Page 31 - 1912 May - To Dragma

150 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

Many great artists do advertising work now-a-days, when the
artistic requirements of advertising offices are so high. There is
scarcely an illustrator of any note who does not work for some of the
larger advertising agencies, though the work is usually unsigned.
They are paid for these pictures more than for those that appear in
the body of the magazines, but they say that the advertising folks are
harder to suit. This is because it is difficult to lead an artist to be
at once artistic and keep in mind the business necessities of the case.

They have to be dealt with very carefully, as they some times
find it hard to understand, for example, that in an advertisement
proclaiming parasols it w i l l not do to have the fluffy heroine stand-
ing with her parasol all but hidden behind her, however charming the
pictorial effect.

A number of gifted men and women are making an excellent
living as advertisement artists. Some concerns employ their own
art staffs, some purchase from the free lance artists, many do both.
A friend of mine who is rapidly forging forward as one of our
leading illustrators, her work for high-class magazines winning
praise worth having, made her wray to the front through the more
or less humdrum advertising field.

Another friend, an enterprising business woman, makes a large
income as the agent or broker who supplies artist's work to the ad-
vertisers. She also has her own studios where ten or a dozen adver-
tising artists are constantly employed.

No one needs to be told how great a part the artist plays in the
success of advertising.

5— Only long years of studious experience can teach the expert
knowledge of what newspapers and other periodicals it is best to
use for specific purposes, what they cost and what they give for
the price. I w i l l not take time to discuss the question here. The
number of experts in this field is not large even among men.

6 — The advertising accountant has a certain and secure revenue.
A number of women hold these positions which are open to any good
mathematician with a knowledge of books, who can keep careful
account of the advertising expenditures, their division among the
various departments of business, each month's returns as tallied with
those of the preceding year, and the many other details of this
complicated business.

In advertising the statistician has a new field and a fertile one.
Advertising,—thanks chiefly to Thomas Balmer the great man of
this work,—is no longer a matter of chance. I t is almost a cer-
tainty. The statistics covering the consumption and demand of