditioned to look for a contact page, especially Art Directors who look at a lot of online portfolios every day.
Another great reason to use a contact page is to have a place to post multiple means of contacting you. If you are active on social media sites, for example, you can include links to your profiles elsewhere online. The benefit of this is that different people are more comfortable with different forms of communication. Also, a potential client may not be ready to hire you right away, but they may want to connect with you through social networking to initiate a relationship and keep you on their radar.
Here are the forms of contact that I list on my contact page:
Phone
design:related
Biznik
If I posted all of these on every page of my site, it would have a negative effect on my overall design. The contact page, however, is made just for that purpose.
The Contact Form
The absolute best thing that you can do to increase the chances of your visitor contacting you is to include a contact form on your site. People live busy lives in this day and age, and by inviting a potential client to fill out a form right then and there instead of having to login to their email account, you are making it as quick and easy as you possibly can for them to start a dialogue, which is the point of all the effort that you’ve put into your website.
Inspiring Action
There is nothing in this post that is rocket science, but by providing an easy path to initiating contact, you are increasing your chances of connecting with your visitor on a human level and potentially landing a project and building a lasting relationship with a new client. The small steps outlined here can have a big impact on the effectiveness of your site.
The Effective Portfolio Website
The goal of this 7 part series has been to help you to maximize the potential of your portfolio website. After putting so much time, energy, and hard work into your beautiful Illustrations, you deserve to show them off in a flattering light. Your website should be something that you are proud to lead people to, and that gives you the best possible opportunity to reach your target audience.
I hope that these articles have encouraged you to revisit your approach to your marketing efforts. Thank you for taking the time to read them. Please tell me what you think about this series in the comments below. It will help me in my efforts to provide useful content in the future.
Stay informed about the next series on EFII, How to Educate Your Clients, by following updates via email or RSS.
Now it’s your turn to share.
What do you include in your Contact Page?
How do you encourage your visitors to contact you?
Is there anything I’m missing here?
Read more of the 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website.
Follow EFII updates via email or RSS.
This article is part 5 of the series entitled 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website, which aims to encourage Illustrators to consider some crucial features when building or refining their portfolio websites. You can find the rest of the series here.
In previous parts of this series, we’ve focused on how to make the most of your website design, image gallery, and About page, as well as the benefits of including testimonials and a blog.
Now we’re going to explore the reasons that you should consider using your site to educate your potential clients on your creative process.
The Process Page
In addition to marketing your portfolio website to seasoned Art Directors, it’s a good idea to cater to potential clients who may have never worked with an Illustrator before. This second group of individuals includes self-publishing authors, business owners in search of a logo design, musicians in need of album cover art, etc. These types of people may be uneasy about trusting an Illustrator with their project, as well as uncertain about how the process works, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.
While you may not be able to answer every question your visitor has about their particular project, an outline of your creative process can help to make them more comfortable with the idea of working with an artist, and possibly even more likely to hire you.
A Transparent Approach
The idea here is to start a dialogue with the potential client by lifting the veil of mystery while sharing some vital insight about what it might be like to work with you. The fact that most Illustrators don’t take the time to do this will automatically help you to stand out from the crowd of other professionals that they’ve been considering.
By shedding some light on the steps involved in working with an Illustrator you can win points with your visitor because you are already providing a valuable service for free. Education is an aspect of the Illustration business that is often overlooked by most, partly because we spend so much time in our own little worlds that we tend to forget that the Illustration process isn’t necessarily common knowledge. You may remember that before you started out, you probably had no clue yourself as to how this industry works, or what an Illustrator actually does.
What Should Your Process Page Say?
It’s important to keep things simple when outlining your process, remembering that you can go into much greater detail when you meet with your client for the first time in person or over the phone.
In general, you should share the basic steps that you take in order to nurture a project from concept to completion, such as the initial meeting, creation of concept art, revision stages, completion of final artwork, followup, etc. You can of course take your own personal approach to the way you want to share your process, and you can include it in your About page or designate a specific place for it on your website.
Here are two examples of different ways of sharing your process:
My Process page at ThomasJamesIllustration.com
Holly DeWolf’s About page at HollyDeWolf.com
You can see that these are two different variations on a theme, but the intent is the same. On my website, I have even chosen to go a step further by beginning to write an educational series called How to Work with an Illustrator. This is because I feel that there is a lack of this type of information available, and because I consider educating and consulting my clients to be a major part of the services I offer.
Greasing the Wheels
Including a description of your creative process can go a long way to presenting yourself as a professional, increasing your chances of landing more projects, and smoothing out the experience of working with your clients. When both parties are clear about what to expect from a working relationship your job as an Illustrator will be much easier, and the potential for a successful project will be far greater.
