This weekend I went to Thoughtbubble (which I will blog about my experience soon.. probably after this actually.) and I was expecting to have a few conversations with other creatives but what I quickly found is that they were so interested in what I was talking about and doing with my practice that they wanted to keep in touch. One professional in particular had contacts at both Nickelodeon and Disney and was really interested in getting young artists into the industry. I didn't have a business card to give him and oh boy did i feel like a fool, luckily for me he persevered and followed me on instagram and told me to follow him on LinkedIn. Although all was not lost and plans were made to meet up and show him my portfolio in the future, it really hit home to me that he could be a potential client and I really have to be on the ball with this!
Thoughtbubble is a great place to have a look at what people are doing, so naturally I took every business card I could get my hands on. I wanted to see the different styles and shapes and decide from there what I liked most!
I'd started rough working on a business card before the weekend, it uses my cat from level 5 that was a particular favourite piece of work of mine. After seeing the cards that other creatives have I really need to decide is how to come across. As a professional illustrator I'm serious about getting work but I would define my art style is playful and thoughtful. At the moment I'm trying to get across both of these things but I'm not sure how much of myself to put on there (so to say). I am an illustrator and I am a film enthusiast (which I feel really influences my work at times, especially when it comes to perspectives and composition) but I also really love garlic bread (and making people laugh) so I added that on there too! I think this might have to be one of the things I ask a tutor or other colleagues about. I like it, but does it send the right tone of voice???
Another thing I'm having illustrator life problems with is that currently there is another company with a very similar name. Now up until a few weeks ago this was never a problem, they are in a different country and they had a fairly poor social media approach but they must have invested in someone good or something because now when I google for my name, instead of coming up with my social media things as it did before, google now presumes I've typed in wrong and suggests this other company and they have lots of social media now.
The big question is, do I change my illustrator name now? Before I start becoming a professional? Or do I stand and fight and become a stronger presence? I've gone under the name Sugarcombe since I was around 15, it was a completely made up name (and 'sugarcomb' is also a made up word too). It came as a fusion of who I feel I am as a person (sugar - because my life revolves around it and combe - came from my love of finding things 'to comb' but with the name sugarcomb already been taken on a few formats I added the E because I felt it was more aesthetically pleasing).
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