Entry 6 of 12: November: How many hats can I actually wear?

Well, I finally got an illustration job this month. It was my first job that came directly through my promotional efforts. A local company saw my work on Portfolios.com and hired me to do a set of illustrations that will potentially be used for stickers and window clings. This one job more than paid for my 4 month trial on Portfolios.com! Not bad for my portfolio being up for about a month in a half. I know we've all heard this before, but the company was interested in working with me on future projects. I'm not getting my hopes up, but it does feel good to know that someone likes your work. Then, another company contacted me after seeing my listing on Portfolios.com They are wanting to license some of my work for cell phone wallpaper. I still need to go through the contract they sent and see if it's something I'd want to do.

I also finished up a big design job I got through my illustration listing on Coroflot. This job included some illustration work, so I had fun doing it. The illustration style wasn't in my wide-eyed style, but it was pretty challenging to break out of that and play with a retro/vintage style. I am constantly updating my free listings at Coroflot, Folioplanet, Communication Arts, and Portfolios.com. And so far a couple of them have proven to get me work. I also got 2 responses back from the promo packs I mailed out a couple of months ago. One reply wasn't interested in my work, but the other wanted me to keep them on my mailing list and could see a need for my style in the future.

Since I had that one illustration job finished, it's time to send out a press release. This one is a little tricky, though. Their contract said that I couldn't show the work I did for them in my online portfolio (which translates to the internet in general) which makes total sense after they explained why (they don't want their competitors knowing which artists they use). So with that rule in place, I have to figure out what I can send. They did say I could send out a press release with the illustration attached, but some places I send the release post it on their website so I might have to send out a separate one to them.

It's been three months since I sent out a postcard mailing so I probably need to do another something soon. But with the holiday's coming up, I'm not sure it's the best time to send something. I probably need to wait until the first of the year to do something. That should give me plenty of planning time (I say that now but I probably won't think about that until January!). With the holidays coming up and some vacation days to burn, I really need to sit down and do a marketing plan for 2005. I also need to work on some more illustrations for my portfolio. Maybe Santa will be good to me and just give me great ideas and motivation for Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

Click here to read Holli's previous installment.