What programs do modern illustrators use? Are there any courses for illustrators, and how effective are they? Where to get real projects

Instagram, after all, is a great power! You can’t even imagine how much talent I found there! Although you will gradually begin to imagine, because with all your most outstanding discoveries I will definitely share with you, my dear readers!

So, another amazing find - Oksana Baturina! Oksana draws very cool things and posts them on her Instagram not only the drawings themselves, but also the process of creating them. And in these videos I just get stuck and can’t tear myself away. For one thing, you can also spy on the equipment. And the technology is cool! I have been observing Oksana’s works for a long time, I see how her style is transformed, how the skill of composition and conveying mood is honed. How she tells the STORY in pictures more and more coolly. Oksana is one of the few artists who never stops there. Every new project– a kind of new challenge, another step up to the professionalism of the highest brand.

Well, you know, if I like someone, I will definitely get him (her) and ask for an interview. I’m really interested in finding out who is hiding behind such cool works. And then be sure to tell YOU. So meet Oksana Baturina.

1 – Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you born, where do you live, when did you start drawing, and what does drawing mean to you?

I am a frog - a traveler! I was invented in Volgograd, born in Neryungri, raised and raised in Kirovograd and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, then finally released, and here I am in St. Petersburg since 1999! I have always wondered how people feel who have lived in the same city all their lives!
Creativity has been with me in one way or another since the very beginning. early childhood. I remember my father bringing home all sorts of sabers and blades and minted patterns on them directly with his hands and some kind of chisel. And I watched the shavings, they curled so fascinatingly in the process...
I think I draw for a reason!))

2 – Do you have an artistic education, and do you consider its presence necessary for successful career illustrator.
Higher art education I don’t have it, just genes and thinness. school. Nowadays you can find so many interesting things on the Internet! I think when great desire Self-education is enough!

3 – How did it all start? How did you become an illustrator? How did your first project come to you? What was it?
It all started with animation. In 2002, I accidentally saw an advertisement in the newspaper and went to an animation course at the Melnitsa studio, after which I worked on the Dwarf Nose project. She miraculously combined all this with studying at a “full-time” institute. I thought I would be a psychologist, haha! At the studio I met my future husband, who illustrated children's books in his spare time. Once he trusted me too. I liked it so much that I decided to take it seriously. True, I didn’t know at all where to look for work or how it all happened. I made a portfolio, compiled a list of children's publishers in St. Petersburg and began to walk around without an invitation, out of the blue. And lucky! At the Azbuka publishing house, they first gave me a test task, and then immediately a whole series of Moomins!

4 – I have been following your professional growth for a long time. I remember your book about the Owl. There were absolutely stunning illustrations. Tell us a little about her. For whom? Where can I buy it? How did you draw it?
A few years ago I posted a folder with my illustrations on FB. One of the pictures became very popular and went for a walk on the Internet. And then one day he wrote to me completely stranger, writer-translator from Iran Erfan Mojib, told how this picture impressed and inspired him to write a whole story about a girl who was often left at home alone, got bored and came up with interesting activity. Imagine how nice it is when your creativity inspires! Of course I illustrated this cute story. Thus was born our first independent book, “My Notebook is Too Small!” True, it turned out that attaching a book is much more difficult than drawing it. The first edition was published in China! I hope that very soon the book will be published in St. Petersburg, the process is underway!

Then Erfan and I created a second book. This is a story about an owl who paid too much attention to little things, tried to correct what he considered imperfect, but this did not make him happy. I worked in mixed media: first I painted watercolor details, then I combined everything and processed it in Photoshop. I look forward to the book being published by the St. Petersburg publishing house!

5 – Then there was a whole epic with hens and roosters. Where did this idea come from? Why cockerels?
The cockerels appeared immediately after one very valuable and useful master class by the wonderful artist Svetlana Rumak. Or rather, one cockerel, very successful! And then I remembered that the year of the rooster was approaching and away we go! The idea came to make a deck of cards with roosters. And since there are 12 characters in the deck, all this successfully turned into a calendar. In general, everything coincided! The master class turned out to be so cool that after it I stopped being afraid of paper and paints! I stopped thinking that everything should be perfect, you can’t make a mistake. Now I know for sure: the worse, the better! The crooked, the livelier!

