Why You Should Always Hire A Professional Artist

The Situation 
(not the "Jersey Shore" kind)

I was just having lunch with some friends last week – from a big studio with a familiar jingle – when a bus went by with the artwork from the upcoming film, "Date Night," and we all agreed that not much thought went into the poster and that a Steve Carell/Tina Fey film should be shown a little more love.

I don't want this to be a downer post against inexperienced artists or young people in general. Instead, I want to celebrate the reasons why you should hire a professional, seasoned employee over an intern in college or someone just out of school. Especially, in the world of entertainment. Would a Hollywood producer hire a college student or an intern to direct and manage a multi-million dollar movie? No. So, why then do big agencies and studios hire  interns and college students to work on the big campaigns? Besides the cost variable, it's the difference between hiring a "partier" or a pro to handle your projects.

The Bottom Line

Time is money and mistakes are even more money. Most of the professional artists that I know and have worked with are the most laid back with strong concepts and designs and a lot less mistakes. The little ones, anyway. Nobody's perfect.

While companies may save money by hiring young people to design on the front end, the client, the client's products and ultimately, the brand, all suffer when they spend money on marketing collateral with terrible artwork on it. Hiring a more seasoned professional designer or art director will give that product the "pop" it needs and the care it deserves. Especially, if it's a big name consumer product like a film or a DVD.

Why do companies spend so much money on the marketing and advertising, itself, if the artwork is hardly worth the trouble of posting on the internet, on billboards or in advertisements in general.

You Only Have a Se

You only have a second before you lose someone's attention – unless the artwork is really cool, well finished and well thought out, your time is up. The key art of a film is the film's packaging and packaging is everything. Think perfume bottles and boxes, think underwear, think make up – all these products are affordable, yet the design of the package is usually worth more than product inside. But, that's the point.

Haste Makes Waste

With younger artists and designers, there tends to be a lack of confidence to make a decision and make the right one. If you have to question the number of comps you should be doing, you obviously don't know anything and you're fired. Hiring younger employees, using them to the point where they quit, then hiring more younger employees is, again, bad for the client, the client's products and the brand. Ultimately, it is bad for business.

A more experienced designer make cost a little more in the forefront, but in the long run, you will have better, more impressive design options to choose from than if you had to sketch out every idea for someone else and that will be worth more to your client in the long run, too. Don't take shortcuts. It diminishes the value of what we do.

Loyalty and Value

Experienced designers tend to be more loyal employees. They are not as quick to jump from job to job. Unless, they are freelancing and that's what you do to survive. Because they are loyal and appreciate the value of what they are doing, combined with years of professional experience, the clients get more bang for their advertising dollar, as well. Good artwork never goes out of style.

The Proof Is In The Blogging

While doing research for this post, I stumbled upon a rant from a college student at Middlebury College in Vermont, that pretty much sums up the mind of someone in college or just out of college. But, I will let you read what Tristan Axelrod wrote for yourself. In the meantime, rethink your strategies big agencies and studios, and spend a little more money to get a lot more value.

That is just my humble opinion.

Shut the hell up and do your work... – Tristan Axelrod, Middlebury College

What's HOT

One of this month's featured artist, Dan Bigelow, just completed a brand new project that he would like to share with you. It is an original video design and animation for the Chicago-based band, "Oh My God," for their latest release, "Bring Yourself."

Dan illustrated the entire video on paper with pencil, then ink, then refined in Photoshop and creating the motion in After Effects.

Please take a moment to follow this link to view Dan's FABULOUS work in high definition. Enjoy!

'Grease' singalong to debut at the Hollywood Bowl this summer

Whether you live in Los Angeles, or you are just a visitor, one of the best things to do in the summer is to go to the Hollywood Bowl. The atmosphere, the stars, the hills surrounding the outdoor stadium – it's all magical, especially in a city as large as Los Angeles. When you're at the Bowl, you feel like you're away someplace special.

Every summer, for the past eight summers, the Hollywood Bowl has a "Sing-a-long" night where the audience participates in a parade of costumes pre-show and in an all-out sing-a-long to the movie on a large screen. I hear it's quite a night. Much like the "Rocky Horror" days of old, where people sing and talk through the movie, shouting comments and throwing props, only in a way bigger auditorium with alcohol. What better way to spend a summer evening?

"Grease" will now be a part of Bowl history, along with other great films like, "The Wizard of Oz,""The Sound of Music" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

The Hollywood Bowl opens Friday, June 18. For more information, please go to HollywoodBowl.com.

