First Client/Job? When are you ready? Working for free?
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@Katt If you are considering doing something for free, don't. Make your own story at that point and pitch it to people or self-publish yourself.
Do research and see how much you can afford to get paid for. I think I've heard of accepting a first time gig at $8k but as a discount -
@kayleenartlover gotcha. I definitely have several stories of my own that I am working on.
And would you recommend any other niche to get foot in the door, like what was your first gig? -
@Katt
Dash Ducks twitch/youtube, a friend's family business. It was hourly for a few months. Not good pay and can't use any of it for my portfolio. -
@kayleenartlover see, I would take something small like that, even little things honestly. I have only sold my other work on Redbubble etc., but nothing for narrative art. So would you have done this for free if you had had no gigs at all at that point?
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@Katt Not really, because I don't think they even used what I made. It felt like busy work and a lot of waiting on their part. You can make tiktoks for etsy business, go to in person places to sell products like conventions, make youtube videos, etc.
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@kayleenartlover oh i see. TikToks, like make illustrations or animation for that?
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@Katt do you follow artists on tiktok/youtube? there's so many out there. If you have products to sell, like stickers for example, other artists will show the process of putting together an order of their stickers and stationery stuff.
Redbubble is kinda bad in my opinion because you barely make anything off it and have to bump the prices up so high that it's overpriced for the quality customers get. It's just an okay way of seeing what designs sell before ordering inventory yourself.
Basically you'll need to spend some time researching for whatever avenues you want to pursue. Even the 3PP podcast has talked about this stuff over the last few years. I just heard that they will be doing self-publishing pro again in a couple months btw
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@kayleenartlover ohh, no i know about making stickers, etc., (that's what I meant when I said other art products in my first post)- and yes Redbubble is bad, especially that weird thing they did with the tiering. I honestly mostly just do simple fun designs that I play around with. I do like that with Redbubble there is no worry about the actual product like the shirt/sticker, you just make the designs. I sell on Etsy too, little wood houses I make.
Im more talking about first gigs with narrative illustration, either for editorial magazines, education, or for picture books, there is part of me that wants to accept some of the offers for very low pay, just simply for the experience, but I didn't know from other illustrators if they felt this was a bad idea.
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@Katt Could you give an example, like is there a job offer you are considering?
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@kayleenartlover specifically, I have had people say: "Im looking for a children's book illustrator", a friend, or an acquaintance. I could easily say, "I'll consider the project", but....
I know that these people are: likely self publishing, know very little about the illustration process/the effort that is required to make decent pictures, cannot pay more than a few hundred dollars. This all equals a little bit of a pain in the neck, however, seeing that it is a great way to practice, taking a job like this is tempting, but even if I accepted the terms above, I still feel uncertain about how my art measures up. And so doing a low paid job to get some experience is the thing in question.
But my ultimate reason for making this post was to run it by other illustrators who have perhaps been down this route and have some feedback in regards to not feeling ready and/or imposter syndrome, and would either A) recommend or B ) don't even bother, and if they chose B, then what first job would they recommend pursuing for somebody just starting out. I bring up editorial and education because I believe Will mentioned ( in the Illustrating CHildren's Books Part 1 Class in one of the interviews with an art director) that editorial and illustrating education books usually is done before doing trade books.
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@Katt If it can be used for your portfolio and you’re excited about it, then great. If you want to learn more about the process as you go, I would look into SVS childrens book pro. They take you through all the steps and explain what to expect if you were to go the traditional publishing route, but it works for self-publishing too.
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@Katt
What I have done is agreed to do one illustration for a "friend or friend of a friend" so you can see if you can match their vision in style etc. before making any kind of commitment. I asked for a one time price for it. So depending on how involved the "scene" they wanted illustrated I priced it on a per hour basis which included three sketches and a final. I showed them previous work and then I gave them a quote, they agreed and I learned to really watch and keep tabs on all the time I spent (which was always longer than I thought, especially if reasearch is involved) but I did factor in that I was still learning so I left some wiggle room. In the end it may lead to more work from them or they may decide you weren't a match(which is fine!) but you will have a portfolio piece and will have learned a lot about communicating and tracking your time. -
@Larue thank you, this is helpful. I get the feeling though with some of these people asking, they don't even have a general idea of the types of illustration they want, at least they aren't being specific in their requests (whimsical, dark, or ethereal), so part of my hesitancy is to get involved with a client who hasn't thought through things. But I think your sketch idea is a good one. I'm honestly kind of just making my own pieces from my own stories, of fairytales, for my portfolio, but I need to get my toes wet a little to build my confidence up for making art for a paying customer.
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@Katt I am kinda curious now to see your portfolio id you don't mind sharing it of course
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@evka8D I took my website down a few months ago, so I don't have one ready, sorry. I need to look back into getting it back up. I had a website for my freelance writing, and when I decided to put that on hold, I didn't want to pay the fees etc for the web domain blah blah. I had/have a bunch of pieces, but none of them were specific to children's illustration or had any narrative. After taking the Portfolio class, I am really focusing on that, but don't want to pay for website fees in the meantime. Im in the process of doing illustrations for my own stories and fairy tales I like, so hopefully within a few months.
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@Katt Sure that makes sense. I am in a similar stage just working on my skills and creating portfolio pieces.
