Contents

Company Databases ..................................................................................... 4

Types of Illustration and Design Jobs Examples ......................................... 5

Website and Portfolio Builders .................................................................... 8

Social Networks .......................................................................................... 11

Places to Teach............................................................................................ 12

Places to Outsource Work .......................................................................... 13

Examples of Cold Emails ........................................................................... 14

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Hello!

The following pages contain a range of resources to support you in your

quest for building a strong creative career.

Some of these resources contain affiliate links, but every single link and

suggestion included here is valuable and highly recommended.

The following are listed in approximately the same order in which they

were mentioned in the guide.

I’ve tried my best to make sure resources are relevant and up to date.

Forgive me if one or two sites/organisations have closed since publishing

this book.

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Company Databases

Use the following to research types of companies and industries you could

be working with:

Companies House (UK)

Addataexpress

Bloomberg

Kompass

Hoovers

Orbis

Newsletter Service Providers

Aweber

Benchmark Email

Active Campaign - the one I use - large amount of flexibility and

customisation

Mailchimp

Tiny Letter (simpler system, from makers of Mail Chimp)

Get Response

Constant Contact

StreamSend

Vertical Response

MadMimi

4

Types of Illustration and Design Jobs Examples

Print

Book Covers: Steve Simpson

Posters: DKNG Posters

Postcards: Lorraine Loots

Invitations: Neiko Ng

Menus: Zizzi by Charlie Davis & Peter Donnoley

Jar Labels

Stickers: Jennie Ekstrom

Real-World Products

T-shirt and clothing Designs: Threadless

Stationary: Self-made Christmas Promos - Eg. Dave Mottram

Products on Oh Deer.

Tattly: Danielle Kroll; Julia Rothman.

Souvenirs

Maps - Theme park, editorial, shopping centre: Rod Hunt

Toys: Lunartik

Furniture and Interior Illustration: Dupenny

Digital Products

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Mobile Games & Apps: Wee Taps

Icon Sets: iStock / Iconfinder / Creative Market / Noun Project

Fonts: J. Hische’s New Fontface

Live Performance

Sketchnoting: Mike Rhode, Eva Lotta-Lam, Maggie Appleton

Caricature Artists: Jason Seiler

Live Murals, Street Art & Graffiti: Molly Crabapple, Graffiti Kings

Theatre, set, circus illustration: Caroline Thaw

Artwork for musical performance and outdoor events: David Shillinglaw

Teaching

Skillshare: Denis Zilber, Chris Leavens

Independent Schools: Art Camp, SVS

Udemy: Karen Anderson

Publishing: Traditional & Self-Publishing

Kickstarter: 3000 Moments, Tales from the Wilder Forest

Graphic Novels and comics: Nobrow

Sponsored Articles: Simon Prades on Medium

Books (think about self publishing and Kindle and ebooks): San Francisco

in Its Own Words by Wendy MacNaughton

Graphic Journalism: Matthew Cook

Infographics: Information is Beautiful

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Films & Animation

Concept Art: Nathan Fawkes, Sam Neilson, Bobby Chiu

Character Design: David Colman, Nico Marlet

Opening Credits & Title Design: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson

Web Design

Illustrated Websites

Blogs & Newsletter Illustrations: P. Jarvis Sunday Dispatches

Blog and Website headers

Content marketing for social media, etc.

Branding & Packaging

Illustrated Logos: Mike of Creative Mints

Package & Label Illustrations: Steve Simpson Coffee Labels

Icon Sets: Ryan Putnam for Dropbox

Wall and Car decals

Wrapping Paper

Prints and artwork for commercial and retail spaces

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Website and Portfolio Builders

Ideas for website-builders, with Red Lemon Club subscriber’s reviews:

Squarespace

“I've been in web design since 1997 and until recently completely hand-coded my

web site. but my HTML didn't stay up with the times and now there is so much

know about responsive design etc etc. I am loving working with Squarespace, it's so

easy and intuitive to customise the templates and make it look just how you want.

the built in shopping cart system is also a plus and the rates are so reasonable!” Claudine Hellmuth

Weebly

“Frankly, this builder is spectacular. I believe a lot of creative people have the good

design sense to be able to put together an attractive portfolio, and also, a lack of funds to pay someone else to do it. This is the case for me.” Brianna Tosswill,

