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CHAPTER 1
THE DESIGN OF SELF-PROMOTION
Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith
and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.
Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
—Gail Devers
THE ART OF SELF-PROMOTION
I want to begin this book and this chapter with the idea that first you must believe in yourself. If you don't, who will? We can compare the process of trying to get your foot in the door of any job with that of dating and finding a spouse, or building any relationship, really. Most of the rules apply to both. In a way you're trying to sell yourself to a potential romantic partner just as you are trying to sell yourself to a potential employer. So there are some key concepts that you must keep in mind and they are as follows:
Show your value. How are you different from everyone else? What makes you the cream of the crop? Why are you worth the investment of time? Don't just blabber on about how wonderful and great you are. Prove it. Everything you do from this point forward in creating the best representation of yourself should illustrate how creative you are and show your talents and abilities. Learn how to problem-solve. Problem solving is probably the most important skill that you can have.
Show the best version of yourself without being phony or fake. The old adage of put your best foot forward definitely applies here. Be professional. Take time to groom yourself both physically and professionally. Have class. Show style. Show that you're a fun person to be around. Establish that you work well and play well with others. If you present yourself as something you are not, you may get the job, but you won't be able to keep it. The animation industry is very connected, and this information travels quickly.
Be confident, don't be arrogant. Know your abilities. Know your strengths but also know your weaknesses and be willing to work on those. Be humble. Be polite. Don't minimize yourself and don't put others down. Be open to ideas and suggestions. Don't be defensive when someone critiques you or your work.
Be open to change. Be open to ask questions. Accept the fact that this industry is in flux constantly. Show that you are flexible. Being able to remain calm and not let change upset you is extremely important.
Be focused and on target, but remember to look at the big picture. Know what you want to do. Everything you do should be done with that goal in mind. If you don't know what you want to do, then you will come across as both indecisive and unsure of yourself and your abilities. Realize that where you want to be may be out of reach at this moment, but continue to make decisions that will eventually lead you to where you want to go. Don't get frustrated. Don't give up. Keep on working toward that goal and you will eventually get there.
Don't waste anyone's time. Get to the point. Always be clear, be concise, be passionate, do your best, and stay on target.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Charles Darwin
Be willing to continue to work on improving both yourself and your portfolio. Don't burn yourself out. Stay motivated. Do things that help you stay inspired. Stay fresh. Get away from the computer. Be joyful. Get involved in your community. Stay active. Find a cause. Find a hobby. Take a class. Play games. Go to the movies for fun not to critique-leave that for the critics. Do something that brings life into who you are and what you do. Let your experience inspire your work and keep it fresh. Stop hanging around with people in your life who pull you down or squash your hopes and dreams. Fill your life with people who inspire you. Find balance and happiness.
DESIGN
There are plenty of books out there that talk about design and self-promotion. At the end of this chapter, I have listed a few that I've used, and I highly recommend them. This chapter defines a few basic rules and things you need to consider when it comes to logo, business card, letterhead, and website design, so that you can do it on your own, especially if you don't have the money to hire a designer.
So, why bother designing your portfolio? First, it shows that you are serious about your profession, and a unified, nicely designed portfolio looks professional. So, where do you start?
Probably the most important thing you have to decide when designing for self-promotion is who you are and how you want to be represented. How will you represent yourself visually? What is your style?
You should begin by asking yourself: What adjectives do you use to describe yourself?
Make a list of words that describe who you are. The following is a word bank of adjectives that you can use to help describe yourself and figure out how you want to represent yourself visually.1 This is a good start.
A abnormal action active adaptive adolescent agreeable aggressive aesthetic agrarian alert alluring ambiguous ambitious amusing animated annoying antique anxious appealing archival arctic artistic athletic atypical authoritative automated avant-garde awkward B basal basic beautiful bizarre black bland boisterous boundless brave brazen brief bright brilliant C calm captivating chaotic charm childlike choice classic classical cluttered coherent colorful cool comic compassionate compelling complicated confident conservative contemporary conventional convincing cooperative corporate creative cryptic cultured cutting-edge D dark dated dazzling delicate dependable dirty disheveled disordered distinctive drab drive dynamic ...
