There was some amazing art on display and an array of panels filled with a bunch of creative minds who all had something different to say. I gained a lot of valuable knowledge
from many of the panels but the Aussie Comics Panel proved the best one for me. It consisted of five Australian comic
artist practising in the industry today. Doug Holgate Queenie Chan,
Dave DeVries, David Yardin and Jon Sommariva. I've attached a link to
each artists website so be sure to check their work out.
There was a lot of information to take
in during the panel discussion but there were a couple of things that
really stuck with me that I felt would be useful to any illustrator trying to find their way into the industry. The first piece of advice
came from South Australian illustrator, Dave Devries, who stated that
there were three essential keys to getting jobs as an illustrator.
They are:
Exceptional work
Nice
Reliable
He continued, stating that you only
need two of these three keys to succeed. If you are reliable and a
nice person, but your work isn't the greatest you can still find a
job. Likewise, if you're an exceptional illustrator and reliable but
a complete jerk, people will find a way to work with you, and so on.
The other piece of advice was the
importance of having an online presence. Every member of the panel
shared how they promote themselves online and all agreed that having
a presence on the internet is an essential part of becoming a
successful illustrator. Each artist had a different method of sharing
their work to an online audience including blogs, personal websites,
social networking websites like facebook and twitter and creative
community websites like deviantART. One of the panel members stated that sharing some of your
personal interests like favourite movies books and other hobbies
helps the audience that is viewing your work to connect with you. I wish I could have recorded the whole panel to post up on Restless Colour because it was really interesting and helpful but alas, I have given all I can remember. I hope you can take something from this post. Keepitcool.
