How Do you Get into the Sketch Card Bussiness?

So, I often get asked "how do you get into the sketch card business?" In my opinion, getting into the sketch card business is very similar to getting into the comic book business where its all about who you know and word of mouth. One difference between sketch cards and comic books is that it is slightly easier to get into sketch cards, in my opinion.

I know that we as artist may tend to be shy and keep to ourselves but its a really good idea for us to interact with other artist especially. We can help each other out, bounce ideas of each other, and who knows in the future we could be working side by side. I'm sure most people are aware of the site http://deviantart.com This site is really good for those of us who do not have a website yet. On deviant art you can keep a online gallery of your art works. Believe it or not there is Art Editors on deviant art as well as various other sites. An editor can check out your gallery easily online and possibly give you work. Also when you start to create correspondences and friendships with other artist on deviant art or any art related site for that matter you could possible get work through "word of mouth." Who knows; perhaps a friend of yours on deviant art will refer you to a sketch card editor to receive possible work. All this holds true for other art related sites such as: http://scoundrelpublishing.com/spart/index.php and http://www.nonsportscardforum.com/index.php to name a few. These 2 forum based sites specifically deal with the art medium of sketch cards. There is so much useful information on these sites such as job postings, sketch card charities, upcoming sketch card sets, and so much more. Some Sketch Card editors tend to come on these forums from time to time as well, so this is another opportunity to possibly get work.

There is also another way to possibly get work doing sketch cards but does require a little bit more effort. Honestly I would just type out the email address of the Sketch Card Editors that I know off here but I don't want to get in trouble. Therefore I'm going to show you a method I used to get into contact with sketch card editors. I'm sure you heard of Companies such as-

Upperdeck: http://www.upperdeck.com/

Topps: http://www.topps.com/

Rittenhouse: http://www.scifihobby.com/

These companies usually produces sets of cards that feature sketch cards. What you can do is go to each of these sites and look for the "contact us" link and send each company a short and professional email just stating that you would like to get in touch with a art director that deals with sketch card artist. 9 times out of 10 you will get a reply back after the 1st email. If you don't perhaps you can try back within a couple of weeks. I would recommend not to send out too many emails back to back to a company because that could appear unprofessional. Spread out the emails, the editor could be busy at the time. I would say if you don't hear anything back after a 3rd attempt then you can move onto to a different company.

Tips:

*Please be sure to have a place online to display you art work weather it be a website, deviant art, or even a blog. Now a days everything is done electronically and editors would prefer easy access for viewing your artwork.

*Draw, Draw, Draw. Make sure you have your best and most recent work showcased on your site.

*If you get rejected by a company or they just don't email you back don't let it get you down. Move on to a different company. You can always try back later. Who knows, maybe it was not meant to be and perhaps you can find better work elsewhere. This scenario happened to me actually. I was bummed out at first because I did not even get a rejection notice from a particular company, they just never emailed me back after I showed them my sample work. I later got over it and I'm now getting consecutive sketch card work with another company.

*If your submitting sample work to a editor for a Marvel Comics Property then you going to want to send them Marvel Characters sample work and not Dc Characters sample work and vise verse. This goes for any set your applying for. Also I would recommend not to send too big files, just keep them at a decent size unless they say otherwise. If the editor asks for attachments and not a link to your online gallery then its in your best interest to do so. You don't want them to over look you art because you didn't follow instructions.



Lastly I thought I would share some of my sketch card work with you. Since 2008-currently I have done 3 official Sketch Card Sets. My 1st set was Marvel Masterpieces Series III (2008) with Upperdeck. You can see some sample work above. I was extremley nervous working on this set but I managed to get through them. The 2nd set was Archie Comics Sketch Cards for the March of Dimes Fundraiser (Spring 2009). I found this job through Scoundral forums, the link is above.




My 3rd set was Legends and Lore with http://www.sadlittles.com/ This set was also being advertised through scoundral forums. Note- The Legends and Lore Card sets are currently available for sale with a variety of sketch card artist on this set. If you would like to reserve a set then please check out sadlittles.com



The Next Sketch Card Set on my plate is Dean Yeagle's Mandy. I will be contributing 56 Cards for this set, please stay tuned.

I believe this covers the majority of it as far as getting into the sketch card business. I'll update this post if I can think of anything else. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to let me know by leaving a comment here or send me a email: sherryleak@gmail.com

Ah, yeah I forgot to mention. . . in the case where there is a new sketch card job available and I get the ok from the art director to do so then I will try to post information about that job along with the editor's email address here in my blog and/or on my deviant art page in my latest journal http://raccoon-eyes.deviantart.com Thanks for checking out my blog. I hope this information was useful for you.

P.S. I have 4 x 6 sketch card prints of my latest work for sale at only $5.00 each, send me a message if your interested: http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff125/raccoon-eyes/Prints%204%20sale/

~Sherry