Luc Latulippe

So, I have this gargantuan task ahead of me which I’ve been putting off ever since I started running low on CD-Rs: that of re-organizing over 1000 old illustrations, tagging them all with proper IPTC and EXIF metadata, and storing them all in a secure place. Sounds about as much fun as doing eight years of back-taxes while sick with the flu.

The result would be a fully searchable database of my old work, with the main goal being to facilitate reselling them as stock. Yes, it’s entirely motivated by greed. Go capitalism!

I have some ideas on what direction I want to go regarding all this, but I’d really love your feedback too. I put a poll together below, and my own answers are pretty embarrassing:

STORAGE: My files are all backed up onto a stack of CD-ROMs
STORAGE: My files are all backed up onto an external hard-drive
LABELLING: My file-naming system is just OK
ORGANIZING: I have no system for organizing my files
ORGANIZING: I have shoeboxes full of old CD-ROMs and ZIP disks

There’s more to read below the poll, but go ahead and check some boxes first. Remember you can add comments in the “Other” field, and please share your thoughts down in the comments too. Thanks!

So here’s where I’m at. As I mentioned, I want to organize my old work into a fully searchable database, both for my own needs, and from my website so I can re-market them as stock. As you can see above, I currently have absolutely no system in place, other than files saved on several dozen CD-Rs, all crammed into a drawer in my office. Worse, one of the oldest disks has already degraded and caused old images to be permanently lost.

I’ve already decided on Amazon’s super cheap and very dependable Amazon S3 service for storing old files. Go compare prices, you’ll see they really are by far the cheapest. Plus, I can just dump everything there via FTP. 

But what about organizing all these files? I need to settle on a system that makes sense, and one which is scalable. My current “system” isn’t great, but it does allow me to find a file easily enough (as long as I know which disk it’s on). Here’s how it works: Let’s say I did an illustration for The Wall Street Journal, and the subject was about annoying cell phone users, my file would end up named like this:

WSJ_annoying_cell_user.eps

Pretty simple and basic, but not very flexible or useful. No metadata (like embedded copyright info, no tags or keywords, etc…), so I have no system at all, really. It’s barely useful to me, let alone anyone else.

Fellow illustrator Brian Biggs recently pointed me to Adobe Lightroom as a possible solution to this. I downloaded a 30-day trial version yesterday, and it definitely looks like a great way to add metadata quickly, to both single files or in batches. Biggs is using a combination of Lightroom and Adobe Bridge to tag and organize his image database, plus Zenphoto to power the back end of this catalog on his website. I’ll be giving Zenphoto a second look based on his recommendation; I remember it didn’t impress me much when I stumbled upon it over a year ago. I can see now that they’ve made quite a few improvements. A plug-in for Expression Engine would make me want to marry it.

So, what about you? Tell us about your tattered shoebox full of floppy disks, my friend. Don’t be ashamed. We can all learn from each others’ mistakes and share solutions here. Thanks in advance!

Last week, Phil Robinson from W!ldbrain Animation e-mailed to inform me that an Esurance commercial we worked on together just won an award at the 2008 ASIFA-East Animation Festival. (View it here.)

I drew the storyboards and designed several elements of the short, such as the thieves, the kitty cat, and most of the locations, as well as Erin’s “outfit” (or lack thereof). I was WAAYY out of practice doing ‘boards, but Phil coached me through it and never stopped cheering me on. He’s one of the only people in the field I truly enjoyed working with over my 10 years in the industry, and working with W!ildbrain has always been.

Mentioned in the award are: Phil Robinson, Director; Mike Overbeck, Director; Nick Hewitt, Designer; Luc Latulippe, Designer. Congrats to everyone!

But as with any animated project, there are probably another 50 or so people who contributed in any number of big and small ways who aren’t mentioned. To all of you, I tip my hat and say thank you very much.

Very smart graphic courtesy of another victim, illustrator Princesse CamCam. Share it! Add more translations!

A little over a week ago, Darren at the Little Chimp Society blogged about this book, revealing how it had pirated all its contents from his site, along with hundreds of images by 93 different illustrators.

We then promptly started blogging about this, encouraging others to do the same, and flooded social networks with calls of “Don’t Buy This Book!” And guess what?

Our “shame campaign” has yielded more results: Index Books has agreed to stop selling it and has sent the remaining copies back to the distributor. Check out the update on Darren’s blog.

This is all due to YOUR help! Hundreds, maybe thousands of you, spreading the news around the net and around the globe, and cramming comments onto tagged blogs that talked about it. We can’t thank you enough for helping out! :)

It gets better. Index Books has also revealed who their supplier for this book was:

Sophia
Guangzhou Sendpoints Books Co., Ltd.
Add: #80 Xin Ya Rd., Haizhu District, Guangzhou, China
Tel: 86 20 89095121
Fax: 86 20 89095206
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
MSN: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: http://www.sendpoint.com.cn (strangely, it won’t display in Safari at all)
—Also—
Name: Lin Gengli
Mobile: 86-139 2519 7703
Skype: sendpoint
(When re-posting this information, please don’t create hyperlinks to their site)

Just send them a polite e-mail at both addresses above, briefly explaining what you know about the book. They may very well have no idea about the truth behind this book, so be nice! You may not get a response, but you can bet they’re getting your email.

Thanks again, and keep up the great work!

Call up five clients today, and ask them if they need any illustration work done. They can be five of your favourite clients, or best-paying clients, or clients you haven’t heard from in a while, or even brand new contacts. You choose.

The cost of five 3-minute long distance calls is a tiny fraction of what you’d spend on doing a mailer of 1000, or 2500, or 5000 postcards, but the feedback you’ll get is direct, immediate, and leaves a far better impression. Also, it’s the greenest form of promotion: no pollution, no cards ending up in the trash (which most do), and no toxic inks used.

Remember to keep it short, you have no idea how busy they are at that moment. Be friendly and cheerful, without being pushy. Here’s a sample script:

“Hi (CLIENT-X), it’s (YOUR NAME GOES HERE). We worked on (PROJECT NAME) together a little while back. How’s it going? (INSERT SMALL TALK HERE) Well, as you may have guessed, I’m calling to see if you need any illustration work done right now? .... Nothing right now huh? No problem. Maybe on the next project? .... Cool, well thanks for taking my call. I’ll keep in touch. Bye!”

This is probably how most of the calls will go, but you’ll be surprised at how many positive responses you’ll get. Maybe the client even knows someone else who needs your services; maybe in another department, or even another Art Director friend of his/hers.

I know you’ll feel awkward doing this if you don’t do it regularly (or have never done it). You may even feel like you’re begging them for work. But you’re not; you’re just running your business, keeping yourself in the picture, being active about your own self-promotion. All self-promotion and advertising is done with the exact same intent: to sell your services. It’s only begging if you have nothing to offer in return.

As they say on infomercials: “Pick up the phone, and call now!”

Freelance journalist Craig Silverman has some wonderful advice for freelancers in this article. All his suggestions apply perfectly well to illustrators as well. (Courtesy Matt Forsythe’s Twitter feed)