Welcome to week 1 of ‘The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge’! It’s “GO” time and this week we dive straight in to the nitty gritty…you have a decision to make!
What do you want to illustrate?
From children’s picture books, editorial illustrations, licensing and comics all the way through to technical medical illustrations, there are so many markets to which illustration can be applied, that it can be hard to focus on one area with the goal of creating a clear and targeted portfolio.
Too many people get stuck at this very first stage. To-ing and fro-ing between what they might want to illustrate. They research, think, research a bit more, think a bit more, look at the work of their favourite illustrator and never actually do anything…I know what it’s like, I’ve been there too.
But in the end, nothing gets done, no progress is made and we get no closer to our goal.
Your portfolio needs to demonstrate to an Art Director what you can do for them. If they are going to take a chance on you and give you your first paying commission, they need to be sure that you are going to deliver the goods. A portfolio with a bit of this, a bit of that and a bit of the other isn’t going to fill them with confidence as they just don’t know what is going to come back when it comes to crunch time.
So, here’s your task for Week 1 of the 12WC:
Ask yourself this question…If I could illustrate anything and get paid for it, what would it be?
Your portfolio should reflect the type of work you would like to be doing - after all, if you’re going to make a career of this, it makes sense to choose something which you enjoy!
If you hate illustrating comics (even if you are great at them), it isn’t very sensible to fill your portfolio with samples of your comics work. Even if you think this is your best shot at getting that first commission, it’s recommended that you should focus on creating a portfolio that reflects the work you really, really want to do - not just the work you can do.
And here’s some advice on how to do this:
In an ideal world, we’d only ever be working on illustrations based on the subject matter that stimulates, excites, inspires and enthuses us the most. Trouble is, some of us (me included) sometimes have trouble defining that.
Here are a few things that might help:
- Give yourself permission and time to sit down and REALLY think about what you would like to be illustrating. Visualise your work - this sounds a bit hokey, but close your eyes and imagine an Art Director looking through your portfolio. What does the work look like? What style is it in? Is it fantasy themed, for children’s books, comics, editorial, licensing, colour, black and white?
- What type of work suits your temperament? Would you be happy working on a year long graphic novel project or do you prefer to work in the fast paced world of editorial illustration?
- Remember this is a business, we’d all love to get paid to only work on those premium projects, but we all have to start somewhere, so balance out what you’d love to be doing with what is going to pay the bills. Aim for the sweet spot between what you love, what you’re good at and what has potential to generate an income.
- Remember this is for the 12WC so even if it’s not the absolute 110% ideal area you want to be working in to begin with, that’s ok you don’t have to stick at it forever - the important thing is that you can move on from this stage to the next one with something you’re happy with.
You may have already considered all of the above and have a clear idea of what you want to be illustrating - now is the time to ask yourself some further questions:
- Is your idea commercially viable?
- What are the target markets (publications, manufacturers, brands and companies) currently commissioning this kind of illustration?
- Who are the big players (illustrators) in this market?
- Why are they successful in this area? Look at their website and other online profiles, search for interviews with them online…How do they promote themselves? If you can break down what makes them successful (other than that they are very talented), you can apply this model to your own business.
Once you have come to a decision about your chosen target market, let it brew and when you’re ready, share it in the comments and/or discuss it in the clubhouse with your fellow participants.
You’ll then be ready for week two of ‘The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge’.
Note: We’re working on putting together some prizes to be awarded at various stages of the 12 week challenge. Everyone with 100% weekly participation (sharing their progress each week in the comments) will be entered into the draw!
I’ll leave you with a little quote that I love from Henry Ford…
‘You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.‘
Next week on The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge we look at setting your business up for success right from day one.
Related posts:
I’m another one interested in children’s books, as well as illustrated books that can also appeal to older readers (for example, I’m very inspired by Sean Tan’s books, which can fall into this category.)
Right now I’m trying to figure out what to work on next. I feel like I have a lot to learn about the book format and need to think in terms of entire stories rather than single pictures. I studied sculpture in college, so I didn’t have much in the way of a formal illustration education. I’m trying to come up with an idea for a dummy book, so I can dive into the storytelling process.
I just wrote a blog post for week one. Turned out alright, I guess.
http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com/2010/04/zero-2-illo-12-week-challenge-week-1_09.html
I’d love to do book covers & the like, and also children’s picture books. I don’t really have a set style or way of working though, which i think could be problematic.
