Anne Wassell Art

Ok, so i’m trying to work and be productive, now that i’m self-employed, but things just are not going right. The last portrait commission i did went fine, no problems at all. This time though, i am having serious paper issues! I just can’t get my pastels to stay on the paper! Every time i try and put a new layer down it just lifts the previous layer off and make the paper so smooth it’s actually shiny now! I’m not pressing on any harder than usual, and they are my normal pastels. It is new paper to me, but it’s still pastel paper so it should give the same results as before! This is already my second attempt at the image (using different paper, because the first one was even worse than this). I just don’t know how to fix the problem! Should i spray fixative on it every-so-often and then work on top of that? I really have no idea! Can anybody help me? Please?

So, I spent a very interesting day at the Zero2Illo conference the other day. The first, purely illustration conference, and it was right on my door step. Brilliant!

There were several panels throughout the day, consisting of illustrators, publishers, an agent, and a tablet designer. Everyone had something different to say on each question, as is always the case when you ask a group of creatives a question.

Before the panels got started though, there was a Key Note speech from Rod Hunt (illustrator). Rod hi-lighted one of the main areas that illustrators must concentrate on as being self-promotion. If the work isn’t out there how are you going to sell it? And if you aren’t pushing your work how are you going to get noticed? I think we all fall in to the idea of “I’ll put my images on the internet and the work will come flooding in”, Rod hammered home that this simply is not the case. He also spoke about making a visual identity for that self-promotion. The promoting we do has to be in the style of our work, and that style has to be consistent. We must build a brand, and we ourselves are that brand.

Rod then spoke about how illustrators must keep making new work, to keep ourselves moving forward and keep our work fresh. But all this work must be recognisable as yours. It must be in-keeping with your “brand” style. To help keep work moving and not get stagnant, Rod spoke about incorporating ourselves into our work. If we are not passionate about our subject than that will come across in the image, and that will not encourage people to commission us in the future.

He then spoke about what to do when you finally do get that elusive commission. First, always put business first. And do treat it like business. Be professional. Agree the rights and usage before you start, and always use a contract. You must also, always, quote what the piece is worth, and for this, take into account what it is worth to your client. He then spoke about getting yourself out there. Be on as many sites as possible, and be constantly updating them.

After a short break there was the first panel. This was called “Getting Clients and Commissions” and consisted of purely illustrators: Rod Hunt, Stanley Chow, Leigh Hodgkinson, and Kate Slater. One of the topics for this panel was about marketing yourself. They spoke about how your time should be split into thirds. One third of your time should be spent creating, another third spent on the business side of things, and another third spent on promotion. They placed a very high value on promoting yourself, whether via social media sites (which they recommend doing very highly), sending out e-mails (but only to the correct person), or sending samples of work (but again, only to the correct person). They also spoke about not just leaving all the marketing until you have some down-time. It should be done constantly, then the down-time can be spent creating some personal work that can go in your portfolio, or honing your skills/experimenting to find new ones.

They all also placed quite a high value on getting an agent. They can open so many doors for you that may well be closed to you on your own. For instance, agents have good relationships with publishing houses, and are often their first port of call when looking for an illustrator. So if you are with an agency you stand a higher chance of being put forward for a job, instead of having to chase down opportunities and really fight to be seen. Although, the panel did say that it is good to try it alone first. You get to learn the business, you get some effective criticism, and get to see first hand what publishers/art directors want (or don’t want) and this can help build your portfolio.

One of the main things I will take away from this panel though is to learn to compartmentalise my life. Like so many illustrators I work from home, and am constantly distracted by the family life going on around me. But this panel really stressed how important it is to separate life and work. We are not just sitting down to do some drawing, we are working, and thus should treat it like actual work, no matter whether you’re at home, or in an office.

The next panel was called “Making it on your own” with illustrators Kat Chapman, Kate Slater and Kate Hindley. These three all specialise in children’s books, and making and selling work independently. And when it comes to selling, all three had one thing in common: Etsy. They all said they regularly use Etsy to sell work, but that it does take a while to start getting some sales. They also mentioned that it’s good to keep listing new items, as then you’re more likely to be seen, rather than list everything all in one go. Selling this way is more personal too. You know who is buying your work, and whether you have repeat customers. You can e-mail people directly and thank them for their interest. You can also do discount vouchers for those repeat customers. This all builds your reputation as a nice person to buy from, thus making them more likely to come back, and recommend you. The panel did say that they have stalls at craft fairs too, but these are very hit-and-miss. You are never guaranteed to make your money back, or sell anything at all.

The panel then spoke about the benefits of home printing. They mentioned that you can do small edition runs of prints. With a large printing company you often have to buy a lot to make it cheap enough, but then you run the risk of not actually selling what you have. With home printing you can print as and when you need the product.

A good tip I have picked up from this panel is to include postage and packaging into the actual item price, this way you can offer free P&P, which people always like.

The next panel consisted of Stephanie Amster (Head of Design at Nosy Crow), Nicky Lander (Creative Manager at Igloo Books), and Victoria Pearce (Senior agent at Illustration Ltd), and was titled “Deal Makers and Deal Breakers”.

I think the main thing I took from this panel was that if you’re contacting a publishing house or agency, research them first! Find out what sort of styles they represent, who their target audience is, where they sell, then tailor what you send them accordingly. The publishers both said that whatever work you send them has to be eye catching. And if you’re sending a link to your website, your site has to be clear, concise and one click friendly (it only takes one click to find what they’re looking for). Also with websites, they said there is a 3second rule. If your site hasn’t captured their attention in 3seconds then they move on to the next one. If you do capture their attention (whether it be a publisher or an agent) then they will have a thorough look around. They will look at your biography, blog, Facebook, Twitter, everything, so make sure it’s all constantly up to date, and professional.

There was some interesting information come out about agencies from this panel. They said that most agencies look to bring in 8 new illustrators per year. However, they receive over 200 submissions per month! So competition just for an agent is quite tough. But they did say that if you are not successful at first, you can try again. Wait 6 – 12 months, creating new work and progressing yourself in that time, and then submit again.

The last panel consisted of Victoria Pearce (Senior agent at Illustration Ltd) and Claire Cheung (Tablet designer at WIRED) and was titled “Illustration 3.0”. The most important thing to come from this panel was that the world is becoming increasingly digital and the illustration world needs to keep up, but this often means that the illustrations we draw are required to move, becoming animations. They said that one day illustration may well simply become animation as far as editorial pieces are concerned. Newspapers and magazines are now offering web/tablet based versions of their publications, and static illustrations are no longer very appealing, animations are. So to keep up with these changes the panel emphasised the need for illustrators to learn new skills to better equip ourselves for this change to the digital world. Obviously some things with always be printed, and still need static illustrations, but if we do not keep up with times, we may well find ourselves outdated and out of a job.

I do hope you have taken the time to read this and pay attention, there are some valuable tips that I picked up and must share with you.