New Talent Portfolio Night

On Thursday the 18th, together with Jouri Verhoeven (graphical motion designer) we went to the portfolio night of Blend. This was an event in “pakhuis de Zwijger”, Amsterdam. You could meet all kinds of creative professionals, sort like speed dating. I went there with my portfolio folder with me, on the mission to meet new people and get feedback on my work.

Once arrived and signed in, we entered the room where the event was held. The mood was relaxed with live music. After everything was explained the first rounds started. In total there where 13 rounds from 10 min. each.

The first talk I had was with Jesse van Dijk, he’s an experienced concept artist who knows what he talk about. He was positive about my portfolio, after a few pages he already had a good image about me. I had the feeling that my portfolio hadn't enough variation. But when I asked him about that, he told me that it wasn’t bad to focus on one thing. Actually it’s a good thing, you need to do the things you like doing most and try to get as good as possible in it as you can. That was really great to hear from someone as good like Jesse.

Next conversation was with David B Nieborg. He’s a teacher at the University of Amsterdam. He had allot of tips for me about networking and placing yourself in the market. He gave me a gold tip that I should send my work to all the companies and people that could help me. This is really important, just be open minded and try to make contact. This is definitely something I will do.

Erik Kriek is a comic artist and illustrator. I know his work for some time already and wanted to meet him before. I really liked it that he whas really enthusiastic about my portfolio. I always get allot of energy and motivation from positive feedback. He advised me to work more with paper besides digital. He gave me tips about methods, materials and tools. Really cool to have met Erik!

Hanneke Metselaar from Hanazuki. I had a really awesome conversation with her, I really enjoyed showing my work to here. There was so much to talk about and so little time. The cool thing about the talk was that she had some great sharp feedback about my work. She gave me the tip that I should try to come up with my own really unique characters and story. This is something I really aim at and that I see as one of my greatest challenges. Hanazuki is awesome.

Jiek Weishut, creator of animation & illustration studio the drawing room. Unfortunately we had really few time to talk. Because I had to get the train back home... I showed my work as quick as I could and we talked a bit about it. We agreed to continue the conversation another time. I definitely want to do that.

They’re where so many people I wanted to talk with. But it was so crowded and there was so little time. Besides the conversations with the masters I met some other great people. I’m signing up for next time!

*let me know if some things are a bit unclear because of my english