place, he designed local ads by hand and did some cartooning for the paper.
Having built a strong portfolio of work, he relocated to New York City in the
late 1970s. "At the time, I thought it would be pretty easy for someone like
me to get a really hot-shot job in a New York advertising agency--wrong!"
While continuing to pursue advertising work, Harris took a job at a
newspaper in Poughkeepsie, selling classified ads, "until I got a real job.
The bad news was I found I was pretty good at it." He quickly rose to top
salesman and then to sales manager, traveling around the country to the
company's regional newspapers. Transferred to Nashville, he realized he
had had enough of ad sales and quit.
Recognizing Nashville's substantial television production community,
Harris began promoting himself as a freelance illustrator, cartoonist, and
storyboard artist. "You have to be a bit of P. T. Barnum to sell yourself. I
sent out promotional material at least four times a year."
With few storyboard artists in the city, firms were knocking on
Harris's door almost immediately to sketch storyboards for commercials
such as "NFL: It's a Way of Life" and "Cows in the Coffee" for Purity
Dairy; opening titles for the television series Spin City; and videos for
many of country music's top artists, including Garth Brooks.
"Garth is a very interesting
guy to work with in that he has
very specific ideas about what
he wants. On one occasion we
were walking around the
outside of a church with a pad
in hand. He kept pointing out
things to me that he wanted to
think about. For instance,
looking at the front of the church
through a car windshield . . .
Most recently, Garth did a music
video and tied in a television
commercial for Dr. Pepper. I was
involved from the very beginning. The director, Jonathan Small, and I spent
two hours or so before I even put pencil to pad, just listening to the music
and trying to imagine what we could do visually. I was able to come up with
several little pieces which were incorporated into the shoot."
To supplement his income between storyboard jobs, Harris uses his
drawing talents to create cartoons and illustrations for newspapers and
magazines. "It's amazing how you can parlay your skills into other things."
....
"You've got one
mouth and two ears--
use them in propor-
tion."--Mike Harris
"Constantly be
thinking of ways to promote yourself. It
isn't that expensive to send out postcards
or flyers to let people know what you are
doing."--Mike Harris
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