I wanted to sit on this for a bit before responding, and boy did I have a lot to say!
Blog post: http://cacodaemonia.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/zero2illo-challenge-week-1/
Nice kickoff. This has really got me thinking on what I would love to work on as an illustrator. I have always wanted to do work in the publishing market. Book covers, magazines and doing children book illustrations would be wonderful. I can’t help but to also want to concept work for the game or movie industries.
If I had to narrow it down to a small market that would be my first choice. I would still love to reach into as many other markets as I could.
While in school, I enjoyed working on a few posters for plays and Op-ed illustration assignments. However, I’ve always loved drawing characters and telling stories, so, I plan to put my energy toward children’s picture books.
I had to sit and chew on this one for a long time before really spitting it out. I had been neandering through lots of pondering about this very thing - what should I focus on.
I feel I can confidently say I want to do whimsical fantasy illustration for a living. It has everything I enjoy, I enjoy the people involved in the communities around it, there’s both licensing opportunity and fine art aspects in the genre - it has everything I want, and the subjects feed me everything I need. I love the work artists that are prolific in it do - and I know I need to work hard to stand next to them.
That’s the gist of it, but I babbled a lot about it in my blog. Haha. http://www.missharm.com/2010/04/show-and-tell-friday-12-week-challenge.html
Seeing how everyone else works through their definitions is really cool - and makes me feel less alone in having to pick one path among many.
I’ve written about this in the Clubhouse, but here is an excerpt:
“Reading the Week One post, I realized that I should take advantage of this opportunity and use this challenge to go for what I REALLY want and the heck with other markets! I am not closing doors (…), I am just letting my incursion in other markets hibernate. It’s time to focus: I want to do editorial and publishing work (book covers). There it is, I have said it! And it feels good!”
Yes, it does feel good allowing myself to make the decision.
Hello everyone.
Day after day, passing the first week I was thinking about our challenge. Every day browse internet or driving to work I wondered what I would do, what style of what media I will use.
What will be satisfaction to me, came to me with ease and fun time. Now I know that for sure at the beginning I want to make editorial illustrations for magazines and newspapers. It should be good for me to start, do something good, to show that they I can do it, and gain self-confidence which continue to grow in other directions. The first is certainly narrative illustration, comics. Next is the creation of artworks, prints and works which in themselves are complete.
As far as editorial illustrations is that I already had to deal with in college and came to me some nice drawings and I must admit that I liked. Now with my experience I know that concepts gets to me very quickly. It could be not just the area which gives me the possibility of earning money, as well as experience . Next thing is technique. I love to draw, that is, traditional media, drawing, sketch, cut-out processing and typography in computer. That’s all, simple and neat.
—— I must remember that. All the things that I have now recorded in the memory and what I wrote here.——
I like to work quickly and precisely. I hope that it will be path to find my style again. Such exercises before the final challenge. We are rivals only for ourselves. Now, in a group like this, I believe that we will succeed and we will find enough faith to climb the heights of our abilities.
My motto after the first week is a consequence of “Work hard, a lot, regularly and have your ears wide open„
Illustrators who inspire me and whom I admire and often looking at their work with an open mouth saying. “Yes it is possible”: Yusuke Nagano, James Jean, Feral Kid, Allison Schulnik, Jonas Bergstrand, Puno, Jim Stoten, Ashley Wood.
I would like to create identities, whether that be through logos or illustrative advertisements. I also enjoy drawing cartoons for newsprint and comics.
I would like to do concept illustration, comics, illustration for books and editorials!
I have been struggling with this all week. I have a tendency to really detest everything I’ve ever done upon looking back at it over enough time, so it’s hard for me to imagine putting any of my work in front of an art director. Of course, I’m only basing that on the stuff I’ve done for my sketchblog, which is by definition a place for rough work. One thing that I have been really satisfied with, and continue to be even now that there’s some time between now and when I made them, are my patterns. So I’m going to go with surface pattern design for the purposes of this challenge, and see where that takes me. I’ve already done some research into who licenses that sort of thing, but I can go deeper now that I’m choosing that to focus on. And I can get crackin’ on some new patterns!
