Fashion Illustrators! Here’s How To Earn More In 2026

I’m a weirdo that always finds January exciting, I plan my year and sit in a lil delulu bubble and dream up everything I want to achieve over the next 12 months.

So every January I’ll set out some financial goals, creative goals and career goals for myself, such as:

How much do I want to earn?

How many sketchbooks/life drawing sessions do I want to attend?

Who do I want to work with / projects I want to work on?

For freelancers the beginning of the year is usually the quietest time, so it’s the absolute best time of year to focus on yourself and improve, 80’s workout eye of the tiger montage style.

So if you’re wanting to earn more or get more work this year, then these are the things I’d recommend start doing as early as today! Or maybe tomorrow… I still gotta watch Stranger Things.

Improve your work

This sounds like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised the amount of people who focus entirely on the business side of things and completely forget to level up their drawing skills. There’s not many companies out there who don’t stop developing their product or packaging over the years to keep renewed interest and that’s exactly what our drawing skills are, they are our product.

Now live events and fashion illustration is getting more and more popular, that means there’s more and more people offering the same services, so instead of lowering your price to get people’s attention, level up your skills! People will pay for quality, and if they won’t, you’re just marketing towards the wrong people.

Outreach

Not many illustrators know we’re allowed to do this one! You don’t have to sit around waiting for work to come to you, you’re allowed and expected to contact potential clients directly and this is a good way to focus your time as well. Posting on social media just hoping the right person see’s it might not be getting the results you want, so emailing them directly is a way to make sure your work gets seen.

Diversify your marketing from just instagram

This is an addition to the outreach above, so many illustrators I know are frustrated with posting on instagram every day but still not getting any work coming in. That’s the original reason why I started creating courses as I wanted to share all the other ways you can get work that don’t include instagram.

Plenty of Illustrators have careers that barely post on Instagram, so it’s not a must, there’s a lot more at our disposal. Think outreach like I mentioned above, your website can get work in for you, network with people so they recommend you for work, attend events and mingle with people in the industry. Think about Youtube, TikTok, Linkedin, BlueSky …there’s no actual limit to how you might get a job or a new client, we are all creative so think as creatively about your marketing as you do your illustrations, at the end of the day all it is is getting your work seen.

Diversify what you offer

To secure not only a good year but a lengthy, sustainable career, it’s always good to have multiple offerings. If a shop just sells Christmas decorations, then 10 months out the year they’re not exactly going to be buzzing. But if they decide to sell Easter, Valentines, Summer, Bonfire Night and Christmas decorations, then all of a sudden they’re busier over the year.

Same with us Illustrators! Live events tend to be relatively seasonal, January-March can be quite quiet and August/September can be hit or miss, so it’s important to be able to offer things that can fill in those gaps. Maybe diversify to weddings if brand events are quiet during the first half of the year, maybe start offering anniversary commissions if weddings are quiet in particular months. Maybe diversify to selling originals, prints and stickers if August is dead quiet.

I’ve said it before in my Career Course but I’ve had years where editorial work was my biggest earner, other years were live events were my biggest earner and years were these courses were, things fluctuate. So being able to offer more services is not only going to make you more hireable by wider range of clients but it also means that clients who have hired you before have something else to come back and book you for, it’s much easier to market to existing clients than it is to keep having to find new ones!

Look back at last year

I’d argue this one’s the most important, to have an understanding of what happens with your business is crucial. You might think a lot of it is just fluke bookings or random emails but over time patterns do begin to emerge. Every year I feel like a proper lil business man and divide the year in quarters, I keep tabs of how much I earn in each quarter, where the money is coming from, whether it was course sales, live events, commissions, project work.

This helps me see which months are busy and which are quiet, back in 2024 January and February were my quietest months, so in 2025 I decided to launch a course as the end of January. And for most live event illustrators November/December seems to be the busiest time for branded events, so I know I need to earn £X amount during that time, so in the lead up to then I need to do everything I can to make that happen, so my outreach might need to start in September.

Looking back at your previous years is so helpful to see where certain services are busier and where you have time off, don’t get me wrong, quiet months are normal, noones busy 12 months out the year. But it’s good to know when the quiet times are expected to come. If I know January and Feb can be quiet then I need to make sure what I’ve earned in November and December will cover me for a quiet Q1, and because I know Q1 is quiet I can use that time to focus on portfolio work, personal projects or even just have some time off.

And finally…

Put your prices up

I see a lot of people undercharging for their work, and you might be busy but trust me you’ll have no time for any growth because you’re too busy dealing with chasing up small invoices, responding to tight clients and juggling little jobs everywhere.

When I was at uni I charged £5 or £10 a commission, I was busy and booked but I’d be working all day and realise I’d only earned £20, so busy doesn’t necessarily mean better.

I could go on about this for about 20 blog posts worth of words, maybe it’ll be my lord of the rings, but a couple things to remember:

Illustrations aren’t a necessity to anyone’s life, so don’t feel pressured to undersell yourself so it’s accessible to all, you’re not a humanitarian granting water access.

Don’t compare your earnings from your 9-5 to your freelance rates, they’re not like for like, yes £25 an hour for drawing might seem like a lot compared to your £15ph job, but that job also paid your holiday and was guaranteed income.

If a client responds yes to your quote without any negotiating, you went in too low, so up your price next time.

And that’s my advice!

Main thing is to do something different this year than what you did last year, otherwise nothing will change!

If you want more help or advice on topics I mentioned above, my January sale has just started, so have a look below to see what course can help you out!

Courses to help:

Business Masterclass - There’s modules on pricing, pitching, website, instagram, networking, so if your marketing only looks like Instagram at the moment, then you need this!

Drawing Masterclass - This course is chock-full of ways to improve your fashion illustrations and get you ready to illustrate more complex things like backgrounds, emotions, narratives and loosen up your work.

Portfolio Masterclass - If you’re looking to expand your offering this year, nothing will help you more than a varied portfolio. This course guides you through 8 essential portfolio topics every fashion illustrator needs.