In June 2024 I gave a talk at the Birmingham Design Festival entitled ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Illustration‘. It was a real pleasure to talk at the festival which has quickly grown into an essential fixture in the UK creative industry calendar.
The theme of the 2024 festival was ‘Process’ so I talked a little about my creative process, but I mainly focussed on my process of building a career as a freelance illustrator over the past 14 years. I covered a lot of ground that is mentioned in my blog post ‘Getting Started as a Freelance Illustrator‘ as well as a few other things I’ve learnt along the way.
These wonderful illustrated notes by Pheeb Robinson sum up a lot of what I talked about:
The talk gave me an opportunity to recap on my freelance career so far and think about some of the milestones. There’s definitely a few key pieces in my portfolio that have directly led to more commissions.
One example is this illustrated map of British Myths and Legends. I created this map as a personal project over the course of a few weeks, thinking it would be a nice print to sell in my Etsy shop.
A few months later I then received a call from a design agency looking for an illustrator for a new project for Sherwood Forest. They’d seen my little Robin Hood character and wanted to create a whole suite of illustrations for the new Sherwood visitor centre. A real dream commission!
Working on personal projects gives you freedom and time to experiment. The passion that you put into your personal work shines through, and can be recognised by Art Directors wanting to commission more work in your style.
When you combine your style with an illustration specialism, this is how you create your own USP – unique selling point. Your USP helps you stand out, makes you easier to find and be more memorable. All very useful things when trying to build a freelance business.
Expectation vs. Reality
When I originally started out on my freelance journey I thought work would look a little something like this graph:
I had the misconception that once you’d established yourself early on and got a few commissions in, the work would just continue to flow and your income would steadily increase.
In reality the amount of work and income I was generating was much more sporadic:
One month could be very busy and the next could be tumbleweed. A big part of being freelance is learning to roll with the punches – sometimes commissions you’d pinned your next month’s income on can mysteriously disappear, and then the next week a dream job can then just arrive in your email inbox without any warning.
Building a savings safety net and squirrelling away funds for the quieter periods are methods I’ve found help to keep anxiety at bay.
Finding connections
Another successful method to try and combat any feelings of worry or isolation you might feel as a solo freelancer is to connect with your local creative scene. See fellow freelancers as colleagues, not competitors, and get to know people who are in the same boat.
Building relationships with more experienced illustrators can also help, and cements the notion that a freelance career can be a life-long journey.
If you’re in the Birmingham area make sure to check out Picnic illustration meet-ups. Picnic is a meet-up event for illustrators in the West Midlands, UK, organised in partnership with the AOI. The AOI also help organise meet-ups across the country so make sure to take a look and connect with fellow creatives.
If you have any questions about anything I spoke about or you’re looking for a speaker, feel free to get in touch.