Firstly good stuff - I've been posting a bunch of doodles and sketches on Instagram @Box-Eds they're all ideas for possible paper toys, most of them I've doodled on the train.
They got me thinking about another line of business which is to sell some of the more accomplished ones as $10 doodles. They're quick to knock out, small and cheap to package and post. And I could take requests for custom ones like these cheeky wee children!
I'll let that idea brew for a little longer as I'm pretty busy at the moment a couple of caricature commissions, which brings me to the pooey filling of this butty!!!
I got into work Monday morning and was chatting to a colleague. This led to me looking up the website for a local newspaper in Geelong. What did I see on the front page? BoxCats!!! Papertoy caricatured footy players http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/geelong/the-boxcats-are-coming-and-you-will-love-them/story-fnjuhovy-1226984529448
Bastards! I do these! Why aren't mine in the paper!?! My initial feelings of jealousy and anger soon gave way to more pleasant thoughts. Learning the lesson to never compare yourself to others but to use them as inspiration is a tough one to learn. But it's a good one to learn. If other people think these papertoys are a good idea then that's gotta be good for me too. If they're popular then people will want more papertoys, different designs and styles and themes. And good on the artist/creator too! It's good to know there is a local kindred spirit not to far away. I haven't been able to find any contact details for the BoxCat creator but would be good to get in touch and share some hints and tips. So this poo has a silver lining to it.
The other thing I've tortured myself with this week is a job that I applied for. I applied for a graphic design position four weeks ago, just a matter of days after the job had been advertised. The company looks awesome, I believe my products could fit nicely alongside what they do with a bit of art direction. I identify really strongly with the guys that built it from working on it in their spare time in a back bedroom 8 years ago into an international business with offices in America and the UK. The job is to work in the head office in Melbourne just ten minutes down the road. In the job advertisement they listed 'Break Dancing' as an essential skill and pizza every Friday afternoon as one of the perks! I've been following them on Facebook and researching the company background and have grown quite attached. But as I said it's been four weeks and I haven't heard anything.
The reason I'm so hopeful is that it could be a shortcut out of my current dull, beige boring as chuffin' Nora day job pushing paper and into a more creative environment which shares my values. I guess it's also filling me with anxiety because I'm putting my work out there and showing it to people that are experts in a similar field. What if they don't like my stuff? What if they say "Get outta here kid!" I just don't know if I could take that kinda rejection!?! Channelling some Marty McFly there!!!
Ending on a good note I do know how to manage the rejection. I believe in what I do enough to pick myself up and keep on keeping on. The BoxCats and the job are just distractions from my own papertoy plans. I have to use the experiences to my benefit and continue to build my wee paper universe and hope that over time more and more people start to discover it and think it twinkles!
No comments:
Post a Comment