How I became a freelance illustrator | My story + career tips!

Hello aspiring illustrators, welcome to the first video of my brand new channel, Art Business with Ness! In this video, I tell you a little bit about myself and how I became a freelance illustrator. Plus I give you my top 3 tips on how you can do the same and give you a FREE portfolio guide to help you along.

How I became a freelance illustrator | My story + career tips!

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[ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thank you for watching, illustrators! When it comes to starting your own illustration career, what do you struggle with the most? Let me know in the comments below so I can address this in a future video!

[littleravendesigns]

You are a blessing and I believe I found you at the right time in my life. I went to school for animation however the university I went to went under transition so I didn’t learn what I was supposed to. I wasn’t able to return to school afterwords and hand drawn animation was dropped and I couldn’t grasp 3D. So I got stuck doing the 9-5 and did art on the side mostly as a caricature artist and working party gigs. Now I am exhausted by my 9-5 and ready to fulfill my dream of illustrations! I been binge watching your videos and many tutorials! Watching your videos made me sit down and come up with a realistic plan! Thank you for your amazing advice!

[TheArtMentor]

These are great tips! Especially enjoyed the segment on your Etsy shop, and how it allows you to diversify your income stream

[mainemoragriegaart]

Thank you for the tips and the free guide :)

[blackbearjam]

I'm so glad I found your channel, you know what you are talking about and have clear ideas to share. Thank you Ness

[mainemoragriegaart]

I'm really so grateful that there are still kind of person like you to give us advices and tips. I'm also one of an aspiring illustrator like everyone else that looks for a useful tips to land a contract. But I'm not really yet starting to look for contracts unless I'm ready and equipped. I still have plenty to learn of how to start this and I don't want to mess up big time on my first client. So thank you so much for this. :)

[syedtamimhassan]

Your videos are amazing and very informative!! I'll keep company to your videos. Keep em coming, Ness!

[andrewbehr]

Thank you for sharing your great content! Your videos are very inspiring. I've made a lot of the same mistakes you mentioned in a portfolio. Now I'm rebuilding and trying to the more focused approach.

[ThePVTWOLF]

Hi ness.

Thanks for sharing!

In my case I simply stayed on the same subject and went very hard in that area. Later the opportunities came as I kept on posting,

[Isasinbela]

Really great advice! thank you! i just start my journey on the illustration path and i found your channel i hope we can grow together!

[danieljamiesonillustrates]

Wow a very cool story. You have some great points. Yes it all starts with a good portfolio. For me i struggle with the marketing side of my work, something i slowly am developing on now.

[Elimikoart]

Ness! This video is so helpful and I'm so glad that I found you on SVSLearn! I would say my biggest hurdle is focusing on a portfolio direction. I get so many different ideas for projects and what I want to do, that I get overwhelmed with the ideas that I don't have time to do them all, so I just go back to working on commissions that aren't very fulfilling. Eventually I get tired of commissions and the whole process starts over again lol it's a vicious cycle! So this upcoming year I'm going to plan more personal projects that will fulfill my portfolio dreams and do less commissions.
Great video Ness! Keep going!

[liaa]

Binge watching your videos! And man my perspective has already changed on a lot of things! Keep up the great work! Your advice is really helpful and looking forward for more content

[micha]

You got here nice video for all uf us :) Thank You. Nice to listen to you.
Yeah reaching out to all publishers/companies is really important, getting the contacts, after some time, every now and than sending fresh new portfolio.
Nice pdf guide :) Best piece to the front and some great piece at the end and also some good piece in the middle, true true true. Also important to have contact on every site in the pdf, because sometimes publishers print portfolios out.
Don't forget to put the link to your Etsy shop in the description:) I think many would like to go there and look and maybe buy :)

[kaylagroening]

Hi Ness. Congratulations on starting your YouTube channel! I've been a fan of your work on SVSlearn for some time.

My biggest setback is that I have a lot of interests and am not sure what route I want to go. I'm don't want to back myself in a corner. It will likely have to pick one to focus on and then continue to develop skills in the other categories once I am established. This will probably eventually result in separate portfolios to highlight different specializations (children's book illustrations and graphic novel/comic art/storyboarding) and see where I want to go from there.

It can be really humbling to contact clients. I'm getting good at dealing with rejection.

Great video. :)

[miavonlange]

I really enjoy your video and it gives me a lot of great things to think of. What is difficult for me, is to really figure out what my style is and also what for I could use my illustrations. Would be great to hear how you found out about that!

[kaelynnemakan]

Thank you for making this video! I also live in Ottawa! I am just getting started on this "illustration journey" and I found your channel. I'm going to go through all your videos because this is all really helpful. Thank you again!

[humphrey_bear_MDC]

Thanks for the advice and great videos. I have done some small assignments here and there, but I would like to become a full-time illustrator.

[duyhoang]

Hi Vanessa, I just want to say that I really like your content. Really resourceful. Especially talking about your process of becoming a freelancer. And yes, looking for opportunities is a constant battle. My real struggle is my portfolio for sure and trying to reach out to companies. Anyway, really proud of what you did accomplish. I must say, it takes a lot of guts. :)

[finnikas]

Awesome video! My biggest struggle is having confidence, and compensating for my lack of instruction on how to be a professional illustrator. I try to learn as much as I can by myself, with available ressources online, but I always feel unprepared and unsure, especially when talking to clients, since I've never received coaching for managing the business side of being an artist. So, you could say your channel is really on point for me, haha!