How To Find Illustration Clients | Advice For Illustrators

How do you find illustration clients? There are plenty of obvious clients that use illustration, but if they are obvious to you, they are obvious to everybody else.
In this video, I'm going to show you what I would do if I was searching for new clients. If you do this, you will have an almost endless list of potential new illustration clients to contact.

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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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[petergray]

James, this is hands down one of the most practical, applicable and informative pieces of content I have seen on this subject and I am super grateful for the huge amount of value and advice you are sharing on this channel! Thank you so much 🙌

[elahebaloochi]

I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude. After watching these videos, many of my questions were clarified. Your work is incredibly valuable, and I truly appreciate it.

[shahnazmahpour]

Thank you so much for these practical guides, James. your videos are perfect and exactly what we needed as artists.
Also, your videos have a chill vibe and are pleasing to watch :)

[GPurimu]

Wow, so much value delivered in this video compared to many many "tricks" and "tips" for artists, this is actionable content, thanks again

[JosephMelanconArt]

One of the most helpful videos about freelancing or illustration I know of. This channel of yours is GOLDEN! Thank you.

[ljayesquires]

Thanks so much again for the amazing info! It makes it all seem a bit less daunting. Cheers!!

[duncanmattocks]

Once again thank you for this video James - Such great information :)

[slippereend]

Hi James, I've just recently started looking for an agent and thus stumbled across your channel. I find your videos very helpful and pleasant to watch as well. I love the tone and the fact that there isn't any music. It makes them very relaxing, next to them being informative. Thanks for putting these vids out there and I'd love to see more in the future!

[sassyjay]

This is gold, absolute gold. Thank you so much for sharing this information, I have found nowhere else, blogs, articles and job listing websites sharing such useful information. It is much appreciated.

[afxgiu]

thank you so much for these videos <3

[richardbornemann]

Hey James - the process you describe does work and the way you break it down with a step-by-step demo showing how you develop the prospect is excellent. Seeing this happen live, so to speak, really helps to demystify the process. There is one thing that I would definitely do differently, actually that I have done differently for years, and that is to only wait a maximum of 2 months before recontact with new work. That really helps build your brand more quickly because an art director will see your work more often. Actually, I use only 6 weeks, and have rarely gotten a complaint about it being too often. I also have used Agency Access to powerful effect. I plan to do a video on how to use them for marketing in an upcoming video, I just haven't gotten to it yet. Great video.

[vee-istw]

Thank you so much for all this information ❤️

[wc]

I'm embarking on my illustration career and everything feels intimidating...thanks for pointing me in the right direction, James!

[jmedz]

Hi James, I just wanna say thank you for this video & its interesting seeing your live process of how you go about taking names of publications, reminds me of the same sort of thing I did back in uni & post-graduation eons ago.

After trying for so long to get somewhere for over a year - I decided to quit trying to get into the illustration industry or find clients simply because I wasn't really getting anywhere with it .. I then dipped in & out of doing this same process over again throughout the years whilst working different jobs but again, getting nowhere .. I think one big struggle of mine is the fact that people just aren't interested in my "style" - yet there's many other artists out there who do just about the same thing I do, but they all get work with these random publications that no-one has heard of because they have other agents dealing with it & finding them online.

I could be wrong, but 10 years after graduating in Illustration & trying to see where my work fits in took its toll on me that now I just do it as a hobby - but I still wish I could do just one major publication at least once in my lifetime ..

[sodaprincessrox]

Thanks James, this is an absolute gem. I appreciate you sharing practical illustration secrets like these, especially during these difficult economic times.

[igormyrmyr]

Awesome video James! I would check out a tool called voila Norbert if you haven’t already.

You pop in the first and last name of the art director, and the URL of the studio they work out. And it spits out their work email address. It’s not always accurate but it has worked wonders for me!

[maritrolljenta]

Such an informative and easy guide. Thank you :) Do you have any tips on what to write in the email? Like, how do I keep it personal, but still short and not annoying? I tend to spend so much time on drafting emails

[BornConphused]

Your channel is a true discovery for me! I am listening it the entire evening. I am curious, do you do private portfolio review? I would really like to hear your thoughts.. where can I follow if you decide to start doing portfolio reviews?

[morecoffee]

Awesome video! Do you have any tips on how to write an Email to a potential client and what to include in it? For example: Is it enough to link your portfolio website or should you include selected works in the email itself? Should It just be a couple of sentences or a full on application?

[anastasiiatem]

Hey! Thank you for your video. I just don't not sure what I should write in an email. And do I need to attach examples or just a link to a personal web-site?