Interview on BBYB blog

[Read it here]

A week or two ago I was contacted by a blogger (original post here) who found my work on Instagram and wanted to do a little interview with me - I think it's an ongoing thing she does on her blog every now and again. I know it's not like it's a huge publication asking for an interview, but it still makes me super happy because it means people are interested in my work enough to want to talk about it! Doing this was also like a little kick up the butt too - it made me think about which bits of my work I liked enough to represent me in a post and I got my website organised just in time!

I'm definitely at a stage where I want to up my game and I feel like my practice has changed so much compared with just six months ago - definitely a good thing!

Website!

Finally got my website finished! 

www.sophiehargreaves.com 

It took me quite a long time to figure out how to use Cargo collective to get it looking how I wanted (some of the templates just had too much going on!)

I'm not 100% happy with the work up there because I feel like I can do better, so now I'm really motivated to make better work to upload!

Initially I had a play around with Adobe Muse and made something I really liked.. I wasn't sure how to host it though since I'd already upgraded my cargo account and the two aren't compatible! Perhaps in a year I'll be able to work it out. It did help me figure out the pages & the content though. 

Victo Ngai Talk

It was so exciting to have Victo Ngai come into our studio and talk to us! I love the amount of detail in her work and the beautiful, harmonious colours. One thing I picked up on, as somebody else did and asked about, is her choice of colours for the lines. Almost every time I create a picture I forget that black isn't the only option! I think varying the colour of the line helps show which is the most important part of the picture and focuses the viewers attention. This is pretty basic stuff, but it's good to go back to basics every now and again!

Victo spoke about her work in editorial and explained how quickly you have to resolve a brief - sometimes you only get a day! Something really valuable she said was that you have to kind of step back from an article sometimes and work out what it's trying to communicate overall so you don't get stuck trying to illustrate it too literally. I've always shied away from editorial because I struggle to do this, but I suppose it's similar to the printed pictures project last year. Sometimes you have to select simple motifs, whether they are tangible or intangible and start there. 

I think we've been told all of this stuff before, but it was definitely refreshing and inspiring to go back to it.I feel like my work is lacking something recently, so I'm excited to push myself more.

Brush lettering/cards & Hallmark?

This year I'm working on getting good at brush lettering for this project on 603. Working with the gift-card format/range has made me think about how I could take it further. I'd like to sell some of the designs I produce but I'm also thinking about contacting somewhere like Hallmark for an internship/work experience..

Currently they have this on their website! 

I think I'd be stupid not to contact them or send over some work, so I'm going to work really hard on my 603 project and make something I'm really proud of. I'll aim to have something by the Christmas break (3 weeks) so I'll have time to get to both print resources!

               Follow Sophie's board Brush Lettering on Pinterest.    

Start Up Wednesdays: Blogs

During this session we learnt about how to create an effective blog with audience engagement.
Key points:

• If you make a sponsored post then the type of link you put in must be a non-follow link 
• Affiliations should always be disclosed
• Consider what kind of blog you want - personal, commercial etc
• Identify things you're interested in and base your 'brand' around them - be authentic. (Content Strategy)
• Websites like Wordpress have a lot of plug-ins to help with audience/SEO. Blogger is a good alternative if you don't like that. 
• Caption images so that google image search can pick them up
• Familiarise yourself with Google guidelines, analytics & webmaster tools

Although I actually took less notes than normal in this session, i actually found it the most engaging. I'm really interested in setting up a blog so that I can post about my practice as well as other things that interest me (like makeup, scented candles, cute home decor etc!). I already kind of microblog on my Instagram so it seems like a natural progression to make a proper web blog. 

We've been told to make separate profiles for our practice and our personal stuff, but I actually don't think I'm going to do this. I think part of my practice is about my personality and interests, so it would be silly to completely separate the two. I do understand however, that the kind of content I post has to be appropriate for my audience (but I'm really not the type to overshare anyway!). Overall really interesting session & I'm excited about setting up a blog asap. 

Blog Interview Request

Last night I received this email about doing a little interview for this blog. I don't think the readership of the blog is massive, but I'm still pretty excited! Initially I thought it was somebody I had spoken to at Thought Bubble, but I actually think it's just somebody who has come across my social media! At the point of receiving the email I was already thinking about getting my website up and running and now I'd really like to get it finished before this is published so I can appear much more professional!

