Self Promotion

Joan Sketch

rough sketches, Self Promotion

Worked up a rough sketch this afternoon for a personal self promo illustration. One of the few upsides to 2020 has been the discovery of the Criterion Channel. I’ve long been an old movie buff, and I’ve been enjoying the programming this subscription service has been offering this summer. This past month I’ve been wallowing in old Joan Crawford movies.

This past year, I’ve also started doing a lot more of my rough sketches in a blue pencil (well, digital blue pencil, anyways). It seems to take me back to my days as a paste-up artist in the 80s, using the non-repro blue pencils. Though I only do this for personal projects, as I don’t want to confuse my clients (“this is fine, but are you planning on doing it in blue?”).

Promo Postcards

Self Promotion

Been doing some marketing over the past several weeks. I’ve tried a few email blasts to potential clients, which is a new thing for me, which I am more than dubious about. Let’s face it, I don’t like nor do I ever read unsolicited emails, but with everyone stuck at home during the pandemic, perhaps it might be a way to reach certain clients. The second of these emails will go out tomorrow, and possibly one more to follow in a month. I’ve also got three postcards going out via direct snail mail in the next month. The first two postcards will feature some of my comics work, and the third will feature the above image which I’ve been working on over the weekend. Checking my records, it seems I have neglected to send out mailers (other than the holiday Krampus cards) for almost five years, so it is more than overdue. Time to shake those bushes again.

Self Promo In Progress

personal, Self Promotion

Another in my “favorite movies” series. This morning I’m working on a possible self promo postcard piece with portraits of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung from the film ‘In the Mood for Love’ (an absolutely beautiful film I recently revisited on the Criterion Channel, and has been on my mind for the past few weeks). Above is an ‘in progress’ snapshot of how Maggie is coming along, below the text is another ‘in progress’ snapshot from later in the day, and below that, another shot from later in the afternoon as I started filling out more of the background. At the bottom is the initial rough sketch I started with.