if: propagate

The newest Illustration Friday challenge is propagate:

I was in the mood to do something a little different.  Unfortunately blogger has made the colors look like something that might have come out of my dog's butt (he is the kind that will eat just about anything).  

The dandelion kind of represents my brain/thoughts/emails/cover letters sent out since my last semester of school.  One of the books I bought this last month was Breaking Into Freelance Illustration.  I've only skimmed through it so far, but the advice is easy enough:  start a blog (check), have an easy-to-find website (in progress), send out a variety of promotional materials (I've actually had them printed, but think my website needs to be perfect before I send them out), and basically, just keep trying (well, I am). 

One piece of advice I have found very helpful in my post-grad life was not from the book but from my boyfriend's sister-in-law, Sarah.   She suggested to ask companies I was interested in working for for informational interviews, even if they were not hiring.  I sent out a bunch of emails to artsy companies in the area with my resume attached.  From animation to advertising, I have been able to go into these places, get some good feedback on my portfolio and help narrow down exactly where I might fit in the art world.  Even better, the informational interview email was how I landed my newest publishing internship.  Apparently they were interviewing when they received my request, and well, it couldn't have worked out better.  I start this Wednesday.  One of those dandelion seeds looks like it might have a chance ...