Should I Print My Comp Cards Myself?

So you just got "signed" by a modeling agency. Hooray!

Except now you've got some expenses to cover - photography, comp card printing, etc. You'd be real lucky to get all of these things covered by the agency, so you may have to come out of pocket and invest in yourself a little bit.

Since a paycheck may be far off, you may be looking to pinch pennies. Is it a wise decision, then, to design comp cards and print them yourself?

Designing the Cards...

This is likely to be the difficult part. Graphic design requires some expensive software and/or some technical knowledge.

If you're a skilled designer with access to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe InDesign, then you probably meet the requirements to design your own cards. If you're willing to learn but short on cash, you could try some free alternatives to Photoshop and InDesign.

But, consider this. Graphic designers invest hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours into their software. Paying them a small design fee can be worth saving you the time and money of acquiring and/or learning that software yourself.

Printing the Comp Cards

Then comes the printing. You can find some cheap digital printers online, but not all are created equal. Some, like Vista Print, look cheap but tack on fees later. Others short you on quality or require large minimum orders.

The only way to really know what your getting is to order a set of cards. And if you don't like them? Well, you're out of luck. Realistically, you might spend upwards of $40 on a set of 50 cards, and you're taking a crap shoot as to whether or not you really like them.

Have Someone Else Do It

Alternatively, you could just have someone else print comp cards for you. If you find a cheap comp card printer that will deliver a set of 50 cards for $60, you're pretty good off.

You might be spending $20 or $30 more than if you designed/printed them yourself, but that's a small price to pay for design expertise and guaranteed print quality. An established designer will have a relationship with a quality printer, and you can be fairly confident that you'll get something good.