09.19.07
Nose Job
Vanessa Davis did this illustration for us months ago, and then the story got pushed to November for some reason. But then today’s story wasn’t ready in time, so at the last minute, the editors swapped this one in. I’m so glad it’s finally up!
I really liked the preliminary sketch for this and couldn’t imagine how the final illustration would improve on it. Well, I guess I’m just not very imaginative, because it improved a lot. You can see the complete piece on the story page. It’ll probably get knocked out of the main home page slot tomorrow, unfortunately.
(I know it seems like it’s all Vanessa Davis, all the time around here, but really, I am commissioning work from other artists.)
09.16.07
The A Rate
Somewhere once, I want to say it was in a Ruth Birmingham mystery, a former colleague found a passage about the different rates the private investigator would charge. This passage was read aloud to me, and I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to remember things I hear rather than read on paper; but in my probably flawed memory there were three tiers of fees: the B, or basic, rate; a lower rate for nice people or those especially in need, which may have been C for crazy (which doesn’t quite make sense—part of why I don’t trust this paraphrase); and the A, or Asshole, rate. The latter is the only part I’m sure of, because to this very day, that friend and I joke about charging certain clients “the A rate.”
In practice, of course, neither of us does this. (In my case, this is mostly because I tend to work for friends, who say to me, “This is all the money we have/are allowed to pay. Is that enough?” And it’s often not, but they’re my friends, so I do it anyway.) But some people do, and more power to them. Do you?
Via Tiny Gigantic, who propose a more mature and sensible way of coming up with fees.
Photo: Best rices in town by juicyrai / al; some rights reserved. See also: Prices by vasta.
09.11.07
Interview with James Victore
I’d never heard of James Victore before, but I enjoyed reading this.
I had one instructor in my second year, the graphic designer Paul Bacon. He gave me a D. But when I dropped out of school, I went to his office and said that I’d like to apprentice. I didn’t even know what it meant, but I wanted to apprentice with him. He looked at me and put his pen down and told me that no one had ever asked him that before. Then he agreed to let me do it. I learned a huge lesson at that moment: You have got to ask. I got that apprenticeship because no one else had ever asked. So I started hanging out in Paul’s studio, looking over his shoulder. I’d get there in the morning and sweep; I didn’t really have any jobs. And then I’d hang out. When a desk became available, I tried to do some “real” design. Three months after I dropped out of SVA, I had put together a portfolio with three fake book jackets. I started showing my portfolio, and I got hired right off the bat. I’ve been working ever since.
