Holly here! Amy and I have been having a lot of talks about the thought process behind art and writing, and the similar issues that we face as designers and writers when trying to find what the client really wants. Today, we decided to switch places and blog for each other about the process of art and writing. Check me out at Amy’s place, complete with photo of myself for the terribly curious among you!

About an About Page

I’m Amy, and thanks to Holly, my About page now reflects what I’m actually about. So, on the flip side of Holly’s awesome guest post on my blog today, I’m going to talk about how a cartoon is like an About page.

When I’m getting ready to draw a cartoon of someone, I start with two things: the facts in the form of a photo, and the person’s own impressions of themselves. When Holly worked with me on my About page, she did the same thing for me, she took the dry, factual text I already had and drew out of me as much personality as possible.

Then, after brainstorming dozens of ideas, we narrowed it down. She gave me a huge long list, and then made me choose the things that were most important to my right people. We distilled all the many options into the important essentials, and chose a writing style that worked for me and reflected not only my personality, but the personality of my ittybiz. Just like when I do a cartoon, we talk about the client wants to be wearing, holding, and what style of drawing they’d like to end up as. We pare down all the chaff and are left with just the essentials.

In my About page, I wanted to showcase things that would attract my Right People, my target audience, not only to myself but to the business as well. Holly helped me find a balance of personal and business, and smoothed out the tone so the whole thing has a nice coherency to it. And then she let me poke and prod the copy, just like a client being shown their pencil sketch before it’s inked and colored.

When I’m doing a cartoon, one important thing I always have to ask is what the client’s skin, eye and hair color really is — you’d be amazed at how much those snapshots don’t match the person’s image of themselves, with bad lighting and funky color mixing to blame as much as anything else. The thing that Holly did was to take what I had given her and then ask how the things that were already there matched up with my internal image of myself, and helped me align the facts until it all clicked. In the end, we both deliver something that shows off the essence of a person and makes the right people, their right people, smile.

The one way that About pages are nothing like cartoons, though? Cartoons are way more fun to do, even of yourself.

Amy Crook is a graphic designer, illustrator and fine artist. You can find her on twitter as @amysnotdeadyet, and at Not Dead Yet Studios and Antemortem Arts. She promises she’s not as morbid as it sounds.

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