The Big Crit, held in many cities over the country, offers the opportunity for those embarking on a creative career to speak to, and have their portfolios criticised, by creative directors. It seems slightly geared towards those interested in a career in the marketing/ advertising industry- but it will still be a good experience to show off work again and try and be more prepared than I was for the LBF.
On the website it had a link to 'getting it right on the night' [1], so I had a look to note down any tips.
It spoke about advertising and copywriting first of all, which again made me worried that I wouldn't be very relevant at this place with a children's book themed portfolio. It talks about using your 'six best campaigns' and that each execution is labelled with a press ad etc. which sounds scary and completely unrelated to what we do.
It also goes on to more general tips such as:
1. Know who you're meeting, 'it's much easier to build a rapport with someone you know a bit about'
2. Get a LinkIn account
3. Collect emails and business cards
4. Ask if there's anyone they would recommend to get in touch with (might be useful for illustrators if no-one there can help directly)
Considering one of their tips is 'know who you're meeting'- you would think they would maybe give you some names so you could research them! Whilst trying to find out who might be there, I found an interview with someone who attended the Big Crit a couple of sessions a go.
What I found interesting from reading the interview was how laid back and un-interview like the meeting was, which is a relief as the London Book Fair had a quite formal atmosphere. The crit is also held in an actual agency building, so it will be interesting to experience the place that they actually work, as opposed to meeting in a general space or at university. She recommended to 'give them something to remember you by' which is maybe a good opportunity to take some promotional items.
Learning from the LBF, I will also ask more questions and probably prepare more detailed things to say about my work. Questions I could ask:
- What advice do you have for illustrators meeting art directors?
- How can illustrators fit into the world of advertising/marketing- how are they contacted by advertising/ marketing companies?
- What would you recommend someone looking for a job in the creative industry?
- What is the best thing to do when you leave uni to keep up with creative opportunities?
- How to approach an agency?
-Based on my portfolio who would you recommend I speak to?
- What could I improve upon? Is there anything I should focus on, or anything I should leave out?
A couple of days before the crit we got an email from someone from the Institute of Direct and Digital with some information about the people who would be looking at the portfolios, mostly creative directors. I read up about them and thought about which people might be most useful for me to see.
I thought Jimmy Thompson, Richard Norton and Ian Bates looked like the most relevant and interesting, although from reading more about the event I was aware that it was definitely targeted towards marketing and advertising students.
Me, Jordan, Sophie and Chris all went to the event together, and in the car we were talking about how nervous we felt. We didn't know what to expect or even if we would be welcome there, but after watching a video from the same event last year we felt a bit better- as the crit looked very laid back.
After being stuck in traffic driving through Bristol, we got to the event just in time, grabbed our name badges and then went through to were the meeting was being held.
Sophy, an employee of the 'Real Adventure Unlimited' who was organising the event, came over and asked us who our top 3 people to see were. I chose to see Luke Barrow, as he was an art director, Ian Bates who is the creative director for Real Adventure Unlimited and Jimmy Thompson, who is The creative director for Signal. Here we are looking completely at ease.
After standing around and talking for a while, we grabbed a glass of wine/beer and went to sit down for the opening talk. I liked the open space and the cushion area, there were only about 10 of us there so we spread out. Most of the other people there were advertising/ marketing based- one girl we spoke to graduated last year from Bournemouth Uni and studied visual communications, so she did a bit of everything.
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| fancy sitting area |
Jimmy Thompson spoke about knowing your role within your team, to not be too precious with your work and that it's very important to spell check (see above). Sophie also asked him where he got his jumper from, and everyone laughed at him.
Ian Atkinson, the marketing director from SunLife, gave a talk as if he was giving his younger self advice. He talked about how you should work as hard as possible, and that the enemy of great is good. Or the enemy of good is great. Basically, don't stop when something is just good- work harder until it is great. He also said not to be too precious with a single idea, and always be open to offer lots of different ideas to a client. He also said not to bruise easily, and that you shouldn't take things personally because at the end of the day it is just work.
Sophy, who was organising people at the event, then gave us a slot/number for us to see 4 directors. I was lined up to see Jimmy, Tim, Heather and Luke.
I went through my portfolio, taking the time to explain what each piece was and why I made it. At the London Book Fair I went through it really quickly, so I made much more of an effort to explain what everything was. He seemed interested in my final project idea, and funnily enough just like Nicola from the LBF he loved my scribble with eyes- he said it was simple but had a lot of character. When I got to the end of my portfolio we went back to the beginning and he talked through it with me.
He said how he liked my style and that my themes and style really came across in my portfolio- he also like the range of work that was in there that showed I could do children friendly stuff and 'more sinister things'. He went on to say that I should remember if I have been called in to meet people that I would be the best illustrator in the room, otherwise I wouldn't be there. This means that when I talk about my work it's also important to talk about how it was made and why it helps make the illustration work eg. how does this style emphasis the story? So instead of just describing the work, say how it works and why it works. He was also basically saying that I can be confident in my work because I know more about it than anyone there, and that some people will have no idea what they're looking for.
He also talked about signposting a portfolio (which I think is a marketing/advertising term for labelling work in a portfolio) and how my portfolio could be arranged in different subjects- e.g. characters altogether, children's story illustration altogether, patterns altogether etc. When Sophy came to tell us we only had a minute left, I quickly asked him how his relationship with illustrators worked. Using me as in example, he said they would call me in to discuss the project, and also go through my portfolio to choose what kind of style they want and which bits of my work would suit the project. I would then go away and make the work, it would go through an art director, get sent back to me with changed, sent back to the art director, then sent to the client, and then any more changed could be made after that until everyone was happy. Then my time was up, I thanked him and shook his hand and he said how he liked my work.