Great way to kick off the challenge! There are so many areas I’m interested in, so organizing them in a list was really helpful. Here they are in no particular order:
Editorial - I’ve had a few commissions and I really enjoyed the challenge of translating text into visuals. However I tend to spend a long time perfecting my work, so I’m not sure my pace is fast enough for editorial deadlines.
My style is quite child-friendly and humorous and I think it would suit children’s literature, educational material etc. A lot of my work is character based and it has been pointed out to me that it would be really good for animation, which I’m very keen to explore.
I love screen-printing and I would like to produce greeting cards, stationery, prints, mugs, tote bags etc. I’m also keen on creating patterns and visuals for companies that produce textiles, home ware, wallpaper etc.
I really enjoy creating identities because it allows me to bring my illustration and design skills together. Sometimes identity work gives you an opportunity to extend it into space as a narrative environment (like cafes, restaurants, clubs etc) Which leads me to my favorite job so far in my career - creating a narrative environment in a children’s hospital. I painted a mural, screen printed textiles for curtains and bed linens, designed toys, some furniture etc. This is definitely something I would like to do more of professionally.. hospitals and schools, but also window displays for stores etc.
This is a great question and I was a little bit stuck with the answer at first. However, I have a leaning towards children’s books so I would definitely like to choose that route. I have worked for educational publishers in the past but I would love to illustrate a picture book. I also enjoy creating illustrations for licensing, particularly greeting cards, which is something I have dabbled in in the past but would like to look more into
If I could illustrate anything and get paid for it, what would it be? I pondered all week on this. I know one thing, stories inspire me to make art. I chose the Editorial market for my focus because the assignments can accompany an article or story, and it is fast paced work, which I love. I most recently finished some children’s book work, and I imagine my style will still lend itself to that genre, but during the next 11 weeks I’d like to practice my conceptual skills and develop my editorial pieces.
Is my idea commercially viable? Part of my reason for choosing Editorial Illustration is because there are many opportunities for jobs through various publications. I found most Illustrators with Editorial work were published through magazines. Some I saw listed were:
Rolling Stone Magazine
Technology Review Magazine
Mens Health Magazine
Plan Sponsor Magazine
Runner’s World Magazine
Big players? I searched for artists through Communication Arts Annuals, and Illustration Mundo, as well as the long list of artist faves I have bookmarked. Some of them I found working in this market:
Chris Buzelli http://www.chrisbuzelli.com/
Christina Ung http://www.christinaung.com/
Jon Reinfurt http://www.reinfurt.com
Martin Haake http://martinhaake.de
Alberto Cerriteno http://www.albertocerriteno.com/
Why are they successful? Each of these artists’ have a clear focus and style that is obvious when you look through their galleries online. Most of them do more than one type of Illustration and have 2-3 different sections for them - Editorial and Book for example, but their style is consistent across. Their portfolios contains lots of images to show their technical and conceptual abilities, basically that they can do the job, and when a client hires them they can be sure to get a certain style and level of quality.
On Self Promotion… Most of the artists I looked through do not list flickr, twitter, and blogs on their websites. They just lits their phone and email and sometimes their address as contact info. Many of them do blogs which are updated regularly with news or work, lots of blogs with process images. Some have buttons for flickr, twitter, facebook, blogger, etc.
Prior to the 12WC I listed to a few different podcasts - BIPT, and EFII were a couple - and there were a lot of conversations about self promotion. besides the internet, It seems like most artists still mail out postcards quarterly, and some will do a neat packages of cards, or calendars, and other quirky ideas to stand out from the bunch when doing mailers. One artist I found had a neat example of her mailer on her website under her “self promotion link”. Her name is Meg Hunt (www.meghunt.com), and she also shares a lot of info about her process through an FAQ page, as well as videos of her work progress through her flickr site.
There is lots of great work out and so many creative people. I’m ready to dive in!
If I could illustrate anything and get paid for it…
… it would be children’s books, or at least work intended for adults in a children’s book style.
Realistically, I have to come to terms with the fact that my style is described as creepy or unnerving too often for me to make children’s books my central aim. The occasional publisher might like what I do, but I expect those would be few and far between; it is not the 1970s anymore. The illustrators I loved as a child would probably struggle to find work nowadays, and I do not want to spend all my time looking for work and none doing it (although I accept the lion’s share of my time will be spent on the former). Aside from the issue of light vs dark, it is also a very crowded market. Most people can achieve some level of abstract/cartoonish drawing even if they find it hard to draw in a more literal way, and therefore a huge number of illustrators seem to be drawn in the direction of art for children.
