I submitted a double page spread for the Papyrus colouring book competition a while ago and on Thursday, a junior art director from TBWA Manchester contacted me about designing the cover of the colouring book and two more double page spreads. They wanted me to come into their offices in Manchester on Monday and complete the work. I felt like this was a lot of work to complete from scratch in one working day so I asked for them to send me the brief so I could begin working on it over the weekend.
I actually already had a busy weekend planned but I really didn’t want to miss this opportunity. It did stress me out a bit that I wasn't going to have time to get everything done though. I was travelling to Cardiff on the Friday and used my five hour train journey to plan some ideas. Unfortunately I hadn't got much information to go on by this point because the brief was only sent to me on Friday evening. Anyway, I managed to sketch out and write down some ideas that could be adapted to fit the brief when I did receive it. I was trying to make the most of the time I had available!
THE BRIEF
The brief was specific in layout and the spaces I needed to fill, it also gave some examples of the kind of thing they wanted for the cover. They pointed out a project they had seen on my Bechance page that they liked and they wanted me to do a similar thing. Other than this, the subject matter was pretty open so I used other ‘calming’ themes that I had brainstormed to get going with it.
I cut my weekend in Cardiff short and left early on Sunday morning so I could be back at my flat in Leeds with enough time to draw out some refined ideas. I hadn't got the equipment I needed or my laptop with me and I knew that the train was not a good place to attempt to draw final artwork. I used the train journey home to plan my layouts and write down a list of the individual things I needed to draw so that I would be able to get straight into it when I got home. I drew out each element that afternoon and evening and started to arrange them on Photoshop to match the layouts I had sketched.
I caught the train at 7am from Leeds and used this train journey to continue working on Photoshop. I wanted to have a PSD file for the cover and each double page spread to show them when I arrived and I managed to get these complete by the time I arrived at the offices. I arrived a little bit early (better than being late!) and was set up with a desk for the day. I showed the junior art director, who I had already been in contact with, my work so far and she was happy with the majority of it. She gave me a few pointers about what to do differently and I got on with making these changes. This happened a couple of times before we reached something she was happy with. She then introduced me to a senior art director who came over to approve my work. He didn’t suggest any more changes so I was really happy that he was pleased with my work. I finished the design mid-afternoon and just had to wait for final approval before I could leave.
I was asked to join three of the junior art directors for lunch at a nearby café which was really nice. I learnt a few more things about the company, how it is structured, what kinds of briefs they work on, what kind of practitioners they hire full time and who they bring in as freelancers. We had some common ground as they had all coincidentally done placements in Leeds before.
I personally think the day went really well and I got the impression that I finished the work sooner than they had expected me to, most likely because I had arrived prepared. I felt I was well suited to the brief anyway as my work is predominantly monochrome and line based which is exactly what is needed for a colouring book. I found it was a really good experience to work in the same space as an art director and being continually told what needs changing. It is a lot more time efficient than communicating via email because you could be wasting time doing something that is not what they had in mind at all. I was pretty chuffed that I managed to complete what they had asked at such short notice and with a limited amount of actual working hours.
My thoughts on the different aspects of the day…
TRAVEL
This was okay for a one off but I can’t see myself doing this every day for a full working week, it would be really tiring. I don’t see myself working in a 9-5 job to be honest, I would do it if I had to obviously but I would much prefer to work more flexible hours. I am often most productive after 5pm when I am working late into the evening and into the early hours if necessary which doesn’t fit in at all with a standard working day. While I do want to take advantage of this productive time, I do also need to teach myself to be more productive in allotted time slots to make the most of the day and fit around other things going on.
PAYMENT
TBWA paid me for my time that day which was more than I expected after they explained to me that this was a charity project that they had taken on for free. Obviously I am glad I was paid something but I really took up this opportunity for the experience of working in a new environment and also working under continual art direction. It is a different and new way of working for me and I am glad I got to experience it. It also made me think about how maybe working freelance doesn’t have to be as ‘lonely’ as people make it out to be.
Ironically while I was working here on the Monday I missed a PPP session about getting paid. I understand that the proper way to have handled this brief would have been a payment for my time plus payments for the licensing of the individual illustrations/pages. I felt a bit under pressure to agree to what I was presented with due to the short timescale and because it was for a charity I thought the process might be a bit different. I will know for the next time anything like this happens to discuss the terms of a contract like this rather than just agree to the first contract that is presented to me.
EXPOSURE
While I was working there they got someone to film me drawing. I remember in the initial brief for the colouring book they asked for a time-lapse video if possible so all of these film clips are going to be put together into a short promotional film about the making of the book. I am also expecting a credit for the cover illustrations seeing as the whole book is built up from the work of various illustrators and artists.
CONNECTIONS
I got chatting to two guys working in the same space as me and they were really friendly and interested in what I was doing and my studies. One of them mentioned that his partner works at UK Greetings and he showed me her website and online portfolio. I took a mental note of her name and web address and thought this would be a great opportunity to make a new contact. I am going to get in touch with her via email and hopefully start a conversation with her about working in the greetings industry.
I connected with a couple of people I worked with on LinkedIn and then one followed me on Instagram which reassured me that all my online accounts are connected well enough for someone to navigate through my online presence on multiple platforms. I hope I am now on their radar for any future work I might be suitable for.
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