Taking part in Illustration Friday is not only a great way to practice working on live projects with a real deadline, but it’s also a safe place to experiment and try out new styles and mediums without the pressure of an Art Director breathing down your neck.

You also never know who’s looking at the work submitted to Illustration Friday either!

This weeks topic is ‘Double’ and here’s my contribution…’One For Sorrow, Two For Joy’

Medium: Traditional cut paper collage

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5: Ask Questions

It’s easy to be intimidated by those illustrators whose work and careers you admire – thinking that they wouldn’t give you, a lowly aspiring illustrator, the time of day.

Don’t let this put you off – all of the established illustrators I have approached so far have been warm, friendly and only too happy to answer my questions. Some of the illustrators I’ve approached have also been kind enough to give me a thorough critique of my work too.

Not everyone will be super helpful and you may find, as I have, that on social networking sites like Twitter, Illustrators sometimes band together and can be a little cliquey – but don’t let this put you off, for all those people I’ve encountered I’ve also connected with 10 times as many illustrators that are only too happy to share their experience.

(NOTE: Asking questions is great, but be sure to give back too – platforms like Twitter shouldn’t be just about what you can get. Sharing the tips and experience that you’ve gathered on your journey with other aspiring illustrators is just as important.)

Remember, it’s also always a nice ego boost when someone likes your work and values your opinion enough to contact you for advice – your email may just make their day!

6: Illustrations Commissions Aren’t The Only Way To Earn A Living From Illustration

For a long time I’ve been of the mind set that to make it as an Illustrator you need to be at the mercy of Art Directors and land a steady string of commissions, but this isn’t the only way to make a living as an Illustrator.

There are many avenues to sell your work directly to your target market through sites like Red Bubble, Etsy and Cafe Press.

You could also look into licensing your illustrations for use on greetings cards, wrapping paper, clothing, jigsaws etc. There are lots of opportunities out there to build a steady stream of passive income, allowing your illustrations to continue to earn you money long after they have been created.

Recently I’ve been looking at ways to take control of my career and income by creating my own markets for the illustrations I produce. I’ve been working hard on some custom illustrations and will be launching this new venture via a website next month.

I’ll be following the website launch with an in depth article on this blog discussing my approach, including the ’1000 true fans’ principle (more on this in the article).

The lesson to learn here, is to be creative and think outside of the box to find an audience and market for your work in this modern digital age – consider all of the options available to you.

7 Network:

If you, like me, are a bit shy about blowing your own trumpet and marketing yourself and your work….GET OVER IT!!!

This isn’t easy and I’m still learning, but through this blog, using twitter, setting up a Facebook page for my work, creating tutorials for other websites and approaching other illustrators, I’m starting to get my name out there.

It’s amazing how many of our website design clients (the day job) think that as soon as their website is live, thousands of people will flock to their website, which in turn will lead to thousands of pounds/dollars of business. But if no one knows your site exists, no one is going to visit it.

I’m not going to lie, this networking lark is hard work and not something that you just do once. Networking is something that needs to be a core part of your marketing efforts, but in time, if you put the hours in – it will pay off.

8: Collaborate With The Right People Or Just Do It Yourself

Collaborations can be great when you have a shared vision, you are both highly motivated and both parties bring equally to the table. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as I have now learned this lesson) when these things don’t align, it can be an energy draining experience and a big waste of time.

As the life of an illustrator is a solitary one, it’s easy to get swept away in the excitement of working on a collaboration, but ask yourself one question: Is this collaboration taking you closer or further away from your ultimate goal?

I learned this the hard way and wasted countless hours before decided to severe the cord and focus solely on reaching my own illustration goals.

I hope that through sharing the lessons that I have learned so far, it might help you guys avoid some of the mistakes I have made – and of course, if you have any lessons of your own to add, please do share them in the comments

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If you’d like a sneak peak preview of the interview, be sure to sign up to the free newsletter (over there on the right) as that’s where it will appear first before it hits the blog.

In other news, I received my Moo promo note cards through the post a few days ago and I’m really pleased with them (you never quite know what is going to come back from online printers, but these were spot on).

I have some tweaks to make to the portfolio before sending them out, but it really feels like things are moving forward now and it’s very exciting!

