How do i get noticed?

TomLuddington

Junior Member
Im 15, I love design, i just want to be able to add to my portfolio, how will i get clients if i dont have enough to persuade them into choosing me?

Well my age will be a turn off, i dont have much experience, but id like to say i have fresh new talent

any hints, tips, guides would be much appreciated :)

Love Tom
 
Ok, first off I'd say this is the wrong part of the forum so the mods may move this at some point.

First thing is get your website working correctly, the 'portfolio' is a tiny image that doesn't do anything, I was clicking expecting a full image. Second, get your text sorted on your site, the obvious issues with both the grammar and capitalisation. I'm going to take a guess that you're not a web designer (no issues there) because if that is an area that you're interested in then I'd spend some time looking at your coding as, and I'm no expert here, there seems to be a lot of unneeded code in there for your page layout.

Now for the hard hitting truth of the matter regarding doing design, its all very well loving design, but the problem is it doesn't mean you can design. Now before any judgement is passed on your skills etc I'd like to see some of the work that you've done, if you love design then you should have atleast some sketches that can be shown on here etc.

If you haven't, join in on the competitions we have on here (there should be some more coming eventually) or look into some of the online design competitions doing things like logo's (Mohammed who is around your age is doing this alot at the moment)
 
i can't see any links to any site?????

Apart from that minor issue Tom -

You are 15, you don't need clients , you need to get your leg over.

Don't be in a hurry to do business. It's Quality nor Quantity. Why would anyone give a 15 year old paid work? Unless they want cheap work. Nobody is born a footballer, they practice and train, even at an early age. The earlier they train,the faster they develop skills and the faster they get into the first team. Practice your skills and learn PATIENCE. Look, study and understand. The more patience you have, the better you will be in the long run. Post some work and we'll assess your ability.
 
Gosh, be happy that you've found something you love and quite possibly might go into at 15. I didn't even have the faintest clue until I was 21 :) Even now I'm clientless (ok I have a job in design), but I'm working on learning new things and building up my site/portfolio.

there's no hurry, take your time, learn new things, and eventually all your hard work and knowledge should help you "get noticed" for your skills and knowledge. Well, that's the theory anyhow :p
 
sfdbannerrrrr.png
Heres a 5 min doodle i was doing the other day for levi, im planning on buying a graphics tablet as i love character design and would like to have a go at that also,

i use photoshop, adobe illustrator and flash, im pretty fluent wtih them all but ive still got alot to learn :)
 
I'd start buying some books on design.
Have you done/doing a course in design or are you just a "practitioner" of Adobe?

To get noticed you need to show that you know what you are talking about and what you are doing.

From what i see on your site it doesn't show this. I see someone that has a few downloaded copies of software that likes to play.

This doesn't mean that you can not get to a level of greatness one day but at the moment you are a bit too fresh on the scene to leave an impact.

So get a bunch of books, follow a ton of blogs that update regularly, do your homework, learn tutorials to find new ways of producing effects.

The BIGGEST piece of advice i can give any kid is to LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT TYPOGRAPHY.

I fell asleep at that part in school and suffer for it. My typography skills fail hard 60% of the time.
 
Calvin_T said:
I'd start buying some books on design.
Have you done/doing a course in design or are you just a "practitioner" of Adobe?

To get noticed you need to show that you know what you are talking about and what you are doing.

From what i see on your site it doesn't show this. I see someone that has a few downloaded copies of software that likes to play.

This doesn't mean that you can not get to a level of greatness one day but at the moment you are a bit too fresh on the scene to leave an impact.

So get a bunch of books, follow a ton of blogs that update regularly, do your homework, learn tutorials to find new ways of producing effects.

The BIGGEST piece of advice i can give any kid is to LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT TYPOGRAPHY.

I fell asleep at that part in school and suffer for it. My typography skills fail hard 60% of the time.

He might not have a superhero avatar, but he is talking sense!
 
Calvin_T said:
I'd start buying some books on design.
Have you done/doing a course in design or are you just a "practitioner" of Adobe?

To get noticed you need to show that you know what you are talking about and what you are doing.

From what i see on your site it doesn't show this. I see someone that has a few downloaded copies of software that likes to play.

