How to submit your work to an illustration agency

When you feel like you're ready to submit your work to an illustration agency, you want to make sure you are doing everything right. If you submit your portfolio the right way, you can be pretty sure it will be looked at by the right people.
Illustration agency submission guidelines vary, and what works for one agency, won't work for all of them.

My guide to illustration agency submissions:

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ABOUT ME
I’m James, an illustration agent @folioart - I share what I’ve learned about the illustration industry to help new illustrators find their first clients and become professionals faster.

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[sodaprincessrox]

As an illustrator, this is the channel I've been waiting for. No fluff or flashy visuals, just right down to the nitty gritty details. Kudos to you!

[jason_snell]

Nice! Awesome to hear from someone in the inside on how to do it properly -- much appreciated!

[nurulashari]

Hi James, thank you for this awesome information. Right now i am going to make some submission for agencies, it really helps me.

[elahebaloochi]

These videos have been incredibly helpful to me. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for creating and sharing them!

[deadpixeldesigns]

This was so simple and informative. I've done a lot of research and have looked at a lot of submission/contact pages of Illustration agencies, fine tuning and deciding where to send and how to word my emails professionally. Yet, I still felt like I was missing something or not understanding what I should do, but I wasn't. It was just a matter of being conscientious and clarifying what I am supposed do as required by any agency. Thank you very much for sharing!

[freyabeya]

This is so helpful, thank you. I am just getting hung up on a very small detail and its holding me back. I'm not sure how to open the email, should I find someone specific to direct it to like the director, or senior agent or more than one agent? I never know whether to open it with Hi Amy and James or Hi Grand Matter team for example.. (over-thinker here)

[shaunbeyond]

Massive thanks! from an Illustrator. Btw, my guy you look like Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins combined into one person. Thanks again for the good work.

[greenpompom]

thank you! this is very helpful! not sure i got this right, would you add the jpegs in the body of the email or send them as attachments?

[Julieb]

Hi there, thanks a lot for this video. It's very helpful. So I took the plunge and finally applied to several agencies a couple of weeks ago. A week later or so I got a response from one of them (you actually mentioned it in your video :-). They said they like my work and I have great potential. Obviously, I'm super excited. They've asked me to send a one pager with 20-25 illustrations on them to fully review my portfolio. I did, and now I'm waiting.... What does it mean? Is it a usual process? An extra hurdle so to say? I'm over the moon I've got this lovely feedback so far, but I've been losing my mind at the same time and the wait is killing me... 😬😱🤯 Thanks for reading me.

[eczeyqt]

Thank you! I have a question about a personal site: is it "the site" site, or a page in Instagram or Artstation does well?

[duncanmattocks]

I have been watching your videos on a loop all afternoon - Another question if I may? I only have a Behance page at the moment, no personal website or social media for this type of work. Is that important or is the standard of work the most important thing?

[andreaonishi]

Hi James, I have recently found you channel and I have to say, it is excellent. Thanks for sharing such a great amount of useful information. When I have submitted my portfolio to an agency I got an email response saying that my work wasn't ready yet and in the same email they offered me a paid mentorship. Is this common in the industry ? I was suprised, it gave me impression that they want to make bussiness in the moment you are vulnerable getting rejected.

[katec]

This is great thank you. I've just contacted my first agency recently and felt quite nervous about it, but luckily I did everything you said here. Do agencies ever give feedback on illustrators work ie suggesting what to work on to get hired? I'm moving from another sector so I'd love some feedback but I know they are busy and maybe don't have time to do that.

[CharlesPhilos]

hello. first of all, thank you for this amazing video.
I have a question. If an illustrator applied to few agences and he got approval to be represented from more than 1 agency ( assuming he is very lucky 😅 ), then what will happen? is it posible to be represented by few agency? i know its a silly question because getting 1 agency is difficult, but it just a question out of quriousity. Sorry for my bad english. 😅

[indrahunter]

Thanks so much for this video. I'm on my fourth children's book atm and considering looking for agents. Do you have any suggestions for resources that might help find smaller agents? Like a catalogue or something? Sorry if it's a dumb question.

[elizabethwalters]

If I live in a country where there are no opportunities for illustrators, how can I get an agent if they won't even consider me until I've already have a client list?

[alfredosousarubio]

Hi. Where are those agencies located? Is it Ok if I send my stuff to one of those or to any agency even if I don't live in that region? or should I just focus on agencies in my state and local area (which is Denver CO)?

[mamig]

Hello! I live in Japan, is it rude to have two agencies one for the western world and one for asia?