However, I think a children’s illustration style can have an advantage. Many styles are for a narrow audience by definition, whereas a children’s book style has the potential to appeal to a broader range of people. It can catch the eye of men and women alike, the old and the young, and (allowing for cultural differences in children’s art) attract people from a great diversity of cultural backgrounds.
I recently featured Adam Pekalski’s work - http://www.adampekalski.com - on my blog. He has a style which is undeniably child-friendly, while the subject matter is often for an adult audience. He is a freelance illustrator, an art & design lecturer and an exhibitor. Most of his illustration is sold for editorial features in magazines, and it’s easy to see why it appeals to art directors.
I would love to work for New Scientist. I have always associated the house design style with a lot of great illustration I’ve seen in the pages over the years. Unfortunately, given the close scrutiny necessitated by the 12 Week Challenge, all was not as rosy as it appeared in my head. Looking over a couple of months of back issues gave me a list of good news and bad news. On the plus side - New Scientist’s house illustrators also draw in a kids’ book style. More negatively, THEY are the house illustrators, they have been for years and will doubtlessly continue to be the house illustrators. The other illustrations I’ve seen over the years which have given me an interest in working for NS have piled up in exactly that way: over the years. Illustrators other than those employed directly by NS make rare appearances. Of those, some are used for their collage art or their infographic style. While I might achieve the ambition of getting something printed in the pages of NS yet, it might be a hard act to repeat.
I tried really hard this week to search out magazines which would be a good fit for me. The sad fact is that, in the UK at least, the number of magazines is dwindling. The number which employ illustrators narrows the field still further, and then within those I would need to find enough work to maintain a regular income. I think this is where I need to save the editorial plan until I’ve learned more about agents. Until then, I will have to raise my career in some other direction. This doesn’t mean I’m putting editorial on the back burner completely. I have a handy contact who recently offered to put me in touch with a music magazine editor who might like what I do, but I would prefer to only follow the warm leads for now, and until then create other opportunities elsewhere.
Prior to my recent decision to reapply myself to illustration, I have been working in music in both writing and production. I think this is something I should exploit. It’s given me a couple of in-roads with labels and musicians, and it also gave me the experience of being the client and having to hire and liaise with artists for our artwork. In the last couple of years I’ve had a couple of illustration jobs, both of which were for musicians. I enjoyed the research and planning, and the thoroughness of working on an image from top to bottom through the illustration, layout and typography of each piece. I like being forced to learn new things, and create designs which are appropriate to a range of uses: high visibility images to be seen on a flyer or poster from a distance (or at a small scale on a website), with high detail to provide a rich image the eye can stick to and take in for a while (on an LP cover, for example), and with the potential of flexibility should they need to be converted to screenprint for t-shirts.
Separately to this, I worked for seven years as a concept developer alongside a graphic designer. I only provided actual illustration on one job. In all the rest, I was a researcher, copy writer and ideas man. Creating the image for a business is quite a plate-spinning exercise, requiring a lot of very creative thinking but also careful tweaking and consideration about what every element says. I think this could be useful too.
In forming a portfolio, I think I could be doing something financially viable too. I like even my sketches to have full backgrounds. I like architectural framework structures within them, patterns, winding divisions. I think this comes from my love of Alfons Mucha and other Art Nouveau/Jugendstil artists. There is potential here to make images which could impress bands and labels and also function as art prints which I could sell independently. There are art print shops in my city which I could approach, and also websites such as http://www.20×200.com/ which could be useful for getting a greater reach.
Here are some people whose work and careers I would love to emulate in some way, eventually:
Brian Coldrick http://chapmanlinks.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/brian-coldrick/
He has a very varied client list for all kinds of things: packaging, corporate calendars, editorial, book illustration, art prints, exhibitions, and so on. I don’t want to ape his style, but he achieves many things I aim for - texture, bright colourful scenes yet with muted hues, details but with large shapes, curves and geometry if you blur your eyes, and a stylistic point somewhere between realism and cartoonishness.
Contraomnes http://chapmanlinks.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/deviantart-com-contraomnes/
Peter Hoffmann, Glashaus http://www.glashaus-design.com/site/glashaus.php
Again, it’s the style - big curves that lead your eye around, colourful without use of primaries, textures, and distortion combined with realism in places.