Here’s a peak at my new promo cards:

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In last weeks post ‘Blogging For Illustrators Part 2: Which Blogging Platform Should An Illustrator Use?’ I presented the three main blogging platforms to choose from.

In this final part of the series, I’ll be highlighting 11 great ways to market your illustration blog and help you get the word out there about you and your work.

On Blog Activity:

1 Set a regular posting schedule and stick to it.

Search engines love fresh content & your readers like to know what’s coming up and when to expect new content (especially if they don’t use your RSS or email feed), so set yourself a regular posting schedule and be sure to stick to it and get your posts out on time.

2 Create keyword-rich copy

To ensure that your site gets picked up in the search engines, use keyword rich content in your posts (eg. if the new illustration you have posted is a collage illustration of the Eiffel Tower, be sure to use the words ‘Eiffel Tower collage illustration’ in your post).

If you’re stuck and don’t know what words to use, think about it from an Art Directors perspective, what would they type into Google if they were looking to commission an illustrator to produce a blue collage illustration of a snake? If your post about the new blue collage snake illustration you’ve just created has the appropriate keywords – bingo, the Art Director has just found you!

This also applies to the file names you assign to your images too.

3 Links

Inbound links are one of the best ways to bring new traffic to your blog (or website) as one of the ways search engines rank the importance of a site is based on the number of inbound links it has. Try to get your blog linked to from as many other relevant sites as possible – the more popular the site (in Google’s eyes) which links to you, the more weight that holds.

However, don’t be fooled by companies wanting to share reciprocal links with you – search engines prefer one way links and you also don’t want to be constantly directing people away from your site.

4 Interview other prominent people in your field

A great way to gain credibility by association is to interview other prominent people in your chosen field (it’s also a great way to bring traffic to your blog, see point 2 above).

For example, if I were to land an interview with James Jean for this blog, anyone searching for ‘James Jean Interview’ via Google, may very well end up on my blog – and featuring someone as prominent as James obviously gives this blog additional credibility.

5 Use a specific & relevant url

Always use a specific domain name for your blog (or website) eg. www.illustration.com rather than illustration.blogspot.com – not only does it look much more professional, it will be easier for people to remember when they are spreading the word about your work or trying to recall your site.

6 Set up RSS feed

Set up an RSS feed for your blog (WordPress blogs do this automatically for you) so that people can subscribe to it and receive all of your latest posts straight into their feed reader – and make sure you register your blog feed and url with all of the blog directories and search engines.

Off Blog Activity:

1 Guest posts

Approach other big blogs/sites in your illustration field or niche and offer to write a guest post for them (with a link back to your site obviously). Aside from the traffic to your blog that this can generate, it’s also a great way to build your profile and credibility in the illustration industry.

2 Use social media tools to raise your profile

I’m surprised that more illustrators these days aren’t taking advantage of all the social media tools available to them. Set up a Twitter account, get on LinkedIn and if you have a Facebook account, create a Facebook Page for your illustration business.

It goes without saying that you should make sure that your blog and/or website urls are clearly displayed in each of your social media outlets. Not only are these sites great for networking – they’re also a valuable tool in building up a community around your work.

3 Set up Google Alerts to monitor your ‘brand’

Once set up, Google Alerts tracks any mention of you or your website anywhere on the web and alerts you to where and when it was mentioned. This not only allows you to see how far reaching you and your work is getting, but by following up on these alerts with a friendly comment or email to the person that mentioned you, it helps to build up a valuable online and offline network.

4 Comment on other blogs

By commenting on other blogs, you are essentially creating an inbound link to your blog/website. While this is great for driving traffic to your site, it is also good practice to support other people in your field. If you like another illustrators work or have a web resource that you think they would find interesting, let them know via a comment.

The freelancer’s life can often be an isolated existence without work colleagues around us, so it’s always nice to have someone stop by your blog and say hi.

5 Use your blog url in your email signature

Add your illustration blog and/or website url to your email signature – don’t waste any opportunity to get it out there and in front of people.

I hope you’ve found this series useful and don’t forget to check out my resources page for a free guide to ‘Setting Up Your Own WordPress Blog From Scratch In 60 Minutess.’

