Marketing Myself - Making an Etsy

Following on from my first stall at Support Indie Artists art market in September, I went about setting up an Etsy so I can sell my products all over the country and internationally. I think it will be a professional way of displaying all my items, and learning how to curate them for potential customers.

I haven't listed all of my items as I wanted to get a feel of how it works, and now that I've made a couple of sales I plan to update my listings and put things like my prints and more badges/jewellery up. I also took some advice from a friend who is rather successful on Etsy, and I will remove shipping costs as that apparently is more incentive for buyers.

If I continue getting sales I want to update my listings to look a little more professional, I do have a digital camera and could stage a little photoshoot to make my products look their very best. This isn't a priority right now, however.

I would also like to package my items more nicely - getting little plastic bags for my sticker packs would be great, but not very environmentally friendly. I want to look into alternatives, perhaps paper bags, or biodegradable material.

I also might start making little cardboard backs for my pins to make them look a little more professional, which would also help me sell them at fairs. It's about slowly building a professional-looking brand as I continue to grow, and hopefully gaining a bit of recognition.

Girl Gang Leeds Winter Art Market

This Sunday I set up a stall at the Girl Gang Leeds Winter Art Market with Anna Thompson from Illustration. I was selling my prints, earrings, badges, and zines. I enjoyed sharing a stall with Anna  as I meant I had someone to talk to during the day, and our contrasting styles made us stand out.  

This was a great opportunity to get wider exposure as an artist in the Leeds area, as it was incredibly well-attended, and I made quite a lot of sales. Compared to the first art market I took part in in September, which was a lovely introduction into the world of running a table at an art market, this one was much more frantic and busy. It's validating knowing that people like your work enough to spend their money on it, especially in an art market with over 50 other sellers. 

It was a great atmosphere, and it felt good to be selling alongside other creators I admire. There was a huge range of work and backgrounds, and I had some lovely conversations with other creators and attendees. I've spoken to a couple since the event and have arranged some commission work.

Ultimately I want to continue selling at stalls such as this, and continue to grow my presence online as an illustrator and accessory-maker, especially on Etsy and Instagram. I'm currently saving for an iPad Pro, which will hopefully help me create more art on-the-go. 

I want to branch out into making enamel pins, but I it's going to be quite expensive, so I am considering making a kickstarter/gofundme to help fund part of the cost. 

Networking - Volunteering at Manchester Animation Festival

This week I spent time as a Guest Liason volunteer at Manchester Animation Festival. This is my third year attending the festival, but the first year I've spent as a volunteer rather than a delegate, so it was really interesting and insightful to see what kind of work goes on behind the scenes to help the festival run smoothly.

As a Guest Liason, I had a unique opportunity in that I had an excuse to be speaking to the guests, including professionals in my specialism. In particular, I struck up interesting conversations with Laura Vincent from Yamination and Paul "Gripper" Flannery from Gadzooks Animation. I also got to speak with Peter Lord and David Sproxton, which was a bit of an out-of-body experience as they are so iconic. I was also able to chat with Barry Purves, alongside other industry professionals. It really helped my understanding of how small an industry it is, and I am hugely grateful to Steve Henderson for introducing me to certain people.

I found the few days quite stressful when it was busy, and a little dull when it was quiet. That being said, I was so grateful for the opportunity, and it would be unrealistic to expect it to be engaging 100% of the time. In the quieter moments I found opportunities to talk to the other volunteers and gain an insight into their lives and practices, which was interesting as I'm mostly used to talking to LAU students as a point of reference for other animators/creatives my age.

I would love to do this again next year, as I found it much more involved and personal than just attending as a delegate, though I did miss seeing as many films as the last couple of years.

Who am I now?

This year I will focus much more on developing my stop-motion production, so I can get to a point where I would be useful to a studio. While my practice last year used mostly cardboard, I want to work in a wider range of materials, to be more professional. While I work on this I also want to continue develop my illustration skills, partly to just have another skill on my belt, and partly to support my stop-motion work. 

Beyond graduation I'm hoping to work either freelance or in a studio. I'm very aware that my area of practice means that jobs will be few and far between, which is why I want to supplement the stop-motion work with illustration gigs that might be a little more frequent. I'm down for working a part-time job for a steady income, as long as I know that I'm always on the lookout for new opportunities to work creatively.

My online presence could definitely do with a facelift. I want to integrate it all a little more smoothly, so that different areas (Instagram, Linkedin, Vimeo etc.) feed into one another very naturally. This can be achieved through linking different platforms, and not going too overboard with it all. 

I really want to make a website where everything can be in one place - a kind of "landing zone" for the rest of my platforms to thread out from. This is something I will develop this year, and I want to spend time refining it, so it reflects my best work. Part of this reflection will come from speaking to professionals to ensure that I am not overcrowding or underselling my work. 

