How Much I Earned From Illustration Before Becoming A Full-Time Fashion Illustrator
I’ve been trying to monetise my drawing ever since I can remember… I used to go round my classroom signing friends up for £3 commissions paid in 50p weekly instalments.
An artistic klarna if you will.
There was something about earning money from doing something I love that just felt good, felt like validation what I was doing was decent, every £1 earned from drawing was way more rewarding than £50 earned from my weekend Tesco shift.
The thought of monetising my work wasn’t ever something that wasn’t in the picture, I knew this is what I wanted to do for work, so to do it for work it needs to pay my bills. So the thought of charging for my illustrations was never something I struggled with, how else would it become a job?
What I did struggle with was how much to charge for my work, if you enjoy doing something it’s hard to justify it with a hefty price tag as it seems almost like you’re taking the piss… you can’t enjoy your work and earn good money!
So I’ve battled with that for a long time, and when I started to take on paid work during uni, I was charging £5 per commission for friends and £15 for a commission from businesses… minimum wage? Never met her!
So throughout my studies I subsidised my avid ‘networking’ (going out clubbing 3 nights a week xoxo) with some commissions and odd project work.
None of the work made a huge dent in my bank account, I think the biggest commission I got was for £200 but it was 20 illustrations of someones entire collection, I felt like a baller but a weeks work to earn £200 …less baller, more bawler.
Once I graduated it was really time to step up the earning and push for this to become my full-time job, so that means goodbye £5 commissions, hello downpayment for my Cotswolds mansion.
But things didn’t quite go that way…
I graduated late 2014, so 2015 was the first year I had as a freelancer trying to earn some cash.
I lived with my parents during that time so the pressure wasn’t there to pay rent, and I was working at a Fish & Chippy to earn a bit of consistent money.
But during 2015 I earned £1000 from illustration work, this was a year were I was posting a lot, emailing a lot and really trying to get my work out there, but because I had a lot of free time due to the fish and chip job only being twice a week, I just took whatever work came in at whatever price.
So I landed a few small projects, commissions and one event, it was 9 jobs total that netted me that £1000, making the average job £111, off to a slow start but least we’re making some money!
I moved to London late 2015, so 2016 was the first year I was now a London Fashion Illustrator, and the first year I had to cough up London rent every month.
For the first 3 months in London I gallivanted around spending my savings, then I managed to get a job as a social media intern which meant my rent was now secured, so any earnings I got from illustration was extra income.
During this time I was posting a lot and creating a lot of work but I wasn’t entirely sure how to get work or what work I was hoping to get, so there wasn’t any structure to what I was aiming for, but during this time I earned £950, so £50 lower than the year before.
But the big difference was, this was from only 4 jobs, meaning the average price was now £237.
So I was earning roughly the same, but I had upped my prices and essentially doing half the jobs for the same money, goals! Still not enough to even cover 2 months rent, but you gotta start somewhere!
In 2017 I was growing my following due to what I learnt being a social media intern, now a marketing manager (hello promotion x)
Over 2017 I managed to earn £1500, this was whilst juggling the most stressful job I’d ever had, like I said above I moved jobs and got promoted. So now I wasn’t just an intern earning minimum wage but a marketing manager with a 50% bump in salary, so my attention was focused on doing that job right, I was drawing but wasn’t focused on pushing the work side of it as I didn’t have the time.
But in 2017 that £1500 was earned from only 4 jobs, so the average job value had jumped again to £375, which when juggling a demanding job, it made sense to only take on work that paid well and be a bit selective!
So there’s slow progress but at this time I was kind of building two careers at the same time.
Now in 2018 there was a shift…
In 2018 I started getting more opportunities coming in from brands and job enquiries. Which made me excited about my illustration career, but led me to start resenting my marketing career as I felt like it was getting in the way.
So mid 2018 I went full-time freelance, I kept my marketing job but went down to 3 days a week, and that freed up my time to focus on the illustration more, and it paid off!
Through a mix of the hustling I’d been doing over the last few years and finally having time to focus on my illustration work, I managed to book £8000 worth of work in 2018, so not a bad leap from £1500!