Escapee has spoken.
Now it’s your turn to share.
Do you have a Process Page?
Is there some other way that you reveal your creative process?
Is there anything I’m missing here?
Check back tomorrow to read Part 7 of the series – The Call to Action
Read more of the 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website.
Follow EFII updates via email or RSS.
This article is part 5 of the series entitled 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website, which aims to encourage Illustrators to consider some crucial features when building or refining their portfolio websites. You can find the rest of the series here.
In previous parts of this series, we’ve focused on how to make the most of your website design, image gallery, and About page. We’ve even gone a step further in making our case as a seasoned professional by including a list of recent projects and testimonials.
Now that you’ve proven your worth as an Illustrator, how do you get your visitor even more invested in your work and present yourself as a prolific, motivated, and dynamic artist?
The Blog
Let’s face it. No matter how awesome your portfolio website is, for all your visitor knows everything they find there may have been created 5 years ago. Your website is a static, timeless environment that offers no clues as to your continuing activities as an artist. Also, if a potential client bookmarked your site last year only to return to find that nothing has changed, how do they even know that you’re still alive?
This may be a dramatic way of putting it, but the fact is that a blog can add a dynamic layer to the more rigid format of your site, while providing a forum to update your followers on your recent news and developments. It can also be a place where you can loosen up a bit, write in a more casual way, and even inject some personality or humor.
Without diving too deep into the topic of search engine optimization, it’s also important to point out that since blogs are generally updated more frequently than websites, they will rank higher in search engines like Google, making it easier for people to find you online.
What Should You Blog About?
Your blog posts should primarily be about your current events as an Illustrator, such as recently finished projects, collaborations, interviews, new personal work, new studio space, etc. The idea is to present yourself as a working artist who is constantly creating, evolving, and hopefully making waves in the Illustration community. If something exciting happens, take advantage of it by sharing it with your audience.
Another great use of your blog is to promote yourself as an expert in your field by writing tutorials for your fellow Illustrators. This will not only show a level of mastery of your style or medium, but will also help you to connect with other artists who find your content useful. A similar approach is to create a post outlining your process on a particular project. Opening a window to your creative methods can have the combined effect of educating and entertaining your audience, which will increase their chances of coming back for more.
Your blog can also be your place to post work that you wouldn’t normally include in your portfolio, because you’re not trying to blow anyone&
This article is part 4 of the series entitled 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website, which aims to encourage Illustrators to consider some crucial features when building or refining their portfolio websites. You can find the rest of the series here.
In previous parts of this series, we’ve focused on how to make the most of your website design, image gallery, and About page. Now that you’ve impressed them with your work and told them about who you are, how do you prove that you’re not just fancy pictures and big talk?
The Testimonial
As you probably know, working as a professional Illustrator is more than just drawing pretty pictures.
Nurturing a project from concept to completion requires listening, understanding, collaborating, conceptualizing, revising, communicating, re-revising, and long hours of hard work. A potential client needs some sort of sign that you’ve done this before. After all, you’re asking them to pay for a service that they’ve never seen in action and a product that doesn’t yet exist. A portfolio full of stunning work doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve created work for anyone besides yourself, and sometimes an Art Director needs a little more proof before they decide that you’re worth their valuable time. As I mentioned in previous parts of this series, Art Directors look at a lot of portfolio websites everyday, and they need to have certain requirements met in their mind before taking things to the next level.
Two Forms of Proof
In order to instill confidence in your visitor that you’re the right person for the job, it can be extremely helpful to show them either a list of recent projects, client testimonials, or both. I’m grouping these two forms of proof into one article because they are both good ways to show a record of successful projects that you have completed for other clients.
Record of Success
The easiest way to prove some level of experience is to include a list of recent projects or clients. This shows that it’s not your first time around the block, and it’s also a good opportunity to brag about any well-known clients you may have worked for. It might even be a good idea to briefly describe the types of projects, such as book cover, logo design, T-shirt design, etc. If you’re just starting out with your Illustration career, it’s probably not a good idea to have a list of recent projects that is only two or three items long, unless of course you have worked with some big name clients. This only has the opposite effect of highlighting your inexperience, so it’s better to wait until you’ve got something to talk about. Until then, you can focus on making the most of the other areas of your site.
Social Proof
An even more impressive form of validation is a list of client testimonials. If multiple clients were pleased enough with your results to give positive testimonials, placing them on your site suggests that the next project will be equally successful. The power of “social proof” can help you to gain the trust of many future clients. You can say whatever you want about yourself, but having other people say it for you is much more effective because they have nothing to gain by recommending you. Have you ever been convinced to buy a product or service online by reading the positive reviews left by other people? You have no idea who those people are, but their words probably played a big part in nudging you past the tipping point. You can use this same concept to add some clout to your own services, and unlike the list of recent projects, it only takes one or two testimonials to have a positive effect.
