What I Learned In My First Year as a Freelance Artist

2013 was my first year working as a freelance artist, and so far things are going really, really well. Sometimes, when I'm working on a commission, I stop and think, holy cow, this is actually happening. I am actually doing this! It's very thrilling. The other day I actually said, in complete sincerity, "When is the weekend going to be over? I want it to be Monday again so I can get back to work!"

Next year, I'm looking forward to the experience of seeing my work in bookstores.

Winning the SCBWI Student Illustrator Scholarship this year was my "big break" that set off a very positive chain of events, such as signing with an agency, attending the SCBWI Conference, and working with publishers. And the crazy thing is, I almost didn't apply for the scholarship. As I wrote on this blog:

When I applied, I remember telling my husband, "yeah, there's no way I'm going to win this." "Then why are you applying?" he asked. I said something like, "I dunno, I guess it's just good to put myself out there as much as possible. And it's free to apply, so."

Looking back, I shudder to think of what I could have missed out on had I just let that application deadline slip by. Yikes.

So the thing I learned this year is: enter the contest!

Whatever it is you hesitate to do - a contest you're intimidated to enter, a publisher you're afraid to contact, a magazine you're worried will reject you - do it anyway.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Are You Good Enough?

"Rather than asking yourself 'am I good enough?' the question you should be asking is 'am I willing to work hard enough?'"
-Will Terry, illustrator

Will Terry and Chris Oatley put together an invaluable podcast addressing the topic of "Are you Good Enough?" (To be a professional artist.) I highly recommend listening to it, this thing is a goldmine of professional advice for aspiring artists and students.

Merry Christmas

Here's a little four-fold Christmas card that I made last year at school. Finally rabbits have their rightful place at the nativity!

You Should Be Drawing Now

Look at this amazing, amazing illustration by Chuck Groenick. If I had my dream art studio, I would hang a large version of this print on the wall, the rabbit peering at me critically with his little eye. Yes, I should be drawing now, Rabbit, you are right!

On working for pure royalties

If you advertise yourself as a freelance illustrator, it won't take long before someone wants you to draw something for them on a purely royalty basis. As in, they'll pay you part of the profits once their product starts selling. I've received a few of these emails myself. It's really flattering and exciting the first time someone new asks you to create art for their project, but working purely for royalties is no good. Here's why:

Someone who isn't willing to invest any money in their project isn't very committed to it. They are literally and figuratively not invested in it, so there's a high probability that they'll never finish the project. People will gush about how their project is special and promising and a guaranteed bestseller, but they're not putting their money where their mouth is.

Someone who promises royalties "once the book is published" doesn't know anything about publishing. Most people think that the first step in getting published is to find someone to illustrate their book - but no, that's the publisher's job. So if someone promises that you'll get paid once the book is published, they haven't done any research into getting published - another sign that they're not serious about their project.

Someone who promises royalties on a self-published book is not promising much. It's a sobering reality that self-published books generally just don't sell well. According to a 2011 survey, half of self-published authors earn less than $500 per year.

Even if the project is completed, it's hard to get someone to pay you money on a repeating basis. Once you've delivered your illustrations, you're depending on this person to be honest about how much money they're making and to send you your cut. But all the cards are in the other person's hand - they have the illustrated product, they have the sales numbers, they're making money - outside of basic human decency, they don't have much motivation to remember to pay you. If you've signed a contract (which of course you should have), then you have legal grounds to sue them if they don't pay. But really, do you want to go through the trouble and expense of suing somebody? Will the royalties even be worth that much?

Next time someone asks you to work on the promise of future royalties, "exposure" or "experience," just respond, "Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I don't work on a purely royalty basis."

Newborn baby portrait

I've had a rush of holiday orders in my Etsy shop. Here's a pencil portrait that I completed this week.

This photograph was perfect portrait material - large, clear, good lighting and it even had a white background! The subject came to life - sleepy, sleepy life - very quickly and easily. I rushed it off to the post office today, so it will arrive in plenty of time for Christmas. The customer is giving it to her parents!

Self-Portrait in lines

Here's a self-portrait I did, in a digital pen-and-ink style.

ArtOrder Inspiration Challenge

Some awesome news - the piece above was a winner of the ArtOrder Inspiration challenge! If you don't know, John Schindehette runs regular art challenges at his blog, the ArtOrder. The Inspiration one was special because he plans to make the winning pieces into a printed art book, which will be sold through a Kickstarter and the profits divided among the artists. It's a pretty neat idea. You can view the winners here, and see the full gallery of entries here.