I have a friend who’s an excellent and seasoned illustrator but he’s fairly early in his commercial art career. He’s taught kids, done plenty of commissions, and always has several self-initiated projects underway. But he’s not done as much commercial illustration work. He wondered recently whether an artists’ rep might be useful, or whether anyone goes that route anymore, what with all the other ways an artist can connect with the market.
I thought my perspective as a commercial art buyer might be useful to other illustrators. For context, I’m an art director with 30 years experience in commercial design. I’ve engaged illustrators for things like diagrams, infographics, packaging, digital product, wearables, and editorial.
Take this free advice for what it’s worth : )
1 | Have a presence on at least 3 platforms where art directors already look for illustrators.
I’d suggest these three:
2 | Actually participate on those platforms.
Post regularly. Don’t fall behind — put a recurring event on your calendar to post every 2 months (or more!). Follow and like other people’s work.
3 | Show your work in context, not just a raw presentation.
Art directors are pretty good at visualizing how your illustration talent can translate to their particular communication or marketing need. But the people they sometimes have to convince to hire you may have less visual minds.
Showing how your past work has been used in print, on the web, or packaging, can help people imagine your work on their product. Some examples:
- These guys do a really good job of this, showing the illustration big, but also how it was used in a magazine: Muti
- This guy intersperses his illustrations with examples of packaging, environments, and T-shirts that use his work: Nate Williams
4 | Market yourself to publications.
Everything’s online these days so we can forget that there are still a lot of glossy magazines on the racks of traditional newsstands and bookstores. These monthly or quarterly publications need a constant flow of new creative. Look up the editors and art directors at these publications and make sure they’re on your email list. It’s worth a personal email or even sending them a physical marketing piece by mail.
Don’t forget regional publishers. Every city of any significant size has one or more local magazine focused just on their region. These editors need illustration too — get in touch with the one(s) in your region, and if that doesn’t lead to anything, start throwing darts at a map.
5 | Market yourself to book publishers.
It might be tough to break into this market without a rep, but it could certainly be worth the effort. There are hundreds of thousands of book titles published each year.
6 | Get an artists’ rep.
What do you have to lose? As long as they’re commission-based, and they actually end up bringing you some work, you’re coming out ahead: It’s work you otherwise wouldn’t have found — or wouldn’t have found you. Here are a few I know of professionally (although my direct experience with them is limited):
7 | Consider licensing.
Illustration is popular on products like iPhone cases, fashion, etc. This could be a lucrative “bread-and-butter” sideline if you have someone to handle the business end. Once you have a body of work in an online portfolio, you (or your rep) can shop the illustrations to places like https://society6.com/ or https://super7store.com/ or a hundred other places.
Make sure you have your licensing contract written by / looked over by a professional, so you’re not selling all your rights.
8 | Do the obvious things.
I’m not even going to bother giving advice on the obvious things any illustrator is probably already doing: Have a professional website/portfolio; list your clients on your website; post your work on Instagram etc.; have a LinkedIn presence so clients can recommend you.
What do you think?
I’d love to hear ideas and feedback from other art directors, illustrators, and reps! More ideas are certainly welcome. Please comment.