And there was also an original cartoon! In 2014, my husband and I received a small grant to create a cartoon. Animation is a labor-intensive process!
It took 7 months to create just 4 minutes and one neck suffered, mine! 🙂 The work schedule was very tight, because in the case of a grant, strict reporting is required! During the day all I could do was eat and get back to work! No walks, meetings, extraneous affairs, nothing! I did both backgrounds and animation. I drew the backgrounds in Photoshop, did the animation on tracing paper, scanned and painted in Photoshop. Then the cartoon traveled a bit to festivals. We didn’t receive any prizes, but we weren’t upset!)) Good reviews are more important! The cartoon turned out to be very touching and cute. Honestly! You can watch it on the Internet, it’s called “Ticket”.

6 – There were also absolutely touching dogs in suits. And then, in my opinion, some kind of breakthrough or shift occurred, and you went to create absolutely crazy illustrations with clowns. Something like a graphic novel or a very cool comic book. Please tell us more about this project. How did you create these illustrations? What materials and techniques did you use? Where did the idea come from? Will we see this book in print?

I drew dogs to order for the Textile House “Aletto” for the upcoming New Year of the Dog. Dog pillows can be purchased on their website.

So we got to the main project! Now I'm illustrating unusual story about a clown, about the Circus of Evil Freaks, about a cemetery and the dead. But the main thing is a story about love! About teenage trembling first love, when the heart beats faster just from a glance, from a light accidental touch. When you have butterflies in your stomach... The story was invented by St. Petersburg writer Anton Soya, a great romantic, in my opinion. All his books, even the creepiest ones, are about love in one way or another. I do all illustrations exclusively on paper, Whatman paper A3 format. I paint with acrylics and finish them with pencils. I often use stencils and cut them out of whatman paper. I rub, splash, scratch, etc., I abuse the paper and brushes in every possible way. Thanks to this story, I discovered unexpected passions in myself. It turned out that I like to draw comics, something dark, scary, mystical! The book will definitely be published, but it’s too early to talk about the timing. I still need to finish the drawing!)

8 – I see that you are working very hard interesting projects. Do you have a dream project? What else do you really, really want to illustrate? Or maybe write it yourself and illustrate it?
Dream project... never thought about it... I can draw great right now)) Well, maybe I would like to make a big comic someday. We need to plan!

9 – What is the easiest thing for you in creating your work, and what is the most difficult?
The easiest thing for me is to see the very first image of a book or illustration when I just read the text or heard the story. I immediately see the big picture and really don’t like the details. I may miss an important point in the description of something. One day I read a review of my Moomins. Someone very attentive noticed that I did not draw tassels on the tails of the Mumiks. Can you imagine, I deprived the characters important detail!
The hardest part is the storyboard! Often there are many moments in the text that you want to draw, but the spread is not rubbery! You have to twist and turn and twist for a long time to sacrifice something.

10 – How do you work? I mean when and where. What's your schedule? What inspires you, and what, on the contrary, kills any desire for creativity?

I work from home somewhere from 11-00 to 20-00. I drink a cup of tea, turn on a familiar movie for the background, clean up the table and begin. Either invent it or just draw it. I like to make a picture in one day. If you have to leave it until tomorrow, then everything itches! Or dreaming.
The hardest day is when there is no idea. The paper gets spoiled in vain, and there is a feeling of wasted time! I don't like this!
The best part is that when the main content of the picture is already there, you can turn off your head and tweet with pencils. I love this!
In the evening I clean up the resulting highly artistic trash... I dream of a studio.

12 – What advice would you give to aspiring illustrators?
I advise you to watch more and learn from others. Do not be afraid that you will copy or steal. Will not work! You still have to try! But you can fill your attic good ideas, which you will rethink and make cooler! I advise you not to waste time on doubts, on “I can’t draw”! This is trending now, by the way! Well, I’d advise you to immediately come up with a project for yourself, even if you just want to draw a vase. #coloredvases #365vases #vasesspb #catsinvases #adventures of a bluevase, etc.
This will stimulate you and will not allow you to stop at one. And that’s what you need! Instagram to the rescue!

