Mistakes I’ve Made During 10 Years Of Live Event Illustration
I fell into live event illustration over 13 years ago when I replied to a random Twitter call out, and since then I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the biggest brands in the fashion industry, travelled to various countries to illustrate live and to make a living from doing it.
But you don’t get this long in the tooth without making a few mistakes.
Mistakes are normal, they’re learning experiences, no-one starts a job and is 100% perfect from the get go, so don’t put that pressure on yourself.
It’s how you deal with mistakes and if you choose to keep making the same ones!
So let’s get onto a few of mine…
Not taking a break - manage yourself
I’m awful for this because I like to just get things done, but if you’re doing an 8 hour event then you really should take a break… the longest I did was 10 hours without a break, I don’t even think I stood up in that time.
It’s not good for you and you’ll feel it the next day, so take a break every few hours, also a lot of the time you’ll have to advocate for yourself, staff or clients won’t check you’re taking a break every event, so make sure you’re proactive in taking one, especially when there’s a lull in traffic, use it!
Saying yes to everyone and everything
I’m a chronic people pleaser, so if someone comes up to me with photos of their dog, cat and new born baby that they want incorporated into their wedding photo but can I please add in the Eiffel Tower in the background as they honeymooned in Paris… I’m probably gonna say yes.
This isn’t smart, I’m not proud of it, but I’m working on it!
If you say yes to someone with a request like that, and someone else see’s their drawing, you’re just opening yourself up for more and more ridiculous requests.
So try and be strict with what you say yes to, because if you say yes to one, you’ll have to say yes to all.
Oversubscribing
This is back to the people pleasing thing, if someone wants a drawing and asks me, I’m gonna say yes… even if that means staying back an extra 30 mins to an hour each event. But again, this isn’t smart.
It just makes you stressed and feel like you’re never making progress. So estimate how many people you can draw in the remaining time and learn to say no once you’ve reached the limit, typing this more to myself than anyone else.
Not getting written confirmation
An event I did had loads of people attending, far more than I could draw in the timeframe, so I took photos of everyone and went over to the client and agreed that I would do the rest at my studio and drop them in, all good!
However it was a verbal agreement, so I did my end of the bargain and did the drawings, handed them over, but the person I agreed this with left the company soon after and so there was no paper trail for the extra illustrations, and that invoice never got paid! So always get things confirmed in an email.
Not getting a deposit
Very rarely do we ask for deposits when working with brands, but when it gets to a busy time of year and you have multiple brands enquiring for the same dates, it’s best to.
We booked a job in for a specific date, about 2 months pre event, a few other enquiries came in, turned them down, then the event we booked ended up getting cancelled close to the event date, so we ended up with nada! So next time we worked with them we defo asked for a deposit.
Not checking materials before hand
Numerous times the client has said they’ll take care of the paper, or they’ve got paper I can use, but when you get there, the papers unsuitable.
I’ve had paper that was so thin it was like tissue paper, had paper that had a coating on it, so the ink didn’t dry and markers smudged everything. So always bring back up paper in case and ideally try and get the client to send you a sample pre event to double check.
Double and triple check your supplies
I’m a last minute kind of guy, no matter how much I prepare they’ll always be something that pops up that’ll make me rush around to leave on time.
This has led to me forgetting some crucial art supplies because I didn’t set aside enough time to double check.
I’ve gotten to events and realised I didn’t have a pencil, so had to do the whole event working directly in pen, I’ve forgotten an eraser, which meant I could only use minimal pencil otherwise it would smudge when colouring. Crucial colours have ran out because I didn’t check my markers, so always check them the night before!
Not being more adamant with what I needed
So many times I’ve gotten to an event to be shown the tiniest table known to man or a seat so low I gotta reach up to touch the ground (wheeyyy cheeky Anastacia lyric chucked in) but the set up you have as an event illustrator is so crucial.
It’s amazing what difference something can make, I’ve had an event where the table was a coffee table and the chair was a high stall, so I couldn’t lean on the table, and had to hold my paper with one hand and try to uncap my pens and draw with the other hand, slowed me right down.
So just be adamant on what you need to do a good job, tiny tables mean you can’t lay your art supplies out, low chairs mean you can’t see your drawing properly, it all has a knock on effect.
Forgetting I’m the expert
This sounds arrogant but if you do something for a job, you know a little about it, hopefully. Most people dont know about things or won’t think of the things you think of, so there’s nothing wrong with telling people if something is do able or not.
I’ve had event managers pitch the idea of me walking around person to person and doing someones illustration, asked if I can do 20 portraits In an hour, asked if I could draw in a completely different style.
Clients dont know your job like you do, there’s nothing wrong with you telling them what is doable and what isn’t, they have no clue so its up to you to inform them otherwise they’ll never know.
So don’t take someones unreasonable expectations as a ‘I need to say yes or I’ll lose the job’
Just message them back and say ‘this is how it’s usually done’. You’re the expert, so tell them what you know and work out a way of meeting in the middle.
Posting up about it
I worked for a client, posted about it on socials with my usual sarky caption, and it somehow got back to the client and I was asked to take it down… I thought I’d burned that bridge for good but turns out it was all fine!
But just be careful with your wording when posting things that involve clients, you’re still representing their brand if you’re publicly post about working with them, so just a lil less on the sarcasm Scottie.
And that’s a few of the mistakes I’ve made!
If you’re wanting to fast forward your live illustration progress then there’s 1 space left on my live event masterclass.
Over 8 week’s we’ll hone and improve your skills, get you prepared for live events and develop your own unique work!
Course starts 13th April and ideally requires around 4 hours a week
Looking forward to meet the next round of illustrators!