Networking at ThoughtBubble

This weekend at Thought Bubble was really great and I'm so glad I printed off a bunch of contact postcards. Originally I compiled a list of people to talk to [here] but because it was so busy I didn't get a chance to speak to most of them, plus once I got there and had a look at their work, I wasn't sure how relevant it was to what I wanted to know.
Rather than come away empty handed, I had a good look around and found quite a lot of other practitioners who's work I really loved and asked them if they'd like to swap contact details. I've got quite a stash of business cards and it feels good to know that I handed out as many as I collected. I'm going to go through them all and send everyone an email and ask about their practice, what inspires them etc.

Portfolio Surgery

• Portfolios can be web based or print based.

Web:

- Might initially draw the client in

- Should be separate from personal profiles

- Should have links to other blogs or live-feeds

- Can showcase multiple portfolios - different areas within your practice

Print:

- For one on one meetings

- Should be maximum A3 (think about carrying it around, opening it on a small table at a meeting)

- Make sure the quality of the prints are good. No client will trust you with their project if your work is presented badly. 

• Tailor your portfolio to the client. They don't want to see work that is completely irrelevant - they have probably already browsed through your website. 
• 10 is the ideal number of images
• If you want to work with someone, track down the commissioner/person in charge. 
• Email first (or letter), introduce self, link website, ask for a bit of a creative steer.
• Meeting - ask about previous publications/commissioned work, show them something different and make sure they know you're interested.

A style guide is a reminder to only use specific fonts/colour palettes on a project (such as a website).

Web Portfolio Research

I'm pretty eager to start making my own website but I don't want to create something horrific and ugly, so I've put together a few websites from illustrators that I really like.
Obviously their practices are all pretty different to mine, but their websites are all nice and simple with big images. I think I'll stick to a white background for mine and use a big image on the homepage. Font-wise, I'll want to use something simple and keep the number of colours to a minimum!

Travelling Man Print Opening!

The prints we did are finally up in Travelling Man! They'll be on display & on sale for the duration of Thought Bubble and through 'til the beginning of December (I think?). I really hope I sell at least one so I make the money back for printing, but since it doesn't really have a context (e.g. fan art), I'm not sure if people will want it?

The opening night was pretty nice though, we had a few drinks and a good mooch around the shop. The guys who run Travelling Man seemed pretty excited to have the prints up and said that they'd love for us to come down with more work anytime! Really glad I put my name forward for this, having work 'out there' is super exciting!

Thought Bubble Zine

Here's the final printout of my zine for the college table at Thought Bubble this weekend! Considering I put this together a little bit last-minute (we've had the whole summer to do it..ooops), I'm pretty happy with it. I would have preferred to use a slightly thicker stock and maybe a coloured cover, but since zines are meant to be kind of lo-fi anyway, I figured that's something I can change in the future.

As far as I'm aware, we don't get any money from the sales of these zines and I'm not sure where the money is actually going..? Nor do I know how much they'll be sold for. I printed a few extra to put up on my Etsy and I'll be selling them for about £1.50 since they're super cheap to produce and it's not that many pages.

Start Up Wednesdays: Funding

The point of this session was show us where/how we can apply for funding for small business opportunities/projects.

• It's important not to let lack of funding stop you from doing anything. If you have an idea, start as soon as possible with what resources you already have!

What can you apply for?

- Business start up, growth and development

- International trade

- Research and development

- Creative development

- Capital purchases

- 'Go and see' (research trips etc)

• First point of call is usually the bank
• Creative SME's have an advantage (Small/Medium enterprises)
• Bank finance - you will always have to pay back more (which you could potentially negotiate). They will always ask for some sort of security
• Arts Council - Grants For The Arts (G4A)
• Creative Industry Finance - web/game/fashion design. Is a loan scheme so does cost but is considerably lower than banks/more commercial businesses

G4A:

- Can submit applications any time of the year

- £1000 is the minimum you can apply for. £100,000 is the maximum.

- Minimum match funding required is around 10% - higher for larger applications

- The time it takes to hear back from them depends on the project/how much you have applied for.

TRUSTS:

- Set up by an individual or private organisation and the money is only to be used for the aims of the trust

- Examples: The Elephant Trust, Prince's Trust, Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Calouste Gulenkian Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation

VENTURE CAPITAL:

- Dragon's Den type of funding

- Hard to get because it is very risky for the venture capitalist.

- Will often give you good business advice as it is in their interest to get their money back

ANGELS: 

- Similar to venture capital, but less demanding about business return.

CROWD FUNDING:

- Usually less successful in reaching target

- Examples would be Kickstarter or GoFundMe

- 'Backers' can choose how much they donate, usually they get something in return depending on this. For example, £5 could get them a free coupon etc.