How Do You Ask for Testimonials?
I read too many articles and listen to too many podcasts on Illustration and Freelance Business to remember where I came across the following approach, but it’s a brilliant way to get testimonials without having to ask for them outright, which can be uncomfortable for both you and your clients.
After a project is completed, send an email to request feedback on your client’s experience of working with you, in order to help you to improve your services in the future. Most satisfied clients will be happy to do this, especially after they’ve got the finished product in their hands. If they’ve got some wonderful things to say in their response, simply ask if they wouldn’t mind if you quote them in a testimonial for your website.
It’s that easy.
The obvious benefit of this approach is that instead of putting them on the spot by asking for a recommendation, you are inviting them to share their true feelings. By requesting it via email, you are giving them the time and space to consider their feedback, rather than interrogating them face to face in your final meeting.
I must admit that I’m late to the game on this one, but I’m finally beginning to compile a list of testimonials to post on my own site.
Now What?
There is no hard and fast rule regarding where to place your testimonials, or list of recent projects, on your portfolio website. The most effective places are on their own page or included in your About page. The important thing is that you include them somewhere on your site, and that the potential client finds them without thinking to look. Showing proof of a record of success can help to tip the scale in your favor and encourage an uncertain client to contact you instead of someone else.
Escapee has spoken.
Now it’s your turn to share.
Do you agree with these concepts?
Do you use Testimonials or a list of Recent Projects?
How do you ask for Testimonials?
Where do you place them on your website?
Is there anything I’m missing here?
Read Part 5 of the series – The Blog
Read more of the 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website.
Follow EFII updates via email or RSS.
The best thing you can do today to move in the diection of your dreams is to confront your fear of failure. Take a moment to acknowledge your fear, really feel it, then let it go.
Why should you acknowledge it first?
Because your fear is bringing your attention to a wall that is keeping you from progressing. If you try to ignore it, it will only get bigger, and you’ll also be ignoring what’s on the other side. Once you face those parts of your dreams that lie beyond your comfort zone, you can move into them and make your comfort zone expand with every step.
Even if you fail, you will get to know the terrain a little better, and you can apply that knowledge to your next step.
Escapee has spoken.
What is YOUR experience with facing your fear of failure?
Who is this Escapee guy anyway?
For those of you who just can’t get enough Illustration goodness, I’m introducing a new weekly feature on EFII: Escapee Speaks.
You see, the Escapee is something of an oracle when it comes to Illustration. It’s no accident that he’s the mascot for Escape From Illustration Island, because he is a veteran of the island himself. The wisdom he has earned from centuries of struggle and triumph could stand toe-to-toe with the great spiritual texts of our people, and he has agreed to share them with us.
However, to reveal to us the whole sum of his great knowledge in one holy breath would indeed drive us to Illustration Insanity. Therefore he has wisely chosen to share these truths over time, in digestible, bite-sized bits, so that we may come to understand the way to Illustration greatness.
And our brains won’t explode.
Thank you, Escapee.
When selecting which of your Illustrations to include in your portfolio, focus on quality. Avoid the temptation to throw everything you’ve got into the mix.
It’s a good idea to “skim the fat”.
In other words, review your own portfolio on a regular basis, and remove anything you’re not completely sure about. You don’t want to dilute the waters of your own greatness by including mediocre pieces for the sake of presenting a large body of work.
Your portfolio is your chance to make an Art Director fall in love with you. Don’t ruin the opportunity by talking their ear off on the first date while only having a few good things to say.
Escapee has spoken.
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By: Just One More Book!!,
on 9/27/2008
Today we stray from our standard format for an unplanned and extremely rambly chat about our observations of and unqualified opinions about self-publishing children’s books.
Books mentioned:
For self-publishing and small publishing featured on JustOneMoreBook!, click here.
By: [email protected] (Mark Blevis and Andrea ,
on 12/11/2006
As our mouths thaw off, our discussion of the features that we love most about great books picks up energy. Which features do you like most in children’s books?
Participate in the conversation. Leave a comment, send us your thoughts (five-minutes or less) as an MP3 file in email to [email protected], phone it in to our listener feedback line (206-350-6487), leave a two-minute MyChingo, or send your comments in email.
Tags:childrens books, great books, Podcastchildrens books, great books, Podcast
Hey really nice advice in this series of post.
now i did a Contact Form for my page.
Thanks for the feedback, Rodrigo. I hope the contact form helps. Was there anything else that spoke to you in the series?
hey thomas,
great reading and information is gold!
I´ll refine my site according to the elements you mentioned :)
thanks