Officially an agented Illustrator!

StudioLooong

@KatrinaF Keep trying! I often felt really discouraged or like I was sending queries into a black hole.

Find regular opportunities for critique. My critique groups have been immensely helpful. I've also done portfolio and dummy reviews through SCBWI and The Illustration Department. Both gave me really valuable, personal feedback to help me take my work to the next level.

Take advantage of any submission opportunity you can. I participated in Twitter Pitch events and attended conferences for the submission opportunities (despite being completely burnt out on zoom). Submit to contests where your work can gain visibility. SVS does contests but so does SCBWI and there are other one-offs like the PBPitch Mentorship, PB Party, Little Brown's Emerging artist award and others. These are all great places to make connections.

ACPetullo

@StudioLooong said in Officially an agented Illustrator!:

Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary Agency

Congratulations !

Jeremiahbrown

Congrats, that’s really exciting!

ruth

@StudioLooong Congratulations!!! That's awesome news! Wishing you every success with your first picture book project.

Blitz55

Congrats on that.
Great accomplishment!

Griffin McPherson

That’s so exciting! Congratulations!

LauraA

@StudioLooong Woohoo! Congratulations! And thanks for the tips as well.

braden H

AWESOOOOOOOME!!!!! Good for you!!!!

Johanna Kim

@StudioLooong Congratulations, Taylor!!! Wonderful news!

Lee White

@StudioLooong Awesome!!!

Asyas_illos

Congratulations! Good for you!

Kristen Lango

Congratulations!

Valerie Light

@StudioLooong Wow Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your insights on the process of getting out there!

PenAndrew

@StudioLooong Congratulations. you are a great encouragement to all of us hoping to work hard and succeed.

KathrynAdebayo

@StudioLooong Wonderful news!!

Holumpa

@StudioLooong Wow, thank you so much for the detailed answer, that helpes a lot! And I am sure you found the eprfect fit that way, hope you get some wonderful stories to illustrate

aurelia

Congratulations!! What a great news! Wishing you all the best!

KatrinaF

What wonderful insight! Thank you for so much detail and inspiration. I've got two book dummies in the works but still not on my front burner. I'm going to have to re-prioritize here soon. Congrats again!

Heather Boyd

@StudioLooong

Hi, I have 3 clarifying questions I'd like to ask, if you'd be so kind to help,

Does having a Literary Agent mean you always work on your own stories or could you also work on illustrating other author's stories? Are illustrators able to do both?
What is 'skip-the-slush-pile' submission? How can I identify these from other submission requests?
And do you know if small to medium agencies still work to support more full time pay the bills illustrators?

If you can help me with any of these questions, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks again and all the best!!!

Heather,

StudioLooong

@Heather-Boyd
I could also work on illustrating other peoples stories with a literary agent. My agent is connected with editors and art directors and will market me as an illustrator as well as an author/illustrator.

"Skip-the-slush-pile" submission is any sort of exclusive submission opportunity associated with attending an event. The big Winter/Summer SCBWI events do not come with submission opportunities because there are too many people attending them but often if you go to a smaller regional event with faculty, they will give you a special way to reach out to the faculty within a given window of time and normally that means that your submission has a better chance of getting seen.

I'm sure every agency, regardless of size does everything they can to support their authors/illustrators, whatever their financial goals may be, so if your goal is to be a full-time illustrator, that's something to consider when deciding on which agents to query and to bring up with a potential agent when you talk with them before signing. Ask them what they can do to support you in your goals and how much work you can expect them to bring in for you.

I know most illustrators have multiple jobs, or at least multiple streams of revenue within illustration (like teaching, an Etsy shop, or commercial client work in addition to book jobs). That's also something to consider. If you want to be a full-time illustrator, it is probably best not to rely on one individual to bring in all of your income for you (even if that person is a wonderful agent who has your best interest in mind). Here's a survey that breaks down how much children's book illustrators made last year, I definitely recommend looking into it. Over half the illustrators surveyed had an agent or art rep but less than 18% reported making over $30k in 2021. Financial stability and independence is of high importance to me, so I've set my goals accordingly. I'd love to be able to go full-time into children's books one day and will work my butt off to get there but getting an agent isn't a golden ticket.

Hope these answers help!