Spilled Brains

“We can be the family we always wanted.” brush and ink on paper, 2021.

USEFUL MATERIALS

sketchbook

pencil set

waterproof fineliners

white pen

watercolours

acrylics

pastels

inks

copic markers

brushes

travel brushes

gouache

oil paints

craft knife

TUTORIALS

lighting a face

add variety to faces

skin colours 

curly hair tutorial

clothes folds

draped fabric

shoes

add a glow

furnish a room 

skylines

trees watercolour

ARTIST INSPO

Breugel 

Vanitas

Rembrandt

Claude Monet

Camille Pisarro

Odilon Redon

Picasso

Van Gogh

Surrealism

Matisse

Chagall

Arthur Rackham

Andy Warhol

Tove Jansson

Peter Doig

Cornelia Parker

Grayson Perry

Damien Hirst

Tracy Emin

REFERENCE

pose creator

more pose references

sketchbook inspo

book of sketchbooks

le-dessin

Collins artist manual

Artsy

TATE youtube

National Portrait Gallery instagram

Royal Academy instagram

The art assignment

Dear Person Hiring for this Job,

I am writing to ask you to consider me for X position.  This is a paragraph about why I want to do X position in general.  It includes at least one personal detail and at least one job skill I consider a particular strength.  It argues that I am passionate about this career.  It is not long.

I have had the opportunity to gain experience in this job by - paragraph about my work or study experience.  It should go from most recent experience back.  Include some details about your responsibilities/achievements in your most recent or most important positions.  If you have mostly study experience, give more detail about what exactly you studied.  If you shadowed people, mention that.  If your work experience is largely unrelated, try to shoehorn some of it in (e.g. I gained experience working with people by).  You can supplement with relevant hobbies.  (But if you do have recent, relevant work experience, you should largely be detailing that.  Only embroider the other stuff if you need to flesh it out.)  This should be the longest paragraph.

I hope you will consider allowing me to do X thing at your company.  This is a few sentences about why I want to work at your company in particular and what I think I could bring.  Try to mention at least one detail from the company website, so they know you visited it.  This is a short paragraph that parallels the first one.

Thank you very much for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

1) Remember that the person reading this cover letter wants to know how you can contribute to the company. Not how excited you are about the position: it’s all about what they gain. Try framing the whole thing in that sense — “You would gain my X awesome skill that would help you Y with your mission.” “Here’s why I’m awesome and a great fit for making your company go better.”

2) At the end, ask for the interview. “I am available at PHONE NUMBER at your convenience. I look forward to speaking with you about this great opportunity soon.” Maybe even say you’ll be following up at a specific time and date. Ask for the job. People respond to that, and it’s a good way to fake confidence until you make it. Ask for the job.

AZRA TABASSUM (or @5000letters)

from My Heart is Full of Open Windows;