13 – Who are your idols? Who do you focus on in your creativity?
Idol is such a word... it’s probably when you like everything about someone unconditionally. I like some of the illustrations by some of the artists. A lot of them.
I consider Igor Oleinikov a genius of children's illustration! Vladimir Zarubin is magnificent! Svetlana Rumak, of course, is inimitable! Lev Bakst and his mind-blowing theatrical graphics! And more, more...

P.S. I used to think that interviews were conducted with those who already knew how to do everything. Nothing like this! Now I’ll finish writing and move on to study something else, spy, invent, invent...

I hope you found it interesting and useful. Why else would I chase talented illustrators all over the Internet and ask them to talk about their lives and work? Yes, to motivate all those who believe that nothing will work out for them and there is no chance. You see, everyone started somewhere, and somehow people succeed. Everyone shares a grain of their experience and path, and perhaps all these interviews will form YOUR picture in your head, just as you can reach your dreams. It is not the gods who burn the pots. AND WE ARE WITH YOU :))))

Repost, as always, is welcome! Let's share beauty and good mood!

Difficulty level: Not easy

1 step

First, let's determine whether we have talent, or at least minimal ability to draw. Draw 5 – 10 drawings on free themes. Take books, come up with customers and create. It is important to objectively evaluate the work. For this purpose, external assessment often helps. It is very difficult to evaluate yourself objectively. It is true that it is desirable that the assessment is not given by relatives or friends. They may well exaggerate your abilities for fear of offending you. In general, the Internet can help.

Step 2

Decide on the technique in which you are going to perform your work. It’s better to do this at the beginning of your journey; as customers appear, they will expect something specific from you.
We must take into account that technology is not only a pencil...
you can also do:
- illustration from plasticine;
- paper illustration;
- illustration using homemade dolls;
- embroidery on fabric or paper;
- collage;
- inlay with straws;
- works in ink, watercolor, acrylic, pencils;
- illustrations in computer programs like Photoshop, Painter or Illustrator;
- illustrations using mixed media– drawing, collage and computer post-processing.

Try yourself in all the techniques in order to determine what is really yours.

Step 3

Your style should be original and not like everyone else. Surprise the world.
By the way, it would be good to define the target audience...Who are we drawing for? After all, pictures for science fiction magazines are somewhat different from pictures for a children's book.

Step 4

And now you already have a bunch of drawings, not bad at all. You are savvy and experienced in the field of drawing, but... is something missing? Yes. Where to look for clients?
You can do this actively or passively. During an active search, we create a portfolio and send it to publishing houses and magazines, agencies with which we would like to work. None returned? Don’t be discouraged... we sit down and redo, redo, redo... the main thing is to work on yourself. Although it is important to believe that it is your technique and your way of thinking that will be necessary and in demand.
Passively - we simply create a portfolio on some website, forum or blog... and wait... Needless to say, this method is less effective?

About where to start if you want to become an illustrator.

What is the job of an illustrator

Illustrators are needed in a wide range of industries from advertising to book publishing. Behind last years this profession has become very competitive, but there is always the possibility that you will be able to offer something completely new and unique.

To better understand what being an illustrator is like, study different job offers to understand what your future clients expect from you. Websites with vacancies or portals like Dribbble and Linkedin.

There are no strict rules on how to become an illustrator, it all starts with finding your focus - what interests you most. Explore different kinds illustrations, try yourself in different directions: in drawing with living materials and in digital graphics, in the depiction of plants in the style of botanical illustration or stylized fashion illustration, in sketches, comics, in creation and animation vector images. As a rule, illustrators work alone: often there will be no one to motivate you, and you will have to cultivate confidence in yourself and your abilities, grow and move forward on your own. Therefore, it is important to choose exactly the direction that attracts you most, so that there are no problems with motivation.

There are many directions in illustration:

Web design;
development of brand books (logos, corporate identity);
fashion illustration;
motion design;
stock illustrations;
sketching;
Interior design;

and many others. Take a look for yourself, this is a screenshot from the site fl.ru (review of work on the site):

You can cover several related areas at once and successfully combine them or concentrate on only one of them.

