How to Start Your Illustration Career
One of the most frequent questions I am asked by aspiring creators is how do I start?
Let’s start with the basics!
What is an Illustrator?
An illustrator is a commercial artist who creates work to communicate ideas to an audience, often alongside text. You’ll typically see this work in books, magazines, ads, websites, and products.
This is a little different from fine art, which doesn’t necessarily need to communicate an idea and can just exist for its own sake or to evoke a certain feeling or aesthetic. Illustration is more functional, usually for commercial purposes—it’s about using art to tell stories, explain concepts, or sell a product.
The world of illustration is vast, with different branches that offer plenty of opportunities. Some of these include:
Publishing: Picture books, board books, YA covers, graphic novels, nonfiction.
Product Design: Textiles, greeting cards, postcards, and stationery.
Communication Design: Infographics, diagrams, and other types of informational art.
Scientific Illustration: Textbooks and journals where clarity is key.
Editorial: Magazines, newspapers, blog illustrations, and more.
Animation/Video Games: Character design, background art, and concept work for animated films or games.
As an illustrator, you don’t have to limit yourself to one of these categories! If your portfolio is flexible enough, you can work across multiple industries. I’ve worked in all of these areas, except for scientific illustration (which requires a specialized background in science). However, it’s better to focus on your attention on one at first…
Choosing Your Focus
When starting out, I know a lot of illustrators will be confused on which path to focus on, or end up saying, “I’ll do anything—children’s books, editorial, stationery…” as long as I’m working on something!
At first, it feels exciting to be open to all possibilities and you want to try everything, or you feel desperate and want to take what you can get. But here’s the thing: being too general can sometimes hurt you. It might look like you don’t have a clear direction or focus, and clients might get confused about what exactly you specialize in.
I went through this myself. I spent time trying different things, and it wasn’t until I really honed in on children’s illustration that I started to see traction. I realized that my portfolio needed to reflect my specific interests, so that’s when I started to focus on projects I was passionate about, like kids' books and character design.
If you’re just starting, try narrowing down your focus a bit. Maybe start with one or two areas that excite you most, and tailor your portfolio toward that. You can always expand later, but having a focused portfolio helps clients understand your strengths.
Work on your Foundation
I’m going to be teaching you plenty of tips and tricks today, but the hard truth is, they don’t mean anything if your skills aren’t at a commercial level yet. You need to make sure you have art skills that you are proud of and are at an industry level before you start reaching out to clients. If you feel like you aren’t there yet, the good thing is, you can improve! No artist was born with perfect skills; it’s through hard work, persistence, and practice that we develop our skills.
1) Before anything else, work on your fundamentals:
Color & Light
Form
Perspective
Anatomy
Composition
2) After that, work on your craft. Whatever medium you choose to work in (digital, oil, gouache, color pencils etc), become an expert at it.
3) Then lastly, develop your personal style and create pieces you are proud of.
When I was first starting out, I was having a lot of trouble finding work and getting replies back to my submissions, even when I was following all the right steps. I eventually took a step back and realized it was more of a portfolio issue, and that I needed to spend some time improving my art. reworked my portfolio by adding a bunch of new pieces, and that ended up being the solution to overcoming that initial hurdle and it became a bit easier finding jobs.
Building Your Portfolio
As a freelance artist, your portfolio is everything. It is a collection and representative of all of your best work.
Your portfolio is your first impression to prospective clients, and it should speak for you.
Quality is more important than quantity. Early on, I made the mistake of including too much in my portfolio, including things that weren’t relative. It was a mix of all kinds of work that didn’t necessarily fit together. But the moment I started to curate and only include the pieces I was truly proud of, my portfolio started working for me.
A lot of new illustrators think they have to show everything they can do, but that’s not the case. Your portfolio should reflect the kind of work you want to get hired for, not just everything you’ve ever done. I talk more about portfolio’s in this post!
Getting Your First Gig
Freelancing isn’t like a 9-to-5 job where you have a consistent income and stream of work handed to you—it’s a hustle. It’s about putting in the effort to actively find clients and projects, especially when you're starting out (although this work never truly ends!). For the first few years, I was constantly submitting my work, emailing potential clients, and networking at every chance I got to build my client base.
One day you’ll reach a point where clients will line up to come to your lazy butt and you won’t have to lift a finger to find work. But right now you have to work for it and go to THEM.
In terms of finding clients, there are several ways to go about it:
Social Media
Submissions
Cold Emailing
In-Person Networking
Self Promo
Conventions
We are going to focus on submissions in this post!
Building Your Client Base
Step 1: Create a Spreadsheet
The first step is to create a spreadsheet—this is a key tool for keeping track of your outreach efforts. I prefer using Notion because it allows me to continuously update and organize my contacts.
Your spreadsheet should include all the relevant details of the people or companies you want to work with, such as the company name, the art director’s name, and their contact information. You can also add columns for when you first contacted them, whether they responded, and whether you ended up working with them or not. This will help you stay organized and keep track of your follow-ups.
If you're looking for a template to get started, you can download this free Client Tracking spread sheet!
Step 2: Fill Your Spreadsheet with Contacts
Depending on the type of work you're aiming for, you’ll want to research potential companies and individuals that align with your style and interests.
Depending on the industry you are interested in, you can look at magazines, publishers, studios, greeting card companies—basically, any company that could benefit from your style of illustration. While you might want to shoot high, don’t limit yourself to just big-name companies like Hallmark or The New Yorker. There are plenty of smaller, niche publications and businesses that are great opportunities. In fact, many of these might be less competitive and more open to fresh talent. I highly encourage you to reach out to local businesses as well.
Focus on companies and projects where your art style would be a good fit. It’s better to be selective than to waste time submitting to places where your style doesn’t match their aesthetic. That said, it’s not a hard rule—sometimes you may get an unexpected opportunity where your style does fit perfectly, even if it doesn’t seem like the usual match.
Step 3: Conduct Your Research
To find potential contacts, the easiest method is to simply Google! Search terms like "magazine illustration submission" will quickly bring up lists of places accepting submissions. Pay attention to the kinds of projects your peers and fellow artists have worked on, as this can give you valuable insight into whether a company might be hiring for similar work.
You can also do market research while out shopping. If you come across an illustrated product—be it a toy, puzzle, or book—that catches your eye, make a note of the company name. Later, you can look up the company’s website to see if they have any open submission opportunities.
Many of the websites you find will have a dedicated submissions page. While it might take a little digging, most websites will have a Contact, Careers, or Submissions link at the bottom of their homepage. Don’t be afraid to scroll and search around for it. Once you find the submissions page, you can find the details on how to submit your work or inquire about opportunities.
Dealing with Rejection
Rejection is tough. I’m not going to lie, it really hurts. But every illustrator goes through it; the important thing is not to take it personally. There are tons of reasons why a client might not choose you, and most of the time, it’s just not the right fit for the project at that time.
The best thing you can do is keep going. Work on your portfolio, and try again in a few months.
Stay on their radar. A polite follow-up after a few months with new work or an updated portfolio shows that you’re actively working and improving.
I hope this guide gives you a bit of insight into how I found work as an illustrator. Remember, the journey is different for everyone, and the key is consistency. Keep improving, stay organized, and be persistent. You’ll get there!
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