-By Lauren Panepinto

As many of you know (because you were there), Spectrum Fantastic Art Live was this past weekend in Kansas City. If you were there, you know it was a sleep-depriving whirlwind of amazing artists, inspirational conversations, well-deserved awards, fabulous networking, and really informative panels. 

Marc Scheff & I were excited to debut 3 of the Art Business Bootcamps we’ve been developing for Drawn + Drafted, pulled from material we’ve been collecting for Make Art Work, the Art Business guide we’ve been working on. (You can read more about the project in my last Muddy Colors column.) I confess that Marc and I were wondering how many people would show up for the Bootcamps, given that they are a new concept, and the fact that there’s just so much awesome stuff competing for your attention every minute at Spectrum Live. I did know that there was a demand for Art Business information from the big and positive response to a year of my posts here on Muddy Colors. So we expected a decent turnout. 


We were very excited to see those expectations exceeded, with a packed room for all three Bootcamps. And word spread quickly, because for the rest of the weekend people were coming up to me and Marc, asking if they could get copies of the one-sheets we made for each of the Bootcamps. It turns out people are really hungry for this kind of information—the kind of information we wish more Art Schools were teaching.

Since the Bootcamps were so popular we ran out of prints, but we promised to make pdfs of the one-sheets available after the con. True to our word, we’re going to share the info from the first Bootcamp with you now. Enjoy!

This first Bootcamp is called Getting You Found, and covers Self-Promotion (how and how much), Social Media (where, what, and how to get out there), and Approaching Art Directors (cold emails and con conversations, and lots of dos and don’ts).

Go to www.DrawnAndDrafted.com to download the one-sheet pdf

These one sheets and our book, Make Art Work, go well beyond just the combined knowledge of me and Marc. They contain take-aways from the many many conversations we have had with other Art Directors and Artists in Illustration and Design. There’s not one absolute rule that works for everyone, but these one sheets present a good place to start, and a general consensus on a lot of the questions that we Art Directors hear repeated from con, to con, to panel, to email, etc.

If you want the one-sheets from Bootcamps 2 (Portfolios and Websites) and 3 (Contracts, Rights, and Payment), get on our newsletter where we will be sending those pdfs as well as updates on our other projects.

Bootcamp 1 at Spectrum Live on Friday afternoon
One last request. These one sheets are both a microcosm and a starting point for related sections in the book, so we want to know if you’re left with deeper questions. PLEASE ask questions or make suggestions in the comments below, and we’ll make sure we’ve got all the bases covered. We want this book to be the most useful stack of paper on your bookshelf, and we know we can do it together!

www.DrawnAndDrafted.com

Go to DrawnAndDrafted.com to download the Bootcamp #1 pdf, and sign up for the mailing list to get one-sheets 2 and 3 as soon as they are revised, and to hear about our other projects, plans, and events.