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In part 2, I’ll be presenting the three main blogging platforms available including the pros and cons of each. Let’s start with…

Blogger

Launched in 1999 by Pyra Labs and subsequently bought by Google in 2003, Blogger was the pioneer in bringing the concept of blogs to the mainstream.

As Blogger is free, it’s usually the most popular choice for Illustrators new to blogging – allowing you to set up your blog using it’s drag and drop template system in a matter of minutes.

Blogger is a hosted solution, meaning that your blog is hosted on Blogger’s own servers rather than you having to purchase a separate hosting account from another provider.

Whilst blogger is great for hobby blogs and personal blogs, it’s a less ideal professional blog platform because you have far less control over it and what you can do with it.

Pros

• Completely free
• Allows you to host your blog through Blogger using your own domain name
• Easy to set up
• Fully integrated with other Google services
• Available in multiple languages

Cons

• Limited in design options and customisation (for non-techy types)
• The service is occasionally blocked in some countries
• Open to spammers
• Not always easy to leave comments unless you have a Google account

Typepad

Launched in 2003 by Six Apart Ltd and based on their Moveable Type platform, Typepad is a paid for service available at 3 different subscription levels ranging from $4.95 per month for the basic level, up to $14.95 per month for the Pro level.

Like Blogger, Typepad is a hosted solution and at the mid range subscription level ($8.95 per month), allows you to map your own domain name to your blog giving you a more professional-looking url to direct people to (e.g. www.YourIllustration.com rather than YourIllustration.typepad.com).

Pros

• Allows more control over the design of your blog than Blogger
• Allows you to host your blog through Typepad using your own domain name
• Ability to add static pages to turn your blog into a full website

Cons

• Although far more easily customised than Blogger, Typepad is still limited to fairly basic design options unless you are more technically-inclined
• Only available in English

WordPress

WordPress is the most recent addition to the world of blogging platforms and is fast becoming the first choice for bloggers wanting full control over the design and functionality of their blog.

WordPress offers both a free hosted service like Blogger (WordPress.com) and a self-hosting option where you purchase your own hosting & domain name (WordPress.org).

WordPress.com

This is similar to Blogger in that it’s also hosted on WordPress’s own servers and is completely free; it is however, much more customisable and flexible than blogger as you can upload an extensive number of free themes which change the look & feel of your site within a couple of clicks. It is a good option for a professional Illustration business blog if you’re looking for a low cost (free) solution.

Pros

• Completely free
• Allows more control over the design with dozens of free themes available online
• Available in multiple languages
• Ability to add static pages to turn your blog into a full website

Cons

• A basic level of CSS knowledge is required to fully customise the themes (however, comprehensive tutorials are provided by WordPress)

WordPress.org

This is possibly the most popular blogging platform out there and is used by many of the biggest blogs around. The reason?

It’s self-hosted (you have to install the free WordPress application on your own hosting service/servers – but this can be as simple as a 1-click action if you choose the right hosting service) which means you host it on whichever domain you want and it’s completely customisable, adaptable, extend-able and flexible with the use of free (and premium) themes to get the exact look, feel and layout you want.

This is the reason why my wife and I run all of our business websites, including this blog and my Illustration portfolio site on the WordPress.org platform.

Pros

• Offers complete control & customisation
• Allows full control over the design of your blog through free and premium themes
• Ability to add static pages to turn your blog into a full website
• Additional free plugins are available for download and easy installation to your blog/site to add extra functionality

Cons

• A basic level of CSS knowledge is required to fully customise the themes (however, comprehensive tutorials are provided by WordPress)

The answer to the question ‘Which Blogging Platform Should An Illustrator Use?’ really comes down to your budget constraints, how much control you want over the design and level of professionalism that you want to portray, but hopefully this post will have given you more information about the options available to you as an aspiring or experienced illustrator.

For anyone interested in setting up their own WordPress blog or website, there are FREE tutorials available on the Zero2Illo resources page which will guide you through the entire WordPress set-up process from purchasing your domain name and hosting to creating a blog or full blown website with an integrated blog.

Next Thursday, I’ll be posting the third and final part of the Blogging For Illustrators series: How To Market Your Blog.

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