This doesn't mean that you can not get to a level of greatness one day but at the moment you are a bit too fresh on the scene to leave an impact.

So get a bunch of books, follow a ton of blogs that update regularly, do your homework, learn tutorials to find new ways of producing effects.

The BIGGEST piece of advice i can give any kid is to LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT TYPOGRAPHY.

I fell asleep at that part in school and suffer for it. My typography skills fail hard 60% of the time.

you're lucky you went somewhere that actually taught it. Being taught good typography is so rare these days.

There's some awesome typography stuff out there, even just looking at the type around you helps; good and bad.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Ty...7rTdBw&usg=AFQjCNHfIAGDubio23xuox709pjRQJF7ig
http://www.typedeskref.com/
http://new.typographica.org/
http://typornography.blogspot.com/
http://ilovetypography.com/
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2007/august/type-trumps-pack (*I added Type Trumps for lol, I have a pack they're wonderful ... but no one will play :( )


But, sound advice. Get some books, PDFs, go to the local library, check out places like Free Adobe Creative Suite Tutorials | Layers Magazine for program usage. Design and branding news: idsgn (a design blog) is a fairly new site, but their 'know your type' series is shaping up to be wonderful.

Keep a sketchbook, even a cheapy one, any time you have an idea, design sketch it down, write down words, anything. It'll help your designs 10000 fold. Sketch in it while watching TV or on the bus.

But learn the theory behind why things are done. It's all very well going all David Carson and proclaiming to just create things and there's no need to learn the "rules", but a good basis in design history, typography and other design practices never ever hurts.

I'll quit rambling now, good luck, and don't forget to keep sharing your progress :)
 
Ok one image doesn't really show me if you're any good at design, especially when the only thing I'm seeing is the centre line is off alignment for the shape (I do 3D CAD work mainly so I'll notice issues with 3D styles very quickly).

If I was to go purely on that image and your site I'd probably agree with Calvin in that you should spend some more time getting to grips with the theory and reasoning behind the process of design.

Berry (very experienced) listed a few books in this thread that might be a good start for you.
 
yeah there is alot for me to learn but thats why i joined this forum ill be able to be tutored by you lot :) i appreciate all the help your giving me, id like to be able to have an individual style maybe something like keaton henson? he does alot of good drawings and you can tell that its him by his own unique style, thats something id like to aspire to be like :)


- Also does anyone know how i can get one of them boxes that pop up to show the whole image if they was to click on one of my portfolio images, i really like that :)
 
TomLuddington said:
yeah there is alot for me to learn but thats why i joined this forum ill be able to be tutored by you lot :) i appreciate all the help your giving me, id like to be able to have an individual style maybe something like keaton henson? he does alot of good drawings and you can tell that its him by his own unique style, thats something id like to aspire to be like :)


keaton henson and the shantz brothers (if you dont know them dear god you need to), are not as individual as they often seem, because there are far too many kids (seriously no offence meant by that) with wacoms ripping off their vibe. If you want to do something different, don't aspire to be like anyone, let them inspire you, there is a massive difference.

Learn lots of things, and I mean lots (typography, drawing, spacial awareness...) and let your style evolve, once again we are back to the fact that you are only young, don't rush it.

It took me 5 years to find my feet in a style that I feel is something that I have evolved into, and then it is because I have spent far far too much time loving scott hansen/iso50 and rob dobi/full bleed, to name 2, but at the same time there are things to learn from every designer. I will openly admit to being inspired by the big dogs, but I learn more from my contemporaries than anyone else, we share and discuss, that is invaluable.

Illustration is a difficult game to get into and be a success in, trust me I know some of the people who have made a success of themselves and they had to slave alot harder than some of us corporate whores!
 
no one giving the guy any credit?

berry: fact is, us young ones are encouraged from about the age of 4 to get into something we love and get experienced. after all, you did say how the industry is crowded, better to start early, get some experience, and get somewhere.

tom your work is nice (all two pieces that i've seen), and you obviously know a lot more than a lot of bull****ters out there your age. congrats.
 
Oh yeah ive heard of shantz got them on my myspace, they are amazing, they do alot of work for bands which is what id like to do :)

i just need to find my own individual 'genre'

Thankyou Tim, i hope to be able to impress you lot in the future :)
 
Back
Top