The Art of Direction: When Scrappy Gets It Done
Welcome to the next installment in my Art of Direction series. As you guys know, I always try to dig deep and give you something interesting, something that any creative in the field has either experienced or is curious to know more about when it comes to all that the industry can entail.
This time around, I want to talk about my time as the Art Director for Hudson Jeans. This goes back a few years, when I was living in Los Angeles. Hudson was lining up a rebrand, and I was coming back to the brand for a second time. I was excited to help push things forward in new ways. Give it a fresh feel. Being a heritage LA brand, it already had a look, but it was time for a new take.
Fast forward a month or two into the role, I had already knocked out a few shoots. The ball was rolling. Then, sitting down with the larger team to discuss content and photoshoots for the upcoming months, the famous topic came up: the budget. Now, as some of you may know or maybe don’t, even the biggest brands can surprise you with what they’re working with budget-wise, especially in fashion. A brand like Hudson, around for almost 20 years at the time, was no different. Creative budgets swing. Sometimes they’re huge, sometimes the exact opposite, a drop in the bucket.
What came about was that, outside of seasonal campaigns — you know, the ones every fall and summer with big models, lavish locations, huge sets — my team needed to produce monthly content for social, ecomm, and some emails over the next few months. The only catch was the budget would be relatively nonexistent to create the kind of execution I would have loved as the Art Director. It was anywhere between $10–12K. Now don’t get me wrong, that number by itself is a good amount of money, but when you’re producing an entire shoot for a major brand there are so many costs. From the production itself to the team, that the number gets eaten up really fast. On an average shoot you’ve got the art director, photographer, model(s), hair, makeup, assistants, digitechs, PAs, breakfast, lunch, snacks, permits — you name it.
For context, just your models alone could easily be $5–7K a day, so do the math. The $10–12K is almost gone with just a model or two, never mind the laundry list of everything else.
So now I was stuck with an impossible task: how do I create high-quality monthly content with a small budget and big ideas? This is where scrappy gets it done. As the art director or creative lead, your job is to make a lot with a little. Become crafty and scrappy. Find ways to get it done. Every project won’t come with the biggest budget — that’s just reality — but at the end of the day you figure it out, make lemonade out of lemons, diamonds out of dirt.
Like I’ve talked about before, my journey as an Art and Creative Director has been through learning the craft by being behind the camera, the mouse, and the editing suite. I’ve touched it all, not just for the sake of it, but to fully immerse myself in all lanes of creative so I could understand the craft and hone my own vision. Being someone who has been on both sides of the vision has helped me navigate tough scenarios in this industry. Luckily, this was the perfect moment to put all of that into effect.
When I sat down with my team and went through the numbers, we realized we had to pick the lesser of two evils. To make monthly content, we had to sacrifice a lot in production and decide where the money mattered most. We put the budget toward a great model, hair/MUA, and a small equipment list — that was it. Remember that long list I named a bit ago? Yeah, none of that was possible. So for each of these monthly shoots I became not only the Art Director, but also the Photographer, Director, and Editor. It was the only way to get it done. I’d rather invest there and rely on myself to both concept the vision and create it.
So I got to it. I concepted the monthly shoots, finding every way to be scrappy and resourceful. We scouted local areas around LA we could use, plus our small studio, to save on location budgets and permits. I set aside just enough to head to Samy’s and rent a small Sony A7S II kit. I spent hours on YouTube watching directors and cinematographers talk through building a cheap, easy run-and-gun rig based on our budget. Most of it I grabbed on Amazon and built something perfect for what we needed. I had that along with my Canon Mark III — one camera for photo, one for video — and we set out to create.
We shot a lot over the next few months, work I was proud of. Different parts of LA, random alleyways, back streets around the office in Hollywood — any space that fit the bill, we used it. We were a small and nimble team: me, the model, hair/MUA, and my producer. The fact that I art directed, photographed, directed, and edited it all was a stepping stone for me.
Like I’ve mentioned, I’ve shot for brands before, but being behind the camera and also a step before it pushed me to learn more. I dove into the nitty-gritty — pro-mist filters, step-up rings, the small details — which ultimately strengthened my skill set as an Art Director. It helped me speak the language of all the creatives I work with more fluently. Creative communication gets near seamless when you can talk through ideas at that level, and that goes a long way.
It showed me that when push comes to shove I can make a lot happen with a little. It also reinforced that being great in this industry isn’t just about talent. It’s about being resourceful and efficient. A lot of times you don’t get the massive budget. Frustrating, sure, but it pushes you. It forces you to think outside the box, get crafty, and get truly creative.
It’s also a chance to benefit yourself and your portfolio. It’s like I talk about in my ebook “Not Just Pretty Pictures”, where I touch on portfolio building by reworking what you have and creating the work you haven’t made yet. I used this as an opportunity to keep building my portfolio with work I art directed, photographed, edited, and directed. It helped illustrate my well-roundedness as a creative leader, not just an executor. I always tell creatives: find the balance between making great work and being someone who can run the show. Sometimes that goes further in this industry. Of course, start out obsessed with the work — that’s the game — but eventually make small steps toward seeing the bigger picture. That’s where the gold is. That’s where you find your creative vision, when you look at the entirety. Regardless of your medium, it’s a skill set worth building.
With all that said, this is just one of the many lessons I’ve had in my career — some good, some bad, some in between. That’s part of it. Look back and see it as a moment that helped shape your path. I appreciate you reading, and hopefully it gave some insight if you were looking for it. Also, go check out my ebook I mentioned — it touches on a lot of these broader topics in a digestible way for anyone wanting to learn more. Until next time.