Visual Artist

Cargo Collective

“What can i say – the template has all the features i needed. I am happy and my

new site got supercool feedback. I can recommend the platform. ^____^” Robert

Malte Engelmann

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WebFlow

“I really, really like Webflow. I've been messing around with Edge Reflow and

Macaw since their early days, so I have a good basis for comparison, and I easily

prefer Webflow. The fact that it runs in the browser and everything is controlled

directly with CSS felt restrictive at first, but I quickly realized how much easier it

makes it to maintain control over your design compared to editing the canvas freely

and having the program try to generate the CSS later, like those other programs.” Cooper Crosby

Webs

“I killed my Weebly site once I had tried out a few options with webs... I wanted a

simple site - as you'll see” - www.anniebrundrit.co.uk

Wordpress.org

“The great thing about Wordpress is as a non web designer like me, there are

thousands of themes which are available inexpensively, however if you are suitably

savvy you can build for yourself. All the themes can be tailored to your exact needs by either using the theme’s own settings or by amending bits of code.” Emma

Russell, illustrator.

From illustrator Filipe Lonsa:

Cargo was one I quite liked. It had a lot of cool, customizable themes and

allowed me to mess with css and html, which was useful, but eventually I

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realised I was wasting too much time making it look and work like I

wanted so I decided to search for something more simple and easy to use.

I also tried (briefly) Behance ProSite, which was easier to use and had

some nice features like syncing with Behance profile which made

everything faster.

However, looking for something more practical (where I could focus more

on content) and affordable that had all the features (builder, hosting,

email, etc.) I eventually found Portfoliobox. I'm using it for a while now

and so far I'm quite happy.

More good options: CarbonMade; Viewbook; Studiopress.

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Social Networks

There are hundreds. Here is a selection of great ones for generating a

following for illustrators…

Twitter (great site for finding clients and other creative professionals)

Instagram (highly recommended for visual creatives)

Pinterest (if you’re a visual creative and not sharing on Pinterest, you’re

missing out)

LinkedIn (great for finding pros, and you can share your visual stuff via

Behance here)

Facebook (plenty of people here)

Google+ (not just used by Google employees - still one of the busiest

social networks)

Medium - good place to write articles and build an audience in a social

network environment

Tumblr (plenty of crap, anime and porn, but still useful for building

exposure)

Flickr (not dead, and a well re-designed interface for imagery sharing)

Vine (quick film clip-making)

YouTube - hugely valuable place to build a following. Think process

videos or anything else to build an engaged following

Twibfy - creatives-specific new network, worth a look

Snapchat - if you’re finding a way to make this work to promote your

work, I’d love to hear about it.

Ning (Build your own network!)

More here if interested.

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Places to Teach

There are a lot of people earning a very good income from teaching

online. Some places allow you to earn from the sale of courses, others are

also great for building exposure, a following, and credibility.

Skillshare

Udemy

YouTube

Skillfeed

CreativeLive

Academy of Mine

Stone River

Don’t forget there are many ways to create your own video courses and

information products for sale online (as well as through your own site).

That’s for another guide!

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Places to Outsource Work

Elance

Upwork

Outsource

Perssist

iFreelance

Fiverr

It’s worth also looking into Taskrabbit - to save time by having someone

else run your errands.

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Examples of Cold Emails

The following are ideas for email communication with prospects who do

not yet know you. [my notes in blue]:

Off topic

[Here is an idea for starting a conversation with someone on a topic

unrelated to pitching for illustration work]

Hi Kate, [hypothetical CEO of a technology startup that you are targeting

to possibly work with; personal address]

I picked up an article on web graphics that you wrote last December

through Twitter. It really got me thinking. Do you think that the next

stage in the evolution of web graphics will be artificially intelligent bots

creating the work for us?

[this is just an example. The point is that you are showing an interest in

their own work. What you want to do is engage them in a dialogue or

conversation and start building positive rapport. Your pitch will come

later if they don’t already show an interest in your art before hand. It

would be wise to include a ‘covert’ signature link to your work at the

bottom]

Best,

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Alex

—

Research question

Hi Philip, [art director working for creative agency, for example]

[Research questioning, positioning yourself as authority and they as

expert]

Love your work, particularly [insert recent project here]. I’m doing some

research for my illustration business [ / blog / website / online

community / personal project ], and wanted to build up a general picture

of the industry.