Get an education

The next important step when starting work is to gain specialized knowledge. To become a successful illustrator, you will need the following set of skills:

ability to think and express creative ideas;
drawing skills, both in traditional and digital environments;
familiarity with color palettes, patterns and visual textures;
knowledge of current trends in illustration and design;
Ability to understand customer needs and work to tight deadlines.

If you are still choosing your future profession, then you should think about enrolling in a specialized institute. Many agencies and clients expect an illustrator to have art-related qualifications. However, a considerable number of illustrators choose the path of self-study, because it is becoming more and more accessible, and now you can take several online courses and get the necessary base on them. If you are disciplined and can motivate yourself to learn on your own, choose intensive online courses (e.g. ), which provide a lot of practical knowledge in a short time.

Digital illustration toolkit

The right set of tools will not only optimize your workflow, but will also important role in your progress. The digital illustration toolkit can be divided into hardware and software.

Technical means

Can be equipped creative studio directly : All you need is a comfortable table, a chair and your computer. Even better - allocate for this separate room to better concentrate, or look for a coworking space. Most coworking spaces allow you to rent a desk in a shared space, allowing for socialization and interaction with like-minded people.

Ideal tools for working with digital illustration is a tablet and a reliable computer. A popular manufacturer of graphics tablets is Wacom . You can use them both to create digital drawings and to process hand-drawn ones.

Software

There are many software tools for digital illustrators, and the list is growing every day.

Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and FreeHand are a few programs you should be familiar with. Most graphics tablets and styluses will work well with these programs, replacing your computer's mouse with a digital drawing tool. The most popular analogues of the Adobe package are Krita, Paint.NET, GIMPShop, Inkscape, Gravit, Vectr, Vecteezy Editor.

Add-ons and plugins. If you plan to become a professional illustrator, you should learn the art of integrating third-party add-ons into your projects. This not only saves time, but also improves the quality of your work. You can find many options on the Internet - both paid and free. For example, there are many such add-ons on the Creative Market website.

My personal favorites include the “Gold Rush For Illustrator” plugin: this intuitive plugin allows you to add metallic glitter and foil effects to your design. It includes 218 Adobe Illustrator templates in gold, rose gold, copper, black and silver.

792 BRUSHES – ProBrush™ BUNDLE: With this plugin you will have access to 792 brushes - a professional set that is suitable for designers, illustrators and artists of any profile.

Online courses that may be useful

Illustration for beginners. Dive into book illustration

Books Every Illustrator Should Read

Life in pictures. Sven Nordqvist
Profession. Illustrator. Darrell Reese
Give yourself permission to create. Natalie Ratkowski
Profession: illustrator. Natalie Ratkowski
Show off your work! 10 ways to get noticed. Austin Kleon
Visual notes. An illustrated guide to sketchnoting. Mike Rowdy
I refuse to choose! Barbara Sher
It is high time! How to turn a dream into life, and life into a dream. Barbara Sher

Portfolio

Your portfolio is a showcase of your skills and potential. It’s not difficult to create one: there are many platforms for this, for example, Behance, Portfolios , as well as any freelance exchanges. It is more difficult to collect work for him. During the learning process, you will create a certain number of illustrations, but do not rush to add them all to your portfolio; select those that you consider the most successful, that best convey your professional level. If there are too few of them, then you can go the usual way: open any freelance exchange and see what illustrations customers need, what their expectations and requirements are.

Or you can create several projects yourself: illustrate your favorite book or movie, create fan art, draw several comics. This will help you not only create a portfolio, but also attract additional attention to it.

If you don’t have anything to post on your page yet, read

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Illustrators are artists who create original drawings for the design of Internet pages, printed materials, various symbols and paraphernalia. Today this direction is gaining unprecedented popularity. Due to this creative personalities begin to wonder how to become an illustrator, whether it is possible to achieve good results and how to move from amateur to professional level. Thanks to the development of information technology, an exciting direction has become accessible to everyone; you just need to choose the optimal approach and follow the plans.

