I have a question for you...

NessIllustration

Hello illustrators!

I'm still putting together resources and wondering how best to help. I have a few questions to ask, and it would be really really useful if you'd let me pick your brain!

Let me know...

What is your #1 challenge to get your illustration career started?
When you think of getting your illustration career started, what would be your first idea to accomplish it?
Who would you go to to help you with that?
What do you think would make it EASY for you to get your illustration career started? If only I had ____, then I would be able to do this!
What is your #1 motivation to get your illustration career started?

If you decide to take the time, thank you in advance! You're a rock star

DaveLeekArt

Alright, let’s see here.

Trying to bring my skill set to a point where I feel it warrants asking people for money for my services.
It goes along with #1, working hard through resources like SVSlearn as well as considering art school to gain necessary knowledge to seriously pursue a career as a professional artist.
SVSlearn, various art books, studying mentors online and looking into Seneca college’s Illustration program.
If only I had.... never stopped drawing from the age of 16-32! I know this is a cheap answer but it’s true. I put artwork on the back burner for a handful of years to pursue sports and social activities. Now I’m busy playing catch up and jealously looking at all of these other amazing artists who are leaving me in their dust!
I’m just passionate about drawing. I really love it and time passes so quickly whenever I’m in my sketchbook. It truly puts me in the zone or a wonderful flow state. If I never actually made a ‘career’ out of it, I would be totally fine with just having it as part of my life as a side hobby but seeing as how I love doing it, I would really be pleased if I could turn this into something that brings me income to support my family as well.

Hope this helps!
Dave

Nyrryl Cadiz

@NessIllustration now that I’ve started my illustration career somewhat what I really need is money to pay all my bills so that I won’t get pressured to accept jobs that keep me away from working on my portfolio and other projects that I actually like. If I have enough money to last me a year plus a year more in savings (you know, in case another pandemic or economy crash will happen or whatever) , I could focus my time on making new pieces for my portfolio and writing/illustrating my own stories.

krish iyer

1 My art education and learning to work with and in the industry in terms of discipline and hard work.
2 To start at a lower level and through experience and improvement, move my way up to where I can sustain a stable income.
3 A good creative environment with teachers , fellow students and maybe even pros to reach out to
4 The thing I need the most is to get good enough at my craft and working at it to not only get into the Industry but be capable of constantly and consistently working in industry

This question really made me process and re examine my goals and journey thanks , I really needed this :)))

NessIllustration

@DaveLeekArt Thank you so much Dave for taking the time! Your insights are very very helpful!

NessIllustration

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Thank you Nyrryl! That's pretty much where I am now - making a full time income but really needing to build a nest egg in case something happen. Right now if I were to injure myself or some such thing, I only have enough money saved up for 3 months!

NessIllustration

@krish-iyer That is really interesting insight, thank you Krish! In truth you really are the one helping me here hihi

Michael Angelo Go

Getting more stuff into my portfolio.
Getting an agent.
An agency.
An agent that will bombard me with work that will financially support me for 2-3 decades.
Financial support.

NessIllustration

@Michael-Angelo-Go That's interesting, thanks for your answer! Be careful not to put all your eggs in the agent basket though! It can take up to 6 months to get a first contract, and even now my agent finds me only about 1/3 of my work. It's still very helpful, but you cannot necessarily count on them for all your income, especially at first. I'm taking notes to include this information is the "Agents" section of my course! Thank you

Michael Angelo Go

@NessIllustration I know my 4th answer was completely unrealistic. But it would be a dream. Money is my biggest issue and motivator at the moment. Gotta pay those student loans somehow.

NessIllustration

@Michael-Angelo-Go That we do!

jdubz

@NessIllustration Surely!

For me, #1, 2 and 4 is Time! With 3 kids and running my business, I just don't have the time

#3 I don't really know if anyone can help me except for me. I've been moving towards pushing towards transitioning more into illustration work, but since I have such limited time, I've been doing it in stages. This year has been 100% working on my skills and my portfolio. I think 2021 is when I'll start looking to push and begin emailing people and looking for work, finding a critique group, and trying to begin shifting those hours away from my marketing work.

#5 is definitely having no regrets. I don't want to sit on my deathbed and know I didn't try to make the thing I feel like I've got something to share a bigger part of my life.

LauraA

Q: What is your #1 challenge to get your illustration career started?

A: Training my own perception, i.e., need of expert critique to have a good idea (both concepts and resources) of how to correct my own weaknesses. I can find online videos, but it's hard to find personal guidance when you're isolated, and I know how valuable it is. One thing I would like to overcome is that I am slow, but I think that's partly a vicious cycle because I am stabbing around in the dark.

Q: When you think of getting your illustration career started, what would be your first idea to accomplish it?

A: I see this as a different kind of question, one that is more about marketing. Once I get a portfolio website up, I want to look for an agent or start other marketing efforts. All I need at this point is a narrative sequence, which I am working on, and to correct/update a few existing pieces.

Q: Who would you go to to help you with that?

A: If we're talking about 1., I would look for online mentor, since I can't find what I want locally. I'm not sure how to do this, though. Right now I am going through online videos and getting student critique.

Q: What do you think would make it EASY for you to get your illustration career started? If only I had ____, then I would be able to do this!

A: I don't think there's a magic bullet! I think it takes a long time and a lot of hard work.

Q: What is your #1 motivation to get your illustration career started?

A: I just really love the challenge of it, and hope to eventually be able to produce some truly artistic work. But also, I would like to prove to myself that I can do it professionally and financially.

I had to change them all to Qs and As because when I tried numbers they all came out as .1s!

NessIllustration

@jdubz Thank you so much Josh! Time is a reaaaally hard one! It's the one thing we can't always solve. You've got one hell of a reason to keep going though!

This makes me think: the only thing I can possibly do in my resources to help is to try and create a method as efficient as possible, that takes an artist through a shortcut. Point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible, by eliminating all the time costly mistakes, time wasters, and getting lost on little side paths. I always have the instinct to add more things to my program outline, to give MORE to the person: more information, more bonuses, more worksheets, more tips. But maybe what I need to do is take out some stuff, to make the method as simple and fast to follow as possible. You made me realize that at the end of the day what people want isn't more information, is to get to point B as fast as possible! And that's all I need to do, not cram my course with a bunch of extra information to justify the price Thanks Josh, this has been really illuminating!

NessIllustration

@LauraA Thank you so much Laura for your thoughtful answers, you've given me much to think about
I've also heard from many artists they're having trouble getting into a local or online critique group or mentoring situation. That's what gave me the idea to try to start my online coaching program. What I was doing in the past is answer DMs and emails of people's questions every week, but I can only help a very limited amount of people and in a very limited capacity that way...