Thursday, May 19, 2011

sold out, now what

Ok the good news is that my wine glass pattern sold out at Joann's across the country. Now what?

So the obvious is that they should reorder. But the not so obvious is how do I recreate that success? Sort of stressful to ponder. Fear of success, no, fear of failure, yes, maybe. I want to make sure I deliver the goods.

Time to bring it on home.

Monday, May 2, 2011

preparing a submission

Years ago I had a request from Disney to submit my portfolio for consideration on a print project. Specifically they said they had selected me and 4 other artists and asked if I had any 'underwater' work. I found out it was for Finding Nemo. Long story short I did NOT have underwater work so spent the weekend trying to put some together. When the weekend was done and I was getting my artwork boxed up, I made sure to include the new work.

I did NOT get selected. Heartbroken (thinking this was my lucky big break) I told myself I was boycotting that movie. Of course I saw the movie and have gone to Disneyland since and seen every darn Disney animation since. But I learned a valuable lesson that weekend. Just because someone wants to see a subject matter that you don't have, does NOT mean you need to create something just for them. Why? Because I was in such a hurry to just give them what I thought they wanted, that I was NOT true to my art, and sent something that did not measure up to my standard. In retrospect, I believe that was my portfolio downfall. I created two additions that were not as thoughtful, were not as well executed because I thought I had to.

The reason I bring this up is that last week I had an inquiring potential licensor. I did end up creating some new work to submit today. However I used my very serious editorial eye and did NOT submit several pieces even though they were the right subject matter. The work wasn't good enough. Lesson learned that I want to only submit work that I feel is my best work. Now, if they do not choose me I won't feel like I screwed up, I will know in my heart it just wasn't the right fit for them, right now.