Nate Simpson http://projectwaldo.blogspot.com/
He’s a big inspiration, partly for his art style but also for his guts. He quit a well-paid job in concept art for the computer games industry to make his own graphic novel and teach himself how to do so along the way. I love his style too. The detail comes less from textures with him than it does from intensive line work, but I love how graceful and economical it all is. I love his choice of colours and the way he uses light. People might not agree with me, but I see a line from people like Mucha to people like him.
The person from whom I can draw the most immediately useful business inspiration in this list is Brian Coldrick. I think it’s very telling that his portfolio is balanced pretty well between work he’s done for local events, companies and publications in his native Dublin and work he’s created for international clients and brands. I think there’s a lesson to be learned here and I’m lucky to live in a place where I can try the same thing. I live in Brighton, quite an “artsy” city with a lot of cultural events throughout the year and many venues and local entertainment magazines, just like Dublin. I’m only 50 minutes from London on the train too. I think I need to devote at least some of my time to seeking out some work in these fields.
Something that comes out naturally in my sketch work is character design. I find it enjoyable and quite easy to invent people, monsters, benign creatures and robots, and the role of concept artist has been suggested to me many times before.
So, in summary here is my ragged plan:
MAIN FOCUS IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE:
CD/LP/t-shirt designs for musicians
Illustrations for local publications/events brochures
The personal portfolio pieces I create to demonstrate my abilities can be used for sale as prints
FUTURE PLANS/SECONDARY FOCUS:
In-house illustrator for a particular publication, to provide a regular main income
Illustrations for national/international publications/books
Investigate the viability of an agent
Concept art for the computer game/movie/television industries
Hello! I’m sorry my comment will be so short but I think I would really like to work on editorial illustration or picture book illustrations. If I had to choose one I think I would choose editorial. Cheers guys, I hope I can participate a little more in future weeks
Well here is my week 1 assignment for the Zero2Illo’s 12 Week Challenge. I’m posting it a week late but it was done on time… Really! Check the link.
http://sketch-ink.com/2010/04/the-zero2illo-12-week-challenge-week-1-choose-your-target-audience/
Sorry I’m late, but I don’t want to miss this assignment.
I’m not quite familiar with illustration industry. So I did some search in web and then know that there is so many difference types of illustration. Every type is sound interesting.
Then I go to the web again and search for interview of the artist I admired, Murata Range. He touched base on many types of illustrations too, including book cover, editorial, comic, …
Among these types, the one I’m interested most is character design, even for game or animation, because I love draw characters and design their costume.
So ideally, if I could illustrate anything and get paid for it, that would be character design illustration. However, it seems not quite viable for non-famous illustrator like me. So before that, maybe I should choose a field that can expose to public frequently. Therefore, I’d like to focus on book cover illustration first.
What would I want to illustrate the most? Mmmmm… I think I would like to start with book covers and editorial illustration for magazines (for children and also for adults). Since I come from the world of Architecture, were things need long periods to become reality (if they ever do), I am very much in the mood for “fast production”. I think, from a psycological point of view it would be a very healthy activity!
Please, excuse me for being late and brief but… I have to catch up with my Bussiness Plan while all of you must be already directing your thoughts towards Week 4’s Challenge!!
I feel like Alice’s White Rabbit “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”
See you soon, hopefully!!
And thank you Jon and Lea! I just saw the videos for Week 2 and they are so inspiring, stimulating, helpful…!! “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”
Well, I’m even later, and I’m going to answer for myself, even though probably no one else will ever read this. I would like to do the black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations inside of middle-grade novels-the serious ones with beautiful fairly realistic illustrations. I would also like to do illustrations for Cricket and Cicada magazines. I LOVE them-always have. My hero is Trina Schart Hymen (I’m not sure how that’s spelled), who was my absolute favorite illustrator as a child (though it was only as an adult that I realized who she was). There are a number of other illustrators of children’s books that I admire enormously as well-and most of them share my fascination with light and dark, and with character. I’m not interested in anything cartoony, but in illustrations where you feel like you really get to know the characters.
I’m glad I found this site, and I’m sorry not to have started with everyone else, but this seems like a very good thing to do, so I’m going to do it-just six weeks late. Alas. It’s the best I can do.