Career Tips For Beginner Fashion Illustrators
Alrighty Illustrators!
Getting a career as an illustrator can seem like a daunting task, it seems everyones busy out there succeeding, hustling or just always doing something.
And you might be sitting there thinking what am I meant to be doing to make it happen?
So I thought i’d put a few tips together to help, stuff that either I’ve found have helped over the years or things that I wish I knew when I was starting out, so let’s get into it!
1. Get a website
This one is a non negotiable, I’m sorry to say your insta isn’t your portfolio!
Websites are a place for people to see your work cohesively and quickly without having to scroll through endless reels and selfies.
They will cost money, I’m sure there’s free ones out there but I’ve just had a look and a domains like £20, Squarespace is £144 a year, which sounds steep! But that works out £13.60 a month.
I recommend getting a website even before you think you’re ‘ready’ because it’ll get the SEO wheels churning whilst you’re still figuring things out!
2. Take ANY job
Just FYI not every job needs to be posted on insta or go in your portfolio, at the beginning the point is just to get client experience and make some money.
When starting out I took any commissions and work that came my way, drawing friends of a friend of a friends dog, portraits of someones kids, strange tattoo designs, a naked yoga retreat leaflet …give it all a go!
3. Don’t focus on going viral
Viral is a double edged sword, lengthy careers are built from slow and steady progression.
From experience viral posts just mean you gain a lot of followers wanting one specific thing and if you continue posting that kind of thing they’ll get bored, and if you post other things they might not like it and drop off.
So just focus on posting your best content, building up a lil community and getting to know your existing followers!
4. Don’t worry about getting an agent just yet
Most illustrators don’t realise you can go get work by yourself, learn to network, pitch to brands, post on socials, your career is more in your hands than you realise!
Also don’t be scared to pitch, worst that can happen is they say no or don’t reply, hardly the end of the world (A whole module in my Business course covers how to pitch to brands)
I worked with Ted Baker, Apple, Selfridges, Winsor and Newton and more, got approached by Vogue and Alexander McQueen all before getting an agent.
5. Post everywhere
When I was starting out, anywhere with an upload button I made sure to post my work.
Obviously you got the big dogs like Insta, Tik Tok, Twitter etc, but there’s loads of other places like The Dots, Behance, don’t forget about LinkedIn, so any creative portfolio site upload your work onto it!
My digital footprint is probably craaaazy but you never know who might stumble upon your work and where!
6. Piggy back off others
Whilst still building your own following, utilise other’s to help get eyes on your work.
This can be simple things like drawing celebs on the red carpet in hopes of a repost, or tagging the make up or nail artist in an illustration as they often get overlooked when people credit a look.
Or posting your prints and originals on Etsy instead of your own site, as Etsy gets way more organic traffic so it’s more eyes on your work and therefore more likely to sell!
Think how your work can be seen by as many people possible without spamming.
7. Just post it
When I started posting my drawings on insta they’d get 2 likes, what’s more important is that people are seeing them and they have the potential to be seen.
Don’t get too caught up on how many people are liking them and comparing yourself to others (easier said than done I know) but just think of posting as the final step in creating the thing and then move on to the next.
You’d be surprised the amount of time people enquire about a piece that you weren’t sure of posting.
So post it and whatever happens to it happens!
8. A Style will come
Probably the number one question I get asked is about how to find your own art style.
There’s not really a way to fast track that, it’s a natural progression from being inspired by multiple different things over time.
My two main bits of advice on developing your own style is look everywhere for inspiration, not just Fashion Illustrators, as you’ll just end up a watered down version of someone that already has a career.
The second thing is put a bit of you into it! Being an artist isn’t everything we are, we all have other hobbies; reading, writing, dancing, singing, graphic design, gaming, swimming, whatever it might be!
Put an element of that into your work, that will make it unique quicker.
If you’re a dancer, use some poses from that. If you’re an architect draw fashion figures in situ, if you’re a swimmer, do a series of fashion illustrations with couture gowns under water.
Don’t compartmentalise yourself, just blur all the boundaries of all your quirks!
9. Offer commissions
I’ve been offering commissions since I was 12, I even remember putting a friend on a payment plan of 50p a week to pay off the £2 for a drawing…
What I’m saying is you don’t have to be world renowned or top tier artist to offer commissions, just offer them and they will be your first way to make money!
Open them up to family, friends, followers, just make sure people can approach you for them and they’ll be a lil money earner in the mean time.
10. Befriend other illustrators
You might feel like it’s just you vs the big bad world, but there’s SO many other people carving out their own path and beginning their own creative career journey.
You’re gonna need people to vent to who understand, plus as you all progress it’s great to know people to hand jobs over to and vice versa!
Occasionally being a bit jealous of your illustrator friends if there careers seemingly going better than yours or moving at a quicker pace is completely normal!
I’ve been on both sides of that, but that initial twinge of jealousy should make way for proudness of your friend and motivation for you to crack on with your next piece!
11. Be patient - It’ll take longer than you think.
It took me 8 years from graduating to finally go full time (admittedly I wasn’t laser focused the entire time, but that rocky road is another story for another time)
It’s just very unlikely for you to land into your dream career straight out the gate, and working for it is half the fun!
Creating a career that lasts means building relationships, client lists, a body of work and projects and that all takes time.
You could pop off on socials and get a career instantly but that can lead to extremely sink or swim situations, so think of a career like tending to your own lil garden.
You’re planting seeds (posting your work), nurturing the flowers (befriend people and networking), pruning (reevaluating your portfolio and career goals) a fruitful garden doesn’t happen overnight but it’s grown from turning up everyday and putting the work in, even if you can’t see the progress on a daily basis.
I think that analogy made sense, I’m starving and it’s way past lunch time so gimme a break if it didn’t!
Anyway that’s me tips!
If you’d like other helpful resources:
My Blog - Plenty of posts about how I got my agent, my first client, business tips and more!
My Courses - Blog posts are helpful but if you need specific details and depth I have a range of courses covering Business, Portfolio, Illustration and Live Events!
My Youtube - A collection of taster lessons from courses and fashion illustration tips!
My insta if you have any questions:
x