It is necessary to acquire basic drawing skills or develop natural abilities. Despite the specifics of the direction, illustrators must initially be artists. Visit art school or specialized courses will allow you to choose and hone your technique and acquire new skills. You shouldn’t limit yourself to painting; you should get acquainted with the basics of sculpture, architecture, and pottery.
If you cannot attend serious classes, you should think about self-study. You cannot neglect theory; you need to read books, watch master classes and training videos.
Today it is difficult to find an illustrator who is not familiar with the most simple programs for working with graphic design. Not all of them necessarily draw using tablets, but such knowledge is necessary to refine illustrations, integrate them into photographs, and add texts.
You need to regularly review information about famous illustrators who have already achieved success in this area. You don't have to imitate their technique or try to copy their work. Such a hobby will expand your horizons and automate your skills. visual perception items. After some time, even an inexperienced artist will begin to see objects in a form in which they can be transferred to paper.
The illustration begins with a sketch. Even if an artist works with brushes or markers, he must be able to use a pen or pencil to lay out the basics of his drawing. Experts recommend that beginners keep a sketch book in which they can collect their ideas, good and not so good drawings, clippings, photographs with interesting subjects.

A professional illustrator is well aware of his weaknesses and strengths, so he will not take on work in an area in which he does not have sufficient specialization. It is necessary to decide in advance on the main direction; employers do not take seriously artists who claim that they can draw anything.
An illustrator who respects himself and his potential client should have a portfolio of his work. Even a quick look at a convenient device will give the employer the opportunity to evaluate the artist’s skill. It’s good if there are several portfolio options and they are divided according to the type of conveyance of different ideas.
You will have to spend a lot of time making a name for yourself. A few months of volunteer work will not bring in income, but it will allow you to make the necessary contacts and show your works to the general public.
You can take a big step forward by creating your own website. Interesting, unique and stylishly designed, it is sure to attract potential partners.
Don't be afraid of failures, everyone goes through them. You need to feel free to send your proposals to publishing houses, magazines, marketing companies, design studios.

Excerpt from the letter: "Natasha, I have to see you big question. It’s long overdue, but I couldn’t bring myself to write to you. I don't know why I feel so embarrassed to ask this. But, what would you advise a person who decided to develop professionally as an illustrator? If this person, that is me, has neither an artistic education nor experience as an illustrator (although I worked as a designer for about 5 years). And behind me there are only drawings in a notebook. What steps should you take to get started? I don’t have the opportunity to go to study now and won’t for the next 5 years. I can only draw and study myself. I do this, but I also feel insecure because I don’t know what to do next and in what sequence. I can’t even assess the seriousness and volume of the work ahead, or say for sure to myself: yes, I can and I want to, no matter what.”

Operating technique
The first thing I would really like to advise is to decide what kind of technology you would like to work with. I really regret that at one time there was no one to tell me that illustrating is not always just drawing.

Sometimes you realize that it would be no less interesting to make illustrations from plasticine, paper, or in the form of a collage with drawing elements, but in your bosom you have already accumulated a fairly thick portfolio with works done in a certain style and using a previously chosen technique; a certain circle of clients have appeared who They expect the output to be work in exactly the style presented in the portfolio. I don’t want to change everything dramatically, but gradually weaving in new elements is a very labor-intensive task.

Often the situation of “just drawing” is worsened by the fact that a whole darkness of people appears from somewhere, who suddenly draw with the same lines, similar colors and similar textures. And God forbid, if this person becomes more famous at some point along the way than the source - at own career It may not be worth putting up a cross (there’s no need to give such joy to insolent people), but worrying about it steals a lot of energy.

Illustrations by Quentin Greban:

Illustrations by Lisbeth Zwerger:

Even if, in a situation where someone else completely copies your style, you understand that your illustrations differ from others in a special approach to the process of creating works, a special handwriting and some characteristic details, the fact remains that a lot depends on individuality and the uniqueness of the technique.

***
A special, unique technique, which will also be perfected over the years, is already half the battle. I understand that there is no point in approaching the issue of choosing a technique methodically: what is required on the market, what is most in demand, in which technique the fewest illustrators work - so that there is less competition, but a lot still needs to be taken into account.

Not only can the situation on the market change dramatically - today vector is fashionable, and tomorrow everyone will be running after plasticine illustrations, but you also want to do what you love all your life, work the way you like, stay true to yourself, but find a middle ground that takes into account market demands and your own expectations from life would still be nice.

