Self-portraits and the idea of self-promotion

The idea of promoting yourself seems to be as old as human race. It may be a bit of an exaggeration, as I don't know much about cave men trying to sell themselves, but who knows, maybe someone should delve into that subject.

Anyways, let us start with self-portraits that could, hopefully, sparkle some discussion:

Judith Leicester comes first:

There are quiet a few details in this painting that may not be clear at first sight,
so here is some aid: two descriptions of the painting, one from he National Gallery of Art, and the second one by Peter Shjeldahl from the New Yorker. Both could be used as a gap-filling exercise.

“Leyster has depicted herself at her easel, briefly interrupting her work on a painting of a violin player in order to interact with the viewer. The momentary quality of the portrait and the vigorous brushwork echo the work of Frans Hals, Haarlem’s most celebrated portrait painter and Leyster’s colleague. By juxtaposing her hand holding a brush with the hand and bow of the violin player, Leyster cleverly compares the art of creating harmonious music with the art of creating paintings. She holds the tools of her trade—a palette, a cloth, and no fewer than 18 brushes. In reality she would not have worn the elegant dress and lace–trimmed collar while at work in her studio.”

From the National Gallery of Art‘s website

“Self-Portrait” finds Leyster dressed to the nines in a gown with sleeves of purple silk and a lace-trimmed linen collar, wielding (wield = manier) brushes and palette at her easel. A not quite pretty but vibrant young woman, she turns towards the viewer, smiling and appearing to speak.

On the canvas before her is a fiddler copied form “Merry Company”, advertising her genre speciality. The brush in her right hand points to the man’s crotch – a bawdy (bawdy = grivois, paillard) nuance, and to the taste of the time.

From the New Yorker by Peter Schjeldahl

We could also give Francis Bacon a try:

Alfred Dürer

 Roman Opalka

 Herbert Bayer

and why not Lichtenstein...

the idea is to lead the discussion in such a way that it would allow us to talk about... business cards, also as a means of self-advertising.

You will find a good lesson on this topic on J.Keddie's website:

Business Cards

I would just like to add this piece of inspiration (see below) in case you would like to do a speaking activity which focuses on designing a business card for somebody from the group, describing it and getting other students to guess who it is intended for.

If you don't like the idea of business cards, you may want to link the topic of self-portraits to that of selling yourself. Art students are not necessarily sales people, but will have to face this problem sooner or later in life, so a short trip to the "business land" may give then an edge in their career, who knows?....

You can start with a short text. Here is an example taken from:

Youth Designer


As a graphic designer you need to think of yourself as equal parts artist and salesperson. Now, that might send shivers up your spine; “I have to sell myself?”
Absolutely! For your business to grow you have to sell yourself every day and that might take adopting some tried and true sales techniques.You should schedule a certain part of your day dedicated to sales. Whether that’s a couple of hours in the morning and in the afternoon it’s a task you should stick with.

First up, you need to get your portfolio in order. This will most likely consist of two very important components: Your website and your business card. Because you’re selling yourself as a graphic designer, both of those sales tools need to be exceptional. They have to show your work in a positive light that will instill confidence in a potential customer.

This means your website should be easy to navigate and provide many varieties of your work. It could also include a blog and customer testimonials. If you are targeting a specific industry, then you should include case studies that outlines how your work solved the industry’s problems. As for your business card, it needs to be a bold as your talents are. Before diving in to create those items, check out the competition. You’re sure to see what works and what doesn’t work. Once you have those portfolio tools standing by you’re ready to reach out to prospective clients. Here’s how...

and so the text goes to tell us about  cold calling, online marketing and search engine marketing, all of which sound pretty hostile but represent the reality we all live in.



As a practical exercise I use the idea of creating a sales pitch, in writing or orally, for one of their friends (they can also do it for themselves, if they prefer). I provide them with quite a long list of expressions/sentences taken from various websites dedicated to illustrators. Students are obviously free to add their own ideas to it. This year I asked my students to register an oral presentation of either themselves or somebody from the group. It worked beautifully: for the first time I had the opportunity of really hearing everyone speak, even the shyest ones. There were some very unusual recordings, and one absolutely great song:

1. X. is a freelance Graphic Illustrator
2. X. specialises in the areas of bespoke illustration
3. She/He focuses on…..
4. ……for both commercial commissions and private collections
5. X. graduated in 2007 with a degree in Illustration/ he/she is a (recent) graduate of (school name)
6. X. is influenced by….
7. When he/she needs an inspiration boost one of her favourite places to go is….
8. She is currently working on….
9. When clients turn to X. with a brief, she/he returns to them with an explosion of ideas. Some of her/his clients to date include…..
10. X. works extensively in illustration/design etc.
11. He/She has an amazing flair for….
12. She/He has been going from strength to strength…
13. Her/His technique portrays mixed media, collage and sometimes computer-generated design.
14. Her work has an exquisite originality and quality.
15. X. excels in every area of illustration.
16. X. is charmingly modest.
17. Her/His illustration encompasses style, sophistication, glamour and humour…..
18. She/He is extremely competent
19. Her/his style is unmistakable
20. X. is constantly looking at new ways of working using a variety of medium such as pen and ink, collage watercolour and digital imagery
21. X. offers a sheer endless variety of styles and techniques to choose from. Therefore she/he can work for almost any kind of job
22. X. is freelance illustrator and character designer
23. X. gets the majority of her/his ideas from observing people and the world around her/him
24. She/He likes to take common, everyday things and look at them from a different angle.
25. He/ She works predominantly in acrylic
26. X. prides herself/himself on creating beautiful original pieces, limiting his/her use of digital mediums to the minimum
27. X. works mainly in Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash this gives the client a great deal of control over how the image can be used and scaled to meet different formats.
28. X. can work to really tight deadlines.
29. X. has been educated in graphic design, painting and fashion design. She/He unites all of these areas in her/his work
30. X. works in a traditional way, paint on paper, usually gouaches on hand-made Italian or Indian paper.
31. X.’s "traditional" technique is a blend of old and new; drawn and rendered by hand and coloured digitally
32. He /she has worked in areas as diverse as….
33. Using ink, pencil and Photoshop, X. creates fun and whimsical illustrations.
34. Her/His favourite doodles to draw are cats and girls in high heels

    35. His/her aesthetic is developed from a childhood spent lost in the pages of Spider-Man and    
          X-Men comics. When not working, He/she can still be found poring over his/her favourite   
         comics.

If you are dealing with NRC and looking for interesting examples of sales pitches, try Dragons' Den. 

Dragons' Den Magic Wand Part 1