Portfolio Books

"Some assembly required"

Ostensibly as a springboard into learning & using the Adobe InDesign program, we were tasked in class with creating a little mini- portfolio. This included assembling files from preexisting projects or from our archives (which by now graduate students have assumably amassed a decent backlog) and designing a small sampler of of our work as a spiffy hard-cover book. There is an irony in that I've done more "arts & crafts" type projects in a "Digital Issues" class than most other recent art studios.

The manufacture of hand-made art objects will never lose its appeal, and it's a nice, personal touch to give someone such a compilation. Coincidentally enough, this project dovetailed quite nicely with the MAD/SCAD events, so my compilation was pretty much custom-made for a target audience (in this case an art director). The content was a tad bit on the juvenile dumb gag end, so in other words, just perfect for MAD.

"Backyard Professional"

I went ahead and made a handful (7 total) of both soft & hardcover books, and here's a couple pics of the production line. And what the hell, why not make extra, one reason being the holidays are right around the corner (one reason my family and friends must appreciate me is the absolute dependability of my cheap bastard gift-giving routine). But it's just prudent to have a ready-made sampler like this on-hand to whip out and give to anyone appropriate who you might randomly cross paths with at such an event as this. That's why, same as with the earlier minicomics assignment, I was bemused at the "bare minimum" output of some students: like doing only one, and for at least half the class in this critique, having no contact info, website linkage etc. somewhere in the project either. Hey whatever, it's quite okay since details like that ensures who will ultimately get work in the future - not necessarily the best artist, but, more often than not, simply the one who shows up early and/or consistently goes above & beyond the norm. I suppose maybe all those years in Alaska spent creating opportunities where there were none makes it easier for recognizing them in comparatively easier markets, and shamelessly capitalize on the chance to network. But also another factor is that this school lays it on pretty thick as far as overloaded students floundering about on the last week of each quarter, so the confluence of events created some bifurcation - but juggling multiple deadlines and trying to adapt & evolve with a stressful schedule is also a skill that at times is just as, if not more important, than the quality of artwork.
Big thanks to Bill Naylor, whose serendipitous assistance saved my ass (again).

"An art school is a place where about three people work with feverish energy and everybody else idles to a degree that I should have conceived unattainable by human nature. Moreover, those who work are, I will not say the least intelligent, but, by the very nature of the case, for the moment the most narrow; those whose keen intelligence is for the time narrowed down to a strictly technical problem." - G.K.Chesterton from Autobiography (1936)