How Much I Earned In My First Year As A Full-Time Fashion Illustrator

Part 2 peeps!

So we already went through what I’d earned from illustration from 2015 - 2021 in last week’s blog post here.

2021 was my biggest year for illustration earning yet, taking around £20,000.

But there’s still quite a gap between my illustration earning and what I was needing to earn to stay afloat, London’s expensive…

Yet I decided to take the leap and go full-time as a Fashion Illustrator, 2022 was finally the year I could focus 100% on illustration, surely that £20,000 earned in 2021 could double now I have more time to spend on it… right… right?!

January 2022 begins, I know they are usually pretty quiet so I set myself some personal work projects to focus on, luckily the events I did in November and December last year earned enough that I have financial padding to get through a dry January.

February rolls around, one or two small projects come in, but nothing to make a dent in my rent. I think fine, January and February are quiet, what I earned in December and my savings can see me through the first few months without earning much, so I’m not panicking, yet.

March comes, my agent contacts me that there’s been an enquiry from Louis Vuitton, I’m over the moon, finally some work coming in but also for one of the biggest luxury brands in the world, this is it! This is my moment.

So I did an event for LV in March, it went well, they have me back a few weeks later for a Mother’s Day event. 2 jobs book for a massive brand in March, careers now in bag, we’re gonna be golden right?

April I got covid, so spent a week on the sofa, then no other work really came in…

May appears, other than the 2 jobs booked with Louis Vuitton I hadn’t really done anything else… my savings were dried up, I was beginning to panic, also… slightly self inflicted because I never budget or tame my spending to what I’m earning, so my spending was far outpacing my earnings and I was running out of money fast.

So in May I had to withdraw the money I’d put into my Lifetime ISA. The year before when I was doing both my freelance job and had a lot of illustration work coming in I started putting money into one for a house deposit, but that had to come straight back out as I needed it for rent.

One or two more events came in over May and June but what was going out was still outpacing what was coming in… so I started getting worried, maybe I made a mistake, maybe I wasn’t actually ready to go full-time.

The world still wasn’t fully out of lockdown, had I messed up? Every little money pot I had was running dry and I felt like I was humouring myself or something.

The entire first half of the year had gone by and I’d earned about £10k, which if that was extra money alongside my freelance job, brilliant, fantastic, lovely jubbly, but £1,666 a month wasn’t going very far.

I was feeling a bit defeated, worried about money, worried I had misread the situation, maybe I wasn’t good enough to do this full-time or maybe I wasn’t meant to…

But then July 2022 arrived.

I had been planning a new course for a while, thinking July was going to be as quiet as any of the other months, I decided to release an art course to try and bring in some casharoo.

So I was working on that when I got an enquiry from Winsor & Newton, they wanted me to create 10 tutorial videos for their website and socials. I priced that job up and realised this wasn’t a small project, but the biggest thing I’d ever booked.

So a job had come in to save the day! That will cover a few months rent and keep me afloat.

And then Louis Vuitton emailed again and wanted me back for an event, OK fab, winsor and newton project, Louis Vuitton again, got a little more of a financial safety blanket to get me through a second wind.

Then other events started coming in, Delvaux wanted to bring me to Antwerp to live illustrate for them.

Then one Friday afternoon I was playing Mario and my phone chimed, I saw the word ‘DIOR’ and freaked out.

Dior had contacted me about a project they wanted me to work on.

Things were looking up!

So July was busy, I was working on the project for Winsor & Newton, promoting my art course, doing events, went to Antwerp, worked on the Dior project, a busy lil bee.

I remember I was illustrating at Louis Vuitton when my phone chimed telling me I’d sold out my art course, that was a lil pinch me moment.

So after 6 months of not earning enough to keep me afloat, July had given me my biggest month ever, I’d somehow managed to earn £16,000 in a month.

I had to double check my figures, how was that even possible… but it came just at the right time and it was enough to kick any self doubt and remember that this is what I’m meant to be doing, remember who you are Simba.

I had a rough start and was questioning my decision to go full time but this was proof it was the right decision, surely!

So August, September October rolled around, I was booking work with more brands, Givenchy, Tiffany & Co, my Instagram was popping off, I gained 10,000 followers in a week, basically living my dream!

Things were consistent, enough was coming in, November and December were busy with Christmas events and I ended 2022 on a high!

If I’d given up after the first few months, I don’t think any of that would have happened, so it wasn’t the start to being a full time illustrator I imagined, having the first 6 months be my business essentially running at a loss. But it did pay off in the end!

So what did I actually end up earning in 2022, my first full time year as a Fashion Illustrator?

In 2021 I’d earned £20,000 from illustration, and the average UK salary in 2022 was £33,000, so after a quiet first 6 months I’d be lucky to make £30/35k, but in 2022 I actually ended up earning just over £52,000 from illustration work.

So whilst it was risky, no income was guaranteed and the career was a bit touch and go for the first 6 months, I actually managed to earn nearly double what I was earning at my 9-5.

So when people say art doesn’t pay the bills, don’t do it as a career, they’re not exactly correct! It’s just a career that you have to build brick by brick rather than having a salary promised to you each year.

It took 7 years between graduating from uni to going full time as a Fashion Illustrator, so in that time I developed my style, tried out lots of different kinds of work and see which type of projects I want to focus on, built up clients, grew a following and carved out a tiny bit of a name for myself.

But I knew it was time to go full-time because I used to spend so much time at my 9-5 job calculating what I was earning from art and seeing how I could make it stretch to cover my salary, fantasising about making it happen.

But after a while I realised the art was never going to overtake the 9-5 because I was limited with time and energy due to the other job.

So with a few months worth of savings and all the excitement of a lil puppy, I decided to take the leap.

And I’m very lucky it paid off!

Now looking back I see what I could have done during that time to make the first 6 months of the year go smoother, I’ve not had the same issues for the past 3 years, so you adapt and learn!

But there is a certain amount of just consistency and showing up that is needed with creative careers, you can’t control everything you just have to make sure you’re doing what you can.

And if you want to learn step by step everything I’ve been doing and still do to get work coming in, this weekend is your last chance to join my How To Become A Fashion Illustrator Masterclass.

We go through everything from understanding what income streams are available, spelling out your career goals, making your website work for you, which social media platforms are worth your time, how to create content that gets you work, contracts, agents, pricing, life as a freelancer, everything!

We’ll even do a instagram review and website review together on Zoom, so if you’re wanting to make this the year you back yourself and fight to make your dreams a reality, then come join!

Click here to sign up for the Career Masterclass

The online course begins Monday 16th March, is super flexible and ideally requires around 2-3 hours a week.