Long gone are the days when people trained in all the canons became illustrators classical painting, and that's great! The field of activity of a modern illustrator is so wide that there is no need to concentrate only on the ability to illustrate in the traditional way.

How to choose your working technique? Just try! Try everything you can:
- illustration from plasticine
- paper illustration
- illustration using homemade dolls
- embroidery on fabric or paper
- collage
- straw inlay
- works in ink, watercolor, acrylic, pencils
- illustrations in computer programs like Photoshop, Painter or Illustrator
- illustrations using mixed media - drawing, collage and computer post-processing.

At the very beginning of the journey, it is better not to make hasty decisions, not to tie your hands with some particular technique for performing work. From my own experience, I was faced with the fact that there is nothing wrong with the diversity of techniques and styles, as long as we are talking about preparing for professional activity.

Creative experiments are one of the most important points in maturing a good illustrator. I myself tried a bunch of everything: working with ink, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, with a simple pencil and white on a dark background, working with raster in the graphic style of the 20-30s in graphic programs, working with raster in a more realistic manner, drawing dolls and dolls, illustrations in vector programs. Only after trying a bunch of different techniques did I come to my current style of work, although, to be honest, I don’t have the feeling that it has fully taken shape, while it seems to me that I am changing from illustration to illustration, although I already have some refined techniques.

I’m not the first to advise aspiring illustrators to check which technique suits their own nature more, but why should you test yourself and try? If the feed goes to the horse, and you have enough for a short time There will be at least 10 works in the chosen technique, and you won’t get tired of continuing to sculpt them - then you can at least temporarily stop at the chosen technique and move on to the second step of the algorithm - think about what kind of illustrator you would like to become.

What kind of illustrator should I become?
It would seem that there is no need to think for a long time about what kind of illustrator to become – a good one, of course! But that's not what we're talking about. There is a difference between illustrator and illustrator. There is no use in wanting to be a jack of all trades and trying to please everyone. As in any other creative work you need to know who you would like to work for.

What do we have to choose from? What kind of illustrator can you become:
- illustrator of children's books
- illustrator of books for adults
- magazine illustrator
- newspaper illustrator
- advertising illustrator
- illustrator for the textile industry
- popular science illustrator
- illustrator of medical publications
- illustrator for textbooks and manuals
- web illustrator
- and other things...

Each branch has its own characteristics: its own target group, restrictions on timing, execution technique and content. Your future depends on what kind of illustrator you would like to become. Naturally, you may want to become a magazine illustrator, but in the process turn into a book or advertising illustrator, but nevertheless, your very first decision will determine the theme and focus of your first portfolio, your first business card, which your clients will refer to for a long time and ask you to draw just like yours. Well, or you will completely change your style, direction and begin to show only works in the latest technology and only take on orders that meet your internal requirements. It’s also not new that venerable illustrators suddenly abruptly remove all their illustrative works from their portfolios and present themselves as artists who want to earn money from painting. With proper success, you can actually earn more from painting, but as, sorry, the corpse in the film “Sim City” said: “Once a smoker, always a smoker.” Once an illustrator, always an illustrator. It’s just that the love for useful, beautiful and witty graphics cannot be destroyed by any desire to earn more money from art.

So, your future depends on the chosen direction. If you want to become book illustrator, then in your portfolio you need to show how well you can work with text and reflect the meaning of what is written, hold the bar and, say, display the characters the same way, from the most unimaginable angles throughout the entire book.

If you decide to become a magazine illustrator, then you need to be able to work with graphic metaphors, live under stress and tight deadlines, be able to isolate the main statement even from articles with completely wild and unfamiliar topics and support it with your illustrations. In addition, there are a whole bunch of magazines: women's, men's, children's, health, home, science and technology, psychology, etc. Each individual magazine puts forward its own requirements for complexity, quantity, and technique of illustrations.

How do you know what kind of illustrator you want to become? Just try! Flip through magazines, books, browse websites, but most importantly, work tirelessly on yourself - draw a lot and often, as if every day is your last. Love for something specific must not only be discovered, but also tested in practice. It is when you begin to test yourself whether you like or dislike a particular direction in illustration that you will encounter new problem- workload.