'Grease' singalong to debut at the Hollywood Bowl this summer

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Communication Arts Annual Design Competition

DEADLINE: May 14, 2010

I know times are tough, but if you can afford to enter one competition a year, this is the one to enter. It is the most prestigious competition for creativity in graphic design. According to their site, any design project printed, published or aired for the first time within the last twelve months prior to the deadline is eligible. Selected by a jury of leading design professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Design Annual and on commarts.com, assuring important exposure to the creators of this outstanding work.

If you are lucky and you are working someplace where they will pick up the tab for your entries, take advantage of it. You may not win the first time you enter, but it is also about showing the judges your work on a regular basis so they can see your work as a collection. If you do not know if they will do this at your work, find out. Some companies will gladly enter work they are proud of and would like some recognition for the team – if they have any budget. This is a hard time for everyone.

Entries are approximately $40 single and $80 series. Motion graphics are more pricey at $100 single and $200 series. For more information about this contest, please follow the link below. Good luck!

Communication Arts – www.commarts.com

For information about other competitions "at-a-glance," go to www.designdump.com.

X-Generation Professionals: Reclaim Your Worth

I recently had a conversation about the "value of graphic design" with a friend of mine who is a professional retoucher and we were wondering where it went? Where did the value of graphic design go? 


According to a comment thread on MonKeyArtAwards.com, "older" more experienced art directors are harder to make money on. And with studio budgets for artwork declining, agencies are forced to hire younger, inexperienced artists just out of school willing to do anything to make a buck. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible for the agencies to make a profit. So, what happened to needing someone with experience to conceive, design and develop larger campaigns? Is it possible for the client to get the best possible design solutions from an agency that has the same three people at the top making all the decisions without collaboration from other minds? Can a person with tons of web experience really conceptualize and create 'key art' worthy of the costs to place the ads themselves? 

I read a lot of grumping and groaning on that site about how "print is dead" and "that person makes too much money." Oh, yeah? What about the kids who come in late all the time or are always hungover? 


From my experienced professional friends, I hear about how bad 'key art' is getting or has become – it's your own fault for not standing up for your value and showing people your worth. Educate them. Explain why you are better for the job in the long run, outline your skills and ability to get the job done right the first time, and know your worth before you go into a meeting or a job interview. Adjust your rates wisely so that you remain competitive and keep clients wanting more.


In the bigger picture, I realized this is a trend for everyone I know who is part of the "X-Generation" (1965-1980). The "Baby Boomers" (1946-1964) the generation before us, have lost money in the stock market and no one has money to spend. This is not only happening in my world of graphic design, it is happening in all types of businesses for people of my generation all over the world. Because of the recent collapse of our economy and the meltdown of budgets and new business, it is the new trend for companies to hire young, less expensive staff to get the job done and work them until they either quit or move on. It is evident everywhere that business owners, executives, even start-ups have less money to spend and more work to do. How else are they going to make a profit? 


My question is, what happens to the product when business owners do this? When businesses are forced to cut corners to make a profit, the quality of the product will suffer. It's the "elephant in the room" that no one mention: that most young people just starting out – in any business – do not always have the experience to produce a quality product.


This is where we come in. It us up to us, the "X-Generation," to stand up and reclaim our value and our worth in the workplace.


Right now, we're all scrambling to make ends meet and we're losing jobs to younger people for less money. I'm all for these agencies making a profit, but if the cost of making a profit means producing an inferior product – in my case, the death of beautiful, relevant artwork – in the end, what's left to sell? After all, no one wants to spend money on a poster, t-shirt, baseball cap, dvd or whatever, that doesn't have cool artwork on it. Do they? Would you?


It's the difference between the fonts, "Helvetica" and "Hand of Sean" – "Helvetica is always appropriate and gets the job done, sometimes in amazing style and "Hand of Sean" is only good for "urban glam." Yawn.

Featured Artist: VERONICA HUNT

Art Director, Product Developer and Fashionista

The other half of this month’s talented dynamic duo, Veronica Hunt, is a California native who graduated from FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) and has worked in design for many years. She is a very good friend of mine and she has a quirky, whimsical skully style that is eye-catching and funky. There is something about her sketches and drawings that makes them current, no matter what year it is and her eye for detail is refined.

Her career began at Prima Royale, Inc., where she designed womens shoes for a year. Next, was Paul Davril, Inc., where she started as a  graphic designer for the licensed t-shirt line, Bugle Boy. Within the 6 years she spent there, she was promoted twice, first, as a fashion designer for boys knits and wovens and a few Guess Inc., mens lines, and then, to art director for the graphics department. This is where we met.

Veronica’s next job was with the well-known licensor, Jerry Leigh Entertainment Apparel, Inc., where she was art director and brand manager for juniors and missy licensed apparel lines for Warner Bros. and Sanrio, Inc. Veronica also maintained a 100% approval rate and established an excellent rapport with licensors, especially, Warner Bros, which later, was an advantage to being brought in-house, and much later, when hired at Trunk Ltd. as art director and brand manager.

