Friday, August 29, 2008

mailers...

act one of my mission has been to do a real honest-to-god mail blast. i'm in the process of assembling little press kits to be mailed out to a slew of art directors whose work in the print business i admire. i'm slowly starting to realize how involved this process is. the initial list of contacts is around 15-20 with at least another 10 right behind that. in two months i've got to repeat this process and two months after that and so on and so on...

i've found the trickiest part about doing a mailer is getting everything you need. after comparing prices on several different postcard companies and weighing the option of buying a new high-quality printer and the paper required to do it myself, i decided the economical decision for the time being was to do at least the first few rounds of mailers myself. this involved shopping for printers, buying good paper, ordering custom envelopes, buying postage, and making lots of labels. it's been a bit of an undertaking (and i'm not done yet) and it ends up being alot to think about. but this is, after all, work. it needs to be done to reach the end goal. it just sucks that i missed the UPS guy today and i'm probably going to have to pick up the envelope package at their offices.

so a little advise, in my research i came across several services i really thought were useful. i'm making a little list in case anyone reading this could use the info as well...

postcards: modernpostcard.com does an impeccable job. their paper is outstanding and their color calibration is spot on. you get what you pay for, however, and they don't come cheap. i'll be using them down the line but the budget doesn't allow for that at the moment. rough price: $145 for 300 plus tax and shipping.

printers: after trying out a bunch at local stores, i really came to love canon. i've always been loyal to their equipment and their printers seem (so far) to hold up to the same standard of quality i've come to appreciate from their cameras. check out staples, best buy, target, and wal-mart for some good back to school sales on homeoffice stuff like this. you can find a deal this time of year.

paper: believe it or not, staples does indeed make some nice paper. my test prints came out crisp and clear and looked great on their 4x6 photo paper and their matte 8.5x11 photo stock. no color loss, no tint to the paper, just good solid results.

i'm going to try this first round on a budget and so far the results are good. hopefully the recipients will agree. and as i come across more useful info i'll gladly be passing it along. until then.


-craig

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

the innaugural post

it's 2am on a tuesday. i just finished a crapload of work on the website. i'm tired and undoubtedly a little cranky considering i've got to stay awake 'till 4am. but that's life. so... without further adieu, welcome to my new blog-ish thing. i haven't really blogged in a while and i'm just getting back into the swing of things, so please be patient with me.

currently, i'm in a transitional state where i'm doing my best to get on top of my freelance work. so i'm sure this blog is going to become sort of a transcription of the thoughts of an independent artist trying to make a living on pretty pictures. this should be interesting. see, since my graduation i've done jobs here and there, but it's not exactly paying the rent, if you follow me. therefore, i found it necessary to get out of my slump and do some real work. do more pieces for the portfolio. get a few more contracts. and eventually, i hope to have an agent to get said work for me so i can spend more time... well... doing this sort of thing. and, of course, pay the rent with the work i receive. i hope some of you continue to read my rants and follow me on this little quest i've established for myself. if you feel so compelled, please feel free to leave comments and words of encouragement. this is going to be a frequent thing and i plan to keep everyone who reads this (hopefully more than just my family) up to date and entertained with the developments of this humble artist trying to make a name for himself in a tough business. it may not always be happy; it may not always be profound or insightful; it may not even make sense half of the time, but it's going to be honest and pure and it's going to shed light on what it's like to be a dude in my shoes. and hey, if that interests you, i thank you.

it's going to be an interesting journey.

-craig