Workload
You can only imagine the volume of work once you start working in the chosen direction. For example, try to illustrate the first article you come across with 2-3 illustrations. Select an article on purpose indiscriminately, regardless of whether you like the text or not, whether you understand it or not, and try to break it down into parts so that the illustrations evenly accompany and reflect the text.

Sometimes I receive such orders that I read them and realize that I don’t understand anything. I don’t know any names, the events described in the article don’t tell me anything. The first thing I do is go find out: I read and watch everything I come across on this topic. At the same time, we must not forget that the time for collecting material and familiarizing with it is subtracted from the total time of the order - the longer you spend searching and clarifying, the less time will be left for work. That’s why it’s so important to have a good connection with the customer or art director - as a last resort, you can always ask what exactly is expected of you.

If you want to become a book illustrator, try illustrating a small story of 3-4 pages or a whole chapter from your favorite book.

If you want to illustrate textbooks, look at the ones that already exist today, what could you do in them better, more intelligibly, more beautifully. Well, etc.

You need to imagine that, depending on the type of activity, you will not be able to choose what to illustrate - this is a job that should feed you until you can afford to “sort out grub.” You will need to learn to clearly define working conditions, learn to trust people and sometimes tolerate disappointment.

Where to look for clients?
There are 2 ways out here: active and passive search.
In the first case, you simply prepare a portfolio - paper or digital - and send it to all the publishing houses or agencies with which you would like to work.

If after a month you have not received a single response, although you have sent 100 letters and folders with work to 100 different agencies, there is no reason to be despondent! The main thing is not to make the most common mistake and not try to find out why they didn’t answer you by trying to send your OLD portfolio again. Sit down, do something completely new, with new, yes, work in just a month, and go again, again and again! Don't be afraid to repeat the process of sending out your NEW work until you get a response! Here, of course, you need to take into account the fact that you may receive not only a job offer, but also a refusal. It is always difficult to survive this, but it is possible. You must always believe that there are enough clients in the world who will like your work technique, your way of thinking, your views on the world.

In the case of passive search, everything is much simpler, but it is also less effective. You can draw millions of pictures and post them on all well-known professional networks, forums and blogs. Then, with proper quality, clients will come to you themselves. But a novice illustrator usually has to wait longer than in the case of an active search.

If you decide to devote yourself entirely to illustration, without being distracted by work as a designer or a junior assistant to a senior janitor, I would still recommend more aggressive methods of finding potential clients, although it is also more expensive. Those. it's up to you. If you feel like you're ripe for professional work– boldly go into battle, don’t wait until they find you among thousands of colleagues. If you still want to work on yourself, but already want to make yourself known, slowly show off your work.

How to negotiate working conditions?
Here, each illustrator has his own rules. I'll tell you about mine.

1.Payment.
I don't care how rich or poor the customer is. I charge exactly what I value my work at. Those. I estimate how many hours it will take me to create an illustration and calculate how much I would like to earn per hour: say, $30. If I quote a price of $300 for an illustration, that means I don’t expect to spend more than 10 hours on it. You can bargain with me, but I never discriminate based on the thickness of my wallet, I don’t figure out whether I can extract more from the client, but I simply want the hours I spent on work to be fairly paid.

If my client and I settle on an amount that is less than I would like, it means:
- I'm interested
- I like the art director and want to work with him or her
- it won’t be a shame to show the illustration in your portfolio
- ordering will add celebrity to me
- the customer bears all the costs of the bank fee and does not delay payment.

2. Sketches.
Here you always need to agree separately on quantity and payment. Sometimes the client himself does not know what he wants, and it is always necessary to stipulate that in the event of termination of the contract, even if verbal, the sketch will cost, say, at least $50. Otherwise, we already know this piracy - as many free and smart ideas as possible are collected on the Internet, and the work is given to the neighbor, Uncle Vasya.