I left the meeting room to find Sophie pouring herself a large glass of wine. She said how her meeting with Heather hadn't gone very positively, and that made me a bit nervous because I had her later on in the evening! I had a break in between Jimmy and Tim, so I spoke to Chris and Sophie about their meetings.
When I went to see Tim he jokingly said that he wouldn't be any use to me, but I asked him about what he did and confessed that the only knowledge about advertising I had was the first 3 seasons of Mad Men. We talked a bit about advertising, and he recommended I looked at Bill Bernback (spelt wrong by me on my phone notes) who was a huge name in advertising in the 1960s. He also explained about the relationship between the copy writer and art director, and how with advertising it was important to show and not tell. I mentioned how it's similar with illustration, how it's important to be creative and imaginative without just showing the audience exactly what they're reading about (especially when it comes to something like editorial illustration for example).
He was very complimentary about my work, and again he was interested in the Forest of Dean bear story that I am exploring for my Final Major Project. When I was going through my portfolio he said I was very good at simplifying forms and making them into interesting characters. He then asked me to draw him a turkey in his notebook. He then told me the folk tale from Hartlepool, about the locals who hung a monkey for being a French Spy. Tim was really laid back throughout the meeting and was swearing and laughing loads. He said I had no need to worry because he thought I was talented, and the advice he gave me was to put my illustrations into moving images. I showed him my website home page and he loved the diving lady, so he wrote down my website next to the turkey I drew. All in all he was very enthusiastic about my work, but because he was a copywriting he didn't give me as many practical tips as Jimmy did. He was good for an ego boost though.
- 'If this was an interview I would have switched off listening to you already'
- 'I wouldn't hire you'
- 'Do you need me to tell you what to do for a job?'
- 'You're making me work to hard to remember your portfolio'
- 'Your portfolio is a jumble'
- 'There is nothing on this page of illustrations to indicate anything you just told me'
- 'You need to have some writing on the page '
- 'You need to organise the work better'
Luckily we only got a few pages into my portfolio then Sophy came to say our time was up, I shook her hand and left sharpish. These list of quotes make her sound pretty harsh, but she did also say early on that she had no experience with illustrator's portfolios and that I could ignore everything she said, all she could do is give advice on what she knew. I was glad I went to her because I think it's good to have some tough feedback, and she did make some interesting points about the organisation of the work in my portfolio.
Because someone left an appointment freed up with Ian Atkinson, so I went to see him before my last appointment with Luke. Before I opened up my portfolio I asked him about his role, as he had mentioned previously that he had gone from a creative role over to the business side of marketing. I asked if he still had any creative input, and he said that he still ends up giving creative advice because of his past experience.
I went through my portfolio and something that he said right away was that my portfolio was an artists portfolio. All my images to him were just paintings, and that it is important to some clients to see that work can be commercial. He said I could do this by putting my work 'in situ'- for example after I explained my piece about overfishing and by catch, he said he could imagine it as a front cover of a magazine or used for an editorial piece- but I should mock up that cover and put it in my portfolio to show how it would be used. The same with my other illustrations, he said I should make them into adverts to give them some context. His advice was really geared towards making my work super commercial and for advertising, but saying that my work could do with some more context I think is true. For example I could have made my film posters for 'The Wicker Man' look more like real film posters, but because I'm illustration and not product design/ marketing- maybe this isn't super important for me to do. Much like with Heather we didn't get very far through my portfolio, but he did say a lot. Sophy came over to say our time was up, and it was nearly time for me to have my last meeting with Luke Barrow.
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| Luke wasn't on the original list they emailed us- so this is borrowed from his LinkedIn page |
He also told me to look up Mr. Bingo, who is an illustrator who is very cemented in his own style and way of working, but because of that people want to work with him. His dark and rude sense of humour, that would usually put big names off, has instead attracted brands such as Oxfam, Microsoft, the BBC amongst others.
Luke especially liked the sound of my bear project, and wished me luck. He was the drunkest of the people I had seen.
After we were finished talking to the directors it was 9pm, and we left- thanking Sophy for her help and organising skills.
We concurred that we glad we went for the experience and that we got some snippets of interesting feedback. We wouldn't necessarily recommend other illustration students to go as some of the directors didn't know the best feedback to give us. I would recommend it to those who want to specialise in marketing or maybe branding- or who at least want their work to be used commercially.
I think the feedback was still helpful even though they were not very illustration experienced. Compared to the London Book Fair I much preferred the laid back approach, and the free wine definitely helped. However, by the end of the night some of the directors were pretty drunk, so it was hard to remember their advice as it was pretty muddled. It is always interesting to hear what different people think of your portfolio and all of them were very positive about my illustration style and my work in general. What they had given me to think about was how I should speak about my work and how to organise my portfolio.
1. https://www.theidm.com/getmedia/3f74fede-e91f-4e47-ab72-564f1eafe581/Big-Book-Crit-Getting-It-Right-On-The-Night-2_1.pdf
2.https://www.realadventure.co.uk/agency-life/the-big-book-crit-for-young-creative-talent-returns-to-bristol/
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