There are also:

• Commissions, residency, business support schemes
• Community Chest - local authorities stash of money which is biddable. After recent cuts most places don't have one any more though.
• Yorkshire Visual Arts Network - mini grants of up to £500

WHEN APPLYING FOR FUNDING REMEMBER:

• Many grants don't support artists in their first year after graduating
• Consider how your project fits with the criteria of the trust - write down specifically how it does or does not do this 
• Factor in how much your time is worth per day - most grants/funding will allow you to factor in your time, research, travel, revenue and assistance
• Budgeting includes income AND expendature
• If you have more than one idea for a project, apply for all of them - they are likely to give you funding for one of them

Start Up Wednesdays. Business: Do you have an idea for one?

• On average people making money from their 'creativity' only make £5000 a year

The following formula/questions will help me identify whether a business idea is viable and point out anything I haven't considered so far.

Who is the customer?

• What are their relevant interests?
• What are their relevant motivations?
• What are their relevant needs?

Which of your ideas are interesting and which have value?

Opportunity: 

• Have you identified a market opportunity?
• Are you creating an opportunity for a market?

Solution:

• What is your proposed solution?
• What is the specific idea you have for satisfying the identified need/opportunity?
• Is it a service, product, improved process, business model or a combination of these?

Think about the user experience!

Team/Skills

• What skills will you need? Do you have them or do you need to bring someone else in?
• Partners, suppliers, influences, customers..
• 6 degrees of separation - the thing or person you want is most likely no more than 6 steps/people away from you. Network!!

Advantage

• What is your competitive advantage?
• Why would people choose you over your competition?
• You need an advantage that people can't copy!

The average global investment return is only 4%. In a 'cluster' such as Silicone Valley, it might be 31%.

This is because clusters offer more like-minded people with skills & ideas that might help.

Results

• What results will be achieved from your solution?
• Specifically, what are the quantifiable benefits to your customer and your organisation?
• How do all the key stakeholders benefit in tangible or intangible ways?

Business idea exercise

Customer:

• 21+ years old
• Recent graduates
• Creatives
• Need somewhere to freelance from
• Inbetween jobs
• People who know that they might need help/other skill sets
• In need of resources such as printers/studio space etc

Opportunity:

• When people graduate, suddenly they don't have access to the same kind of resources or community they had in university
• Similar to Duke Studios - lots of independent businesses thriving from one place - creates a bigger network

Solution:

• Studio space/collective for recent graduates to come and work (for a monthly fee) that would offer various print resources/space etc
• Monthly membership fee to pay for location, materials, upkeep etc.
• There would be an application process to make sure they were going to use resources effectively and see what they would be bringing to the collective.
• Similar to Duke Studios but more of an open, free space to work rather than office areas. 

Team:

• Marketing
• Practitioners from varying disciplines
• Accountant or someone to manage budgeting/finances
• Some sort of project manager to organise space and resources

Advantage:

• We know exactly what we need after uni
• Creates a sense of community where collaboration is encouraged
• More than just a single office space
• As individuals we have our own contacts so great opportunities for networking

Results

• Potentially some really great collaborations
• New contacts
• Shared studio space - cheaper than getting somewhere on your own
• Motivation to network & get more work

Feedback

• Similar to E-street art in Leeds!
• Good focus on community & customer being graduates - when will people stop being considered graduates though? and will this mean that they'll be kicked out after a certain amount of time?
• Other than membership fees, how will it make money? Commission from live briefs?

Although this wasn't my business plan, it was very similar to an idea I've been thinking about and it was really useful to consider the kind of skillsets and resources that would be needed to make it happen. I'm sure after uni I'll want to start some sort of business so I'll hold onto this process to check whether what I want to do is viable!

Monster Grrls Colouring Zine - Cover

Just to make the cover more attractive, I added a few of the inside illustrations. I really like it just black and white, but I'll still print it onto different coloured stock to see how it looks!

Thought Bubble Zine Progress

This is my current progress for the Thought Bubble zine. I'll be printing it tomorrow and I'm planning on using a different coloured stock on the cover to the inside pages.

I kept the content pretty simple and I wanted to create something that people won't buy, look at once and then store forever. I'm quite interested in colouring books at the moment and making a colouring zine seems like a pretty good way for people to return to your work (and interact with) for a low price. 

I'm considering adding more to the front cover - maybe some snippets of the inside illustrations? Overall I've tried not to process the images too much so I can keep that lo-fi zine aesthetic!