Inktober 2017

For the whole of October 2017, I did a character design each and every day. This was a great creative challenge as it forced me to draw, even on the days when I didn't really feel like it. There are some images I like more than others, but I think that's just how it's going to be as I keep growing and building my skills. My big mistake here was not crediting all the art sources I used for poses and inspiration, which is something I'll definitely rectify if I do it again this year. I used it more for practice than actual finished pieces, which is fine for me, as it just helps me flex that artistic muscle. I want to keep up that kind of practice - always drawing, little and often, and not expecting beautiful finished pieces from it. I just find it difficult to maintain, but that's why I hope to be able to do it over summer.

Isle of Dogs Internship + Exhibition

Last June I was able to get an internship on Isle of Dogs for a week, which was an incredible opportunity for me to be able to see how the industry I love goes on behind the scenes. Nearly a year later, I went to the exhibition on the sets in London, which was incredible. 

Though I had had the very minimal task of cutting up paintbrushes to look like grass during my internship, I found a few tufts of grass in the sets that I like to think I could have made. This exhibition was so unique and wonderful, and really showcased the intricate nature of these sets. It was such a great showcase of the work, and I feel like it helps open up the work that goes on behind the scenes to the general public. I overhead a lot of people talking about the sets, not able to work out how it all gets made, and it made me really appreciate that I may be able to build something like that one day. 

Mackinnon and Saunders visit

I visited Mackinnon and Saunders with Anna, Amy, and a few others. We got to see and hold a lot of puppets that were in shows and movies I watched as a kid, which was super nostalgic. It was really interesting to learn about the technology behind all the puppets. There's so much involved in it, from little magnets to hold the eyes in place, to large rigs to keep everything standing up on spindly little legs.

Though I love character design and stop motion, I feel like puppets aren’t really something I’m very interested in making, though I don’t want to brush it off entirely. I think I like the creativity and freedom of prop making more, and I feel like puppets are a highly technical feat that I’m not quite capable of. 

I'd love to put some photos here but I was asked not to share any images online. These are some of the puppets I met in the flesh, though!

Study Task 6 - Cost Of Living

I think the thing with doing this cost of living spreadsheet, is that it gives a bit of perspective to the little purchases. The big ones feel big, but little things - getting some bubble tea, buying a new lipstick, and small stuff like that - really add up in the long run. It's kind of painful to look at and realise this is all very real, but it's also important to not lose my head about it. This helps me in knowing how much I should be charging for my work. I'm currently charging 10 pounds an hour for illustration work, and I don't plan on upping that until I leave university. Even then, I plan to take up whatever part time work I can find in order to just pay the bills and be able to live, and then whatever I can get on top of that creatively will be how I continue to build my portfolio and profile. 

Study Task 7 - Copyshop

I mostly use Instagram for promotion of my work, showing off WIPs and finished pieces. I don't use a watermark at the moment, as I feel like it's not really necessary. I know I probably should sign things within my art, and I think for my digital stuff that's readily nickable, I will begin to implement this. Something like this... where the signature is near the middle of the art, or otherwise a part of it, without sticking out like a sore thumb.

In terms of contact, my Instagram is open to messages where I can get commissioned if people are interested, though I should also make sure this is clearly signposted within my bio.

I don't have a website at the moment and probably won't until after I graduate at least, but when I do I'll be really sure in making sure all my bases are covered when it comes to copyright.

I think I do have this slightly problematic attitude of "who would want to steal my work?", which I think will probably land me in hot water when it happens. I think as my work gets more professional and slick, I'm going to implement more cautions to make sure my back is covered.

Study Task 9 - Life's a Pitch (Studio Brief 3)

For this brief I teamed up with Nicole and Liam Shevill to work on creating a hypothetical animation studio. We divided up our work according to each others' strengths, which worked well for me as I was able to focus my attention on social media, clients, and putting together a great looking presentation.  I really enjoyed thinking about animation in a very professional, independent context. I think it was eye opening to realise how much there is involved, and yet how attainable it would be. Though it's not something I'm not interested in setting up, it's definitely something to keep in mind for future work. 

Study Task 3 - Creative Repot/Animation Studio Research (Studio Brief 2)

I initially reached out to Cristina Acuña Solla for my creative report, as I had worked with her on Isle of Dogs and she was the head set dresser/model maker for it. However, she never got back to me, even though I emailed her twice. It may have been useful to call her, however I get some anxiety about ringing people up, and figured an email would be the best way anyway, as English was not her first language.

Once it became clear she wasn't going to get back in touch with me, I contacted a few others, including Jesse Gregg, the lead set dresser at Laika. He got back to me within hours, happy to answer any questions I put his way. I sent him the following questions, trying to keep in mind questions that I would like to asked were I in his position.

1. What got you interested in set dressing to begin with?

2. Where do you see the stop-motion industry in twenty years time?

3. What animation do you wish you had been able to work on?

4. What advice would you give to someone wanting to become a set dresser?

5. What is the hardest part of your job?

He took a little while to respond, so I had to gently nudge him, which prompted him to reply with such juicy answers. I was really impressed with what he had to say, and it was a shame that I had to cut down his responses for my creative report.

I found it a really good experience and helped me overcome some anxieties about talking to people in the industry, as it helped me realise they're a lot more like me than I know, just with a lot more experience.

https://issuu.com/allyhorton/docs/creative_report