Networking

page from Borderlands, Ch. 1

Al dropped by day before yesterday to chat about portfolios and the best way to go about putting one together. I wasn’t sure the advice I gave was necessarily spot-on – he needed to put a portfolio together for his application to Glyndwr to do Graphic Design, whereas the only time I pull my portfolio together is to send it to clients.

Having said that, it was nice to talk to another illustrator – there are lots of artists in the Inside Out group, but no other working illustrators, and it was good to kick around ideas and bounce things back and forth. Al showed me some of the websites he’s been building, and some of the graphics he’s created for them, plus a couple of his prints – nice, sharp vector stuff with some good textures layered into them. Sort of like the pieces I’ve been producing for The Way, but better – clearer and brighter.

It was a pity we didn’t have more time to chat – he had to pick up his car, I had to head off back home on the bus – but it brought it home to me once again that all of us “creative professionals” can end up really isolated if we’re not careful. Yes, we have email, yes we have Facebook and so on, but because we all spend so much time actually on our own, faces glued to computer screens or drawing boards, weeks – if not months – can pass before we see any of our peers in the flesh. This is a big reason why Diana and I started up Inside Out in the first place, and wanted to establish some kind of “hub” in Oswestry. It’s also the reason I’d really like to get a “Drink and Draw” evening started up in Oswestry – as a way to tempt people to come into Oswestry and network.