I've got a couple!

The first one isn't terrible, just kind of disappointing:

I was working with an author on a project they were self-publishing/self-promoting. I had negotiated good compensation from her to be paid upfront before each group of illustrations would be done, she had done her research on marketing and was able to tell me her game plan, she had a contract and a lawyer for both of us to talk to--all was good on the business end.

She was doing a graphic novel style short story anthology of retellings of classic fairy tales with a sort of the-women-were-actually-in-charge-of-what-was-happening to them bent. Removing the damsel in distress trope, if you will. It was my first big freelance job and I hadn't thought to request the manuscript before signing the contract. Once I'd signed and been paid, I got the manuscript to work from and there were some issues I had with the content and how I felt women were being portrayed as sort of malicious and self serving. Lesson learned there. I was conflicted about having my name all over this project and having friends and family wanting to read it considering the content. But the author ended up having some emergency health issues and I haven't heard from them in a year, so I'm considering the project shelved.

This second one is more of a facepalm, what-was-I-thinking-taking-this-job situation:

I had another author approach me wanting illustrations for his book. There were lots of red flags in the initial meeting such as him starting off the conversation with, "I'm really looking for more of a partner in this idea than an illustrator" and he proceeded to tell me about how his idea should be made into book series' and movies and action figures.......yeah. I know. I chose to overlook these flags mostly because I really needed the money and had somehow made him understand that paying me a fair rate was non negotiable. He was clearly not professional at all and working with him was such a headache between poor communication and him not knowing anything about the industry or what he wanted from me.

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Definitely helpful, thank you! I always tend toward overly wordy, I appreciate the feedback!

@BichonBistro Thank you! That's a really practical way to look at approaching this. Much appreciated!

So I'm tentatively embarking on reaching out to agents/reps/whatever you want to call them, and I've just sent my first e-mail. Am not expecting to be picked up, since I'm told you get many nos before you get a yes, but it occurred to me that maybe I should've gotten some feedback first before doing this, haha.

So here's my general format:

Hello! My name is Kasey Snow and I am an illustrator who currently works with private clients to create children's books, fantasy illustrations, and book covers. I came across your profile on the _________ Agency site and I really clicked with the type of interests you have in the book world.

To give you a little background information on myself, I worked as a public school art teacher for five years before transitioning to freelance illustration. For the past few years I have been working from the ground up gathering clients and a fanbase around my work. I am at the stage where I feel ready to take the next step in my career and was wondering if you felt that I would fit in with the illustrators you currently represent.

I have attached a few sample images of my work. If you are interested in seeing more, my website is https://www.kaseysnow.com/ . If you would like to reach me by phone, my cell is ____________________.

Either way, thank you so much for your time. I hope that you have a great day.

~Kasey Snow

Any thoughts? You will not hurt my feelings, I want to succeed, so be honest, haha.

Congrats! That's always a great feeling! Contract practice is crucial. Well done!

Welcome! You have a really distinctive style, I love it! Enjoy nosing around the forums, you'll fit right in, I'm sure.

Thanks so much @Chip-Valecek ! I appreciate the feedback.

@xin-li Thank you for your feedback! I'm glad it looks tidy. As for the sub-menu, I tried loads of menu styles for sectioning my portfolio to show more work (it's so tough to figure out that balance!) and so far this is the best--but I agree, it does make it easy to miss the sections. Perhaps I'll add some text on the portfolio page that elaborates about clicking to see more, especially for people not using a desktop.

I am struggling at the moment with even keeping the sculpture/creature design sections in there, to be honest. I love doing those things, but they are more "passion projects" and not something I foresee being able to actually get clients with. I am also worried that it will make me look like a jack of all trades, master of none type thing and maybe decrease my professionalism? Not sure. Don't want to confuse or turn away future clients.

I also worry that perhaps my style