@mattramsey I have a 50% job and 2 small kids and I have been completely transparent about this when talking with the agent that is now representing me. It did not seem to be a matter of concern at all - indeed it was not even a topic. At the end of the day it is a business relationship - the agent is doing a service for you and you are paying him/her. Since her pay depends on the amount of work you can get done, she needs to balance the amount of effort she invests vs the return she gets. I got the feeling that agents are more concerned with artists not performing on a project they agreed to (which affects their reputation as agents) rather than artists turning down projects.
Actually what is happening to me now is that my agent is advising against taking a project I have procured because the terms are not good enough. So she is actually suggesting I turn down a job, although she would get money from it and did only very limited work. I find this to be a very good start, actually!
Next 3rd Thursday: Agents
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@mattramsey I have a 50% job and 2 small kids and I have been completely transparent about this when talking with the agent that is now representing me. It did not seem to be a matter of concern at all - indeed it was not even a topic. At the end of the day it is a business relationship - the agent is doing a service for you and you are paying him/her. Since her pay depends on the amount of work you can get done, she needs to balance the amount of effort she invests vs the return she gets. I got the feeling that agents are more concerned with artists not performing on a project they agreed to (which affects their reputation as agents) rather than artists turning down projects.
Actually what is happening to me now is that my agent is advising against taking a project I have procured because the terms are not good enough. So she is actually suggesting I turn down a job, although she would get money from it and did only very limited work. I find this to be a very good start, actually! -
@mattramsey that is an excellent question. I am hoping to have my agent there with us during the session, so I can ask about that.
If I were to answer it, I'd say it would be a tough sell to sign a part time illustrator. When an artist turns down work it can get frustrating for a client and if they are turning down 80% of the jobs offered, it could be a strained relationship. The x factor there is that if you are good enough, an agent will still probably sign you. It's based on two factors, the first obviously being money and how much an agent can make from you. But the other thing is reputation. If you work looks good on an agents site and bumps up their status, it can be a good thing. Then when a client comes for you and you can't do it, the agent should be able to redirect the client to someone else on their roster. This happened a lot at Shannon Associates which was my first agent.
Thanks for all your questions guys, keep em' coming! Also, if anyone is at the point of needing or wanting a rep (be serious here), please post a link to your website. I may have my agent critique some of the work from an agents perspective.
SVS Faculty Instructor
www.leewhiteillustration.com -
@Lee-White - Hi Lee, I am hoping that my quality of work is at or getting close to the level of something that an agent might consider worthy of representing. I would love some feedback/critique from your agent if time allows. My site for your consideration is: www.RichGreenArt.com
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@Lee-White Wow! I'd love to have an agent's perspective on where I'm at now. I have received some professional advice and thus have some work I intend to do in the 1st Quarter (maybe 2nd too), but I would like to be shopping myself in 2017 sometime (probably less to Picture Book right now and more to Middle Grade / Young Adult as well as packaging & product imprints, marketing & editorial).
My site is at: http://www.QuietYell.com
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@Lee-White Thanks Lee, I'm not sure at what stage someone's portfolio is ready. I'm sure I need to add more to mine, but I would love a review from someone in the know. I am definitely going to be looking for representation in 2017. My web page link is https://kellylane.myportfolio.com
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@Lee-White Cannot pass that up
You gave me a really nice review of my portfolio site when i first put it up which i really appreciated! one thing you mentioned was
"That brings me to my crit of your overalll site. As an art director, I would like the work, but have no idea how I could use you. It's not really children's book, it's not really editorial, it's not portraiture, it's not concept art, etc. I couldn't really figure out how I would use you. And that can be a great way to think about it moving forward, (provided you want to do this for a living. If not, just do what makes you happy).This obviously has stuck in my head - my hope would be to find out if there could be a home for my style of working - or if there is the possibility that there is a rep somewhere that might be interested in this type of work and if so how to go about finding them - i think i have maybe 12 or so more Wizard of Oz pieces to do so i will be working this way for a while yet - but afterwards, if there is no home for this type of work, i would like to focus on what would make my work a better fit for publishing - anyways ... definitely throwing my website into the ring for this
kevinlongueil.com -
@Lee-White Another question about agents came to me:
How can we help the agent? (This is a more post-agent-illustrator-relationship question but may imply some things important to do/prepare beforehand)
What is it that an agent may need or want (or not want) in order to help them be “the best agent they can be.”
Obviously, there are things like “deliver when and what you say you are going to deliver to a client” and “don’t bad mouth clients”, “act professionally”, etc., and while it is good to get a response of such things, I am talking about how to help the agent in ways like:
• How many new, relevant pieces of work are beneficial to an agent per month/quarter/year? (I’m assuming that a “stagnant” portfolio is unhelpful and that “fresh new work” is helpful, regardless of whether it is contracted or personal work)
• How much self-marketing efforts are helpful? (I’ve heard, that some agents even contractually discourage self-marketing)
• What information and/or approach on the illustrator’s website, marketing material, & social media accounts would help/hinder an agent? (such as a more personal bio vs. strictly professional one, blog entries, client listings, personal-vs-exclusively-business social media posts, personal information (perspectives, interests, experiences, etc.), and so forth)
I’m sure there are many other areas where an agent can be helped or hindered (e.g. with proposals, contracts, availability & acceptance rates of projects, project postmortem documentation, thank you cards, etc.) and maybe others here could chime in on some thoughts.
It just seems to me that it is important to support the agent as best as possible (and definitely not hinder them) throughout the relationship and am interested in knowing how to aid in “supercharging” their efforts.
Thanks again!
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@Lee-White You are amazing. I am no where near ready for an agent, but it is so wonderful of you to do this for your students
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I am really interested in this topic too. Hoping to search for an agent this new year, but don't know at what point my portfolio is good enough, so I'm not giving bad first impressions and wasting anyone's time. I think a lot of really relevant questions have been posted in this thread already.
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@Lee-White It might be nice if you all can address some of the thoughts brought up by Giuseppe Castellano in his new post according to your perspectives: http://www.gcastellano.com/arttips/do-i-need-an-agent
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It will be great to hear the SVS team's take on all these questions - so many good ones! It's tempting to put myself forward for critique but I think I need a bit more time for my art to evolve, before I'm serious about being represented, and I already have agent feedback to work through. But as @lmrush said, it's great that you are here to help us like this, and long-term I think an agent might be a very good thing, so I'll be interested to see what comes out of this topic.
@QuietYell Thanks for posting that link - really insightful!