Becoming an Ad Guy #1

I've decided to begin sharing the often frustrating and sometimes mildly exciting aspect of my life that is the collective efforts of trying to break into advertising as a creative. This entry comes almost a year too late, as I really began this effort the day after I graduated last May (2007), but better late than never, I suppose. 

As a quick summary, I graduated college with a dual degree in advertising and political science and a portfolio barely worth wiping a homeless guy's grimy ass with, or at least that's how my former mentor and Sr. Art Director at a NYC ad agency felt. Before I finished college, I was sending work out to alumni and other contacts to get their opinion and permanently damage their impression of my talents and skills with my piss-poor work. I continued this practice after I graduated, working part-time at a faceless fashion retailer and toiling away on my book. I sent countless numbers of e-mails, made numerous phone calls, received many a negative review (with a "that's okay" and "it's a good start" mixed in), and became completely bitter and frustrated. I blamed lots of things, including myself, for my failure to even get anyone to call me back and at least tell me I sucked. I blamed my teachers. I blamed the program I went through. I blamed portfolio schools and people much more skilled than I am. I blamed myself for not working harder. I blamed where I was living. But a funny thing about this business, is that while your environment may have some effect on your ability to think freely, for the most part, the only thing to blame is yourself and your work ethic. In college, I didn't devote nearly enough time to working on my book. Looking back, I don't really blame my past self for doing it, because I was a dual major and all of my other classes were fairly demanding...and because I love beer. Either way, that's what I did and now I have to live with it.

I just finished my first post-college class at a nifty little school called AdHouse, which I'm pretty sure is literally run out of the person's office. There's no campus or established curriculum, but that's not what's important. What is important is that it guaranteed me face-time with an executive creative director and honest feedback from said ECD. We didn't always see eye-to-eye, but it taught me quite a bit about where I am and what I need to do. It's probably going to take months before my book is anywhere close to presentable. I've said this to myself so many times and my book is still no where near ready, but I suppose that's the nature of the beast. A portfolio is never done. Phenomenal work requires constant adjustment and thought and can never be absolutely perfect. 

With my time in between now and my next class, I've been working on my book and getting in touch with those wonderful friends of mine already in the ad biz to check out my stuff to get some direction on where to go next. 

So thus my adventure continues. Hopefully future posts will be far more exciting than this one, and one day soon I won't have to write any more blogs about trying to become an ad guy.