Veronica did such a great job at Jerry Leigh, that the last ten years of her career were spent working for The Disney Stores, Inc., where she began freelancing in-house as Design Supervisor. Because of her knowledge and skill she was hired on full-time as Associate Creative Manager for the girls/toddler/infant lines and well as, the trend team.

At Warner Bros. Consumer Products, she designed and developed softline and hardline silhouettes for the 2005 Fall Trend Program Book, as well as the CD covers which contained the licensed art. Other design ventures, included graphics for Hanna-Barbera toddler girls and boys apparel and footwear and full creative development for “Scooby-Doo” Yoga Style Guide for Galam, as well as a mens Halloween line for Walmart.

She is one of the best in her field and her ability to design and create relevant, hip, modern graphics for consumer products combined with her knack for knowing the next trend, definitely makes Veronica one of the best at what she does. At this point in her career, the sky is the limit. 

Please take a moment to visit Veronica’s online portfolio at www.coroflot.com/veronicahunt.

Featured Artist: DAN BIGELOW

Motion Director, Illustrator and Fine Artist

This month, L.A. Link is featuring two artists instead of only one. They are both good friends of mine and a loving couple. 

There’s a new motion graphic artist/director in town and his name is Dan Bigelow. Originally from Chicago, Dan moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and met the girl of his dreams (this month's second featured artist) later that same year at his first west coast gallery show. Today, they are a powerhouse design team and bring a different perspective to each other's vision. 

Dan is a graduate from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he earned his BFA in Film/Video on a Presidential Scholarship. He is not only an amazing motion director and illustrator, but Dan is also a fine artist who's shown works all over the country. Together, with his sister, Mary (who remains in Chicago), he's has worked on shows that benefit good causes, including a private benefit for the victims of Katrina, a gallery fundraiser for The Chicago Artist Coalition, and more recently for the International Childrens' Heart Foundation.

Dan has also hung about a dozen shows in Los Angeles, including group shows and featured artist exhibits at The Hive Gallery , group shows at The Monkey House and in-house shows at Titmouse Inc. His work also includes tons of prop designs for the Cartoon Network show “Metalocolypse” inked and painted color for “Nails,” an 8-page story for Boom Studios' Zombie Tales; conceived and co-directed a green-screen shoot for DragonForce’s “The Last Journey Home” as well as many others. Dan has also collaborated with his better half, Veronica, on projects for Disney. Currently, he's animating a music video for Chicago alt-rockers Oh My God.

Dan is a super-nice, ultra-creative individual with a passion and respect for art that is unsurpassed by any artist I know. His work ethic and dedication to his projects makes Dan the well-liked artist that he is today and I am happy to feature him and his work on L.A. Link.

To view Dan's work online, please visit www.dancandraw.com for video and illustration work, or www.bighello.us for fine art.

Weekend DVD Review

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
This weekend, we had the pleasure of watching Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant on DVD and it was fantastic! Better than I expected it to be and extremely creative, this film is good for kids. Nothing vulgar or too scary, just a fun story with good acting. The director, Paul Weitz, took me on a journey that I would take again.

The plot of the film is that these young boys end up at this freak show where they meet a vampire, played by John C. Reilly, and both boys are intrigued for different reasons. Darren, played by Chris Massoglia, is the good boy from a good family on the right track, while his best friend, played by Josh Hutcherson, comes from a broken home with no guidance or support in his life. When the boys get mixed up in some trouble, each one is targeted by a different half of the underworld – one half good and one half evil. Darren joins the freak show, becomes a half-vampire and confront his evil nemesis. In the end, the freak show turns out to be more than meets the eye when Darren is forced to make a choice to determine his fate.

Like I said, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and I would recommend it.

Temple Grandin – HBO OnDemand
This is another film I had no interest in watching and it blew me away. Claire Danes – I'm giving you a standing ovation right now (applause, applause, applause) – wow, what an amazing, heartfelt, truthful performance of a skinny girl who only eats jello and pudding and is fearful of people touching her due to her autism. However, we learn that everyone has their own way of dealing with life and experience of the world because Temple was finally able to convey her thoughts and feelings of things she knows when she changes the cattle industry by design. This is a true story of a truly amazing woman.

If Ms. Danes does not win an award for her performance, I don't know what will. She's engaging and triumphant as this girl who thinks in pictures and wants to make a difference with her life. Also, loving and tender performances by the aunt, played by Catherine O'Hara, and the mother, played by Julia Ormond. This is a MUST SEE! Don't miss it.