Sane customers will never bargain and will immediately agree to pay for at least the sketches, if they have not worked well with the illustrator or if they were really just collecting ideas. In all the years of my work as a professional illustrator, I have only flown with a client once. The client seemed very serious to me, interested in the work, and not in the sketches. We worked painfully for a long time - we redid everything a million times. I made a bunch of sketches, a bunch of drawings, and it seemed that the correspondence with the art director was simply endless!

Then, when the sketches were finally approved (this is a very important stage - no complete drawings until the sketch is approved), I drew everything completely, completed it in color, approved the finished illustrations, and then uploaded the printed version of the illustrations to the server to forward the work to the client , I received a letter from the supposedly changed art director of the project with a bunch of changes to the sketches (my finished works, it turns out, still had the status of a sketch) and a request to rotate all 20 illustrations in perspective, redraw faces and clothes! In my hearts, I stopped working with them without receiving any remuneration, instead of shrugging my shoulders indifferently, as I do now, and saying - pay me the same amount again for new sketches, and I will draw you any angle and people in any clothes. Who knows, maybe they were counting on me to somehow react emotionally after very intense and disgusting work and give them my pictures. There are all sorts of people, but, as you know, they learn from mistakes. One time I made all these mistakes that could be made, and I was full forever.

3. Trial work.
With this word, I throw the client’s letter in the trash and try to never think about it again. If you want a sketch from me, see point 2 of this text. And if you want a full-fledged color illustration from me to try, even though you’ve seen my portfolio, deal with your own indecision and inability to assess the situation.

I had to learn to value my time as an illustrator. No one even thinks about going to a doctor for a free trial treatment. Isn’t the illustrator a man with a child and a cat who needs to be fed? Where does this opinion come from that the work of an illustrator should not be paid and that the thing is less serious than all other work in the world?

During the time that I, excuse me, masturbate with a trial illustration and try to please the client and compete with who knows who, I can make a dozen illustrations for regular, beloved and reliable clients who don’t come to me for freebies, but want good, productive and quality work. As a last resort, it is better to sit down and draw a strong and beautiful illustration for your own portfolio in order to attract sane clients - spend this time = money on yourself.

Feel free to send anyone who wants to create competition between illustrators, collect free ideas and leave you with nothing. If people have time for such games, but do not have time to carefully select an illustrator for the project, plan the work competently, discuss with him all the details, deadlines, and come up with a plan B just in case, it is better not to even start cooperation.

As a beginner illustrator, I often agreed to such hassle, until I suddenly realized that I would never achieve anything this way. Either they come to me and work with me, or, no matter how good they are, they go their own way, which, ideally, no longer intersects with mine, and I with mine. I'm glad to say that this decision only benefited me!

Behind Lately I have had only one case so far when I involuntarily agreed to a test illustration, but only because before starting work I met the customer, managed to fall in love with him (not in the literal sense) - I succumbed to his charm and charm. It didn't make us happy...

4. Agreement.
A lot needs to be written about the intricacies and details of contracts with individual publishing houses or agencies. It also makes no sense to talk about this in general terms.

A number of books advise against allowing the publication of your illustrations on different media - i.e. If you want to make money not only in a magazine, but also on T-shirts from my illustrations, pay at least a few pennies for additional use. Many also do not advise giving works for eternal use, stipulating copyright conditions and, and, and...

In fact, everything looks like this: few agencies, not only Russian ones, even offer some kind of agreement before starting work on a small or medium difficulty. Everything is agreed upon - payment, terms, sketches, work schedule, but the word “agreement”, if it sounds at all, is like some kind of formality at the end collaboration along with the phrase - you MUST sign, otherwise there will be no payment... You can always ask what the illustration is for, where is my contract, where is my little pig, where is my fairy tale and where is my advance payment, but basically it makes sense to do this already when the speech It's about a fee with several zeros.

Somehow it turned out to be a lot, and in reality you just need to sit down and work - your eyes are afraid, but your hands do it. Do not be discouraged under any circumstances, first figure out the main thing - the direction of activity and technology, and the rest will follow.

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By the way, if anyone is interested, for the answer I also used small excerpts from my book about “Techniques of a creative approach in illustration” - I publish parts of the book under the tag “pieces from the book.” I am now working hard on processing the material, because... The book has been finished for a long time, and I’m looking for a publisher.
Upd.: And here is the book!