In your experience, do you find working through agents or direct with

illustrators preferable, and how?

[Though you are indirectly advertising your illustration business here, you

are positioning the interaction as researcher, and they the expert, rather

than the illustrator asking for work, which feels more like a pitch]

Thanks!

Alex

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[Note the short length of the email, but how it is tailored to the recipient -

this will lead to much better results than an obvious ‘copy and paste’ job.

I encourage you to ask questions that you genuinely want to know the

answers for. That way you gain valuable insight that you can use for

yourself, whilst promoting yourself by getting in front of people]

—

Research #2

Hi Martha, [Marketing manager at a software company, for example]

I saw that you worked with Kate Moross on a recent project for Nike. As

an illustrator, I’m always looking to improve the service I offer, through

getting insight from experts like yourself in the industry.

I wanted to know whether there was anything you have found challenging

in working with external freelancers?

[like the previous, this reads less like a pitch, and positions them as the

expert. This is great, because you are both bringing awareness of your

illustration to the recipient, whilst also potentially gaining valuable insight

from them to help improve your business. Think about other questions to

ask that can help streamline your work and make the client experience

better. It is a win/win]

Thank you for your time,

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Alex

—

Tailored, quick question

Hi Mark, [relaxed, not too informal or formal]

I’m an illustrator doing some research on potential people to work with,

and I found you on LinkedIn. I’m really liking the creative work you’ve

been doing, like your recent Mars project (and that we both share a love

for Major League Baseball!).

I want to see whether we’re a good fit for potential future collaborating.

Do you often use artwork and / or illustration in your projects?

[You are positioning yourself as the high value illustrator by approaching

at a collaborative level before pitching]

Thank you in advance,

Alex

[The way this is worded, as someone ’scouting around’ for people, puts

you in a high value position. The first short paragraph is also very tailored

to that individual and what they have personally worked on.]

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[Asking questions before pitching is key. This shows that you won’t jump

on any old project before getting some info. This puts you in a good light,

which will appeal to prospects.]

—

Tailored, quick question #2

Hi Jane,

I’m a vector illustrator specialising in maps and diagrams. I was looking

over your recent projects, including the ‘time traveling nurse’ piece and

thought my work might fit in well with your projects.

Have you ever considered using map illustrations?

Alex

[Note how I’m not pitching or showing my work yet (though I may

include a signature link beneath) - I’m asking a single, straight-forward,

short question.

It is vital that you engage the recipient, rather than allowing them to take

the easy option like they do with everyone else, and tell you that they will

‘keep you mind’.

It’s better to have a short conversation with them at least. You will be

more memorable that way, and it’s something you can run with over a

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long period, so that you eventually land a job (or referral) when you are

needed].

Common ground; benefits-focused, quick question

Hi Janeel,

I was forwarded to you by your colleague Dan Smith at Pepsi London. [A

common link is good for establishing some trust]

Looking at your online presence, I feel I could really bring some depth

and colour to your brand that would really increase engagement, and

emotional connection with your audience, and ultimately more sales.

Do you ever work with external illustrators?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Alex

[Note how I’m clarifying the benefits that come with using illustration

work. This is great, even if the recipient knows what they are. Reminding

them of why they would work with you can really get them thinking. This

is good. Again, another short question to get them to respond to you is

important.]

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Icon attribution from the ‘Noun Project’:

1-3 Simon Child (Dalí and faces)

4 - Tugrul Peker (cat)

5 - Cezary Lopacinski (mountains)

6 - Bastien Ho (brain)

7 - Garrett Kroll (portfolio)

8 - Tom Glass Jr. (pancakes)

9 - Guillaume Kurkdjian (wigwam)

10 - Kirill Ulitin (options)

11 - Chip Carroll (ruler)

12 - Jaime Carrion (thermometer)

13 - Bybzee (network)

14 - Nick Green (clock)

15 - Sergi Delgado (talkers)

16 - iconsmind.com (fuel canister)

17 - Pavel Pavlov (fire)

18 - Cedric Villain (feather pen)

19 - Alexander Wiefel (robot)

20 - Nathan Driskell (city)

21- froz (meeting people)

22 - tom walsh (earth)

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