As I’ve previously mentioned, part of being a good artist or designer is how well you present yourself. After reviewing countless submissions for an upcoming art-festival-that-shall-not-be-named, I’ve compiled a short list of ways to present yourself as a great artist, regardless of the body of work to back it up.

Follow All Given Directions
Presenting yourself well takes minimal effort; following directions. If submitting your work somewhere, read all the information provided to you. Being lazy is not an excuse! Someone, somewhere, probably spent a few hours or days writing up the provided information to better inform you of whatever it is you are submitting or applying for.

Good Images = Good Impression
There are 2 parts to a good image; quality and content. For this, we are concerned with the former. Use photoshop to your advantage when presenting images of your work—crop out the carpeting in the background of your photo, use the free transform tool correct distortion problems, color correct, and never use a blurry photo! Also, if the directions instruct you to make your file a certain size, resolution, or color mode—make sure you do it! It is naive to think that someone will edit your photo for you if you submit it incorrectly. “I don’t know how to use Photoshop!” isn’t an excuse—I’m sure you have a friend or local workshop who does!

Remember, Someone Will Read Your File Names
Keep in mind a lot of special characters aren’t supported when uploading your work online. I know for our registration process characters like the pound symbol (#) and underscores (_) caused serious problems. Keep your filenames something simple; usually including your name, title of the work, or entry number. Keep the crazy organized file names for your computer archiving.
Also, it is ill-advised to name your files something like “shitballs.jpg” or “2girls1cup.mov”—someone will notice, and although it might give them a quick laugh, it is never good to be the butt of someone else’s joke.

Have Professional-Sounding Contact Information
It’s okay if your email is hosted by an ISP, but it is somewhat unprofessional to make your email handle something like “hawtchick08” or “reeferdude4ev,” as these send a certain connotation from the start. A good tip: if you’re embarrassed to put it on your resume or business card, you should probably change it. If this sounds like you I suggest you make a separate email account specifically for business with your first and last name.
The next is very much anchored in opinion but…

A Coherent Artist Statement
Your artist statement should provide context to the work you are submitting, not just your philosophy as a whole. Write your artist statement in a universal language—something that anyone could understand… not language you’ve learned in art school critiques. This is especially true if you’re given a short amount of space to do so. In my opinion, round-about artist statements that sound more like they inspired this song, and less like they are inspired by your work should be re-considered.

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