Now the income from illustration was finally making a decent dent and contributing to my rent, happy days!
The £8000 was from 22 jobs throughout the year, I made sure that the freelance marketing job would pay my bills which allowed to be steadfast in my pricing, not having to take whatever work came in to keep a roof above my head, so this meant the job average value remained around the same at £363.
So I really felt like I was gaining momentum, brands were approaching me, Vogue Dm’d me, Alexander McQueen invited me to a show, I was earning more money, things were finally moving into place!
Now we’re in 2019, this year personal life wise had some big shifts, I moved out of London, quit the freelance marketing job, went travelling around Europe, moved back into my parents house, so the first half of the year was spent Eat Pray Love gallivanting and not focusing on getting any work.
But when I came back from travelling and had a total of about 2 euros and a used metro ticket to my name, I thought its time to lock in.
And divine timing, the person who replaced my at the marketing job quit, so I slipped right back into my role, with a little pay rise too as now I was world travelled xoxo
So I got myself a new website, applied to agents, put my work out there and started booking more work.
I signed with my agent a month after getting back from travelling so now I was a signed artist, I moved back to London and hit the ground running.
In 2019 I earned £11,000 from illustration work, a mix of live events, project work and selling originals. So only a £3k increase but this was earned in half the time due to only working from June onwards.
So I was excited, momentum was growing, 11k in 6 months could be 22k in 12 months, so getting closer to earning a full time wage from my drawings alone, exciting! Can’t wait to see what next year brings!!
Then 2020 dropped…
I had a strong start to the year with bookings and enquiries but obviously after March they all cancelled.
So thankfully I had my marketing job which had now evolved into art direction, that took the pressure off earning from illustrations and also kept me busy.
So in 2020 I only earned £3500 from illustration work, but this was only from 3 jobs! So the average job value had jumped up to £1100.
Now we’re in 2021, masks were still on but enquiries were coming in, work was getting booked and it was happening!
Events starting reopening around August, I illustrated at a wedding, my first event in 18 months, I was excited, so in September I decided to quit my marketing job and give things a go as a full-time artist.
I finally did it, I’d quit my job and I was going to live my dreams…
Then 2 months later my old job contacted me, said my replacement had quit and they needed me for November and December, it felt like a trial run, I was oh so close!
But during 2021 I earned around £20,000 from illustration work, with only 2 months of the year being a ‘full-time illustrator’ which felt great because the momentum I’d built pre-covid wasn’t lost, it was just paused.
So £20,000 whilst mostly juggling another job, it felt like making a full wage from just my illustrations was doable, it wasn’t guaranteed to happen, but It was achievable!
So I gave myself a lil sink or swim moment and 2022 became the first full year I had as a full-time fashion illustrator, it was finally time to take the training wheels off and see what would happen…
Which I’ll go through in part 2 of this blog post!
I’ll share how much I earned during my first year as a full time fashion illustrator and a bit about what actually happened, as it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
But I wanted to share the build up with you guys as it was a journey for me, I didn’t leave uni and immediately make a full time wage.
I didn’t post up my work and everyone clamour to book me, it’s been a process of steady growth over a decent chunk of time. It’s taken 7 years to establish myself enough to go full time, so whilst I love a dramatic exit, I would have landed flat on my face if I’d tried quitting my job in 2017 when I was only earning £1500.
It can be frustrating, but build your illustration career whilst keeping a job that pays your bills, then once the illustration work picks up and your job starts getting in the way then thats a sign to quit.
And if you want to fast forward that process, then I share everything I do to get work and clients in my career masterclass, all these 7 years of trial and error have been condensed down into an 8 week course which also details everything ive learnt from the last 4 years being a full time fashion illustrator.
This is the only time the course is opening this year, if you’re wanting to learn what to put in your portfolio, how to create a website that works for you, how to pitch to clients, use instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, tikTok, how to create good content and grow your following, how to get an agent, how to price work and write contracts, it’s all covered!
Payment plans available It begins Monday, so make sure you grab your space before then, think of what you could achieve this year with a bit of guidance and mentoring!
