Last week the Pencil Factory—the studio space that I work from—launched a new website, which has micro-portfolios of all of the members of our collective on it. It’s a great website and you should check it out. (And I don’t just say that because I spearheaded and designed it.) This got me thinking about studio space in general and some of the benefits that come from having one.
If you’re looking to get a website up and running for your illustration business you should register your domain name with a different provider than your web hosting. There are a couple of reasons to do so which I’ll talk about in this post.
If you’re a freelance illustrator working professionally in America, you should get an EIN#. Here’s why:
I’ve always loved this Harlan Ellison video and just stumbled across it again recently. It applies just as equally to illustrators as it does to writers.
Writing an illustrated middle grade novel is particularly challenging because both the text and illustrations need to be accounted for and work harmoniously within the manuscript. To simplify the process of writing my own illustrated middle grade books The Secrets to Ruling School (Without Even Trying) and The Secrets to Ruling School: Class Election, I used a program called Scrivener. Here’s how I was able to make that process manageable:
Hey there, I’m still alive! Things have just been really busy and I haven’t had time to post again until now. I’ve been working on my latest authored/illustrated middle grade novel, The Secrets to Ruling School: Class Election, and have had to put all of my energy into that in order to finish on time. I just wrapped on it last week so I can finally get back to posting on a more frequent basis. In fact, I’d like to take this post to talk about my experience working on the novel for those who might like more insight into that area of business.
There are a million book covers out there—some amazing, some not so much. What separates the heroes from the zeroes and how can you create a book cover that achieves its goals and gets people talking? In this post, I’ll explain what makes a compelling book cover and how you can improve your cover illustration game.
Some illustrators are able to jump headfirst into a robust career from the get-go. However, most illustrators need to work a day job while pursuing illustration on nights and weekends for a number of years until they’re prepared to make the leap. While each circumstance is unique, here’s what I’d suggest for transitioning from my own experience:
As illustrators we’re often tasked to complete Herculean tasks under impossible-seeming deadlines. We slave away, get the projects done just in the nick of time, turn them in and then . . .
We wait.
So, you’ve wrapped up on your first illustration assignment and are ready to get paid. Congrats—that’s a big first step! But now you’re wondering how your payment will come in from your clients once your invoice is processed. Not to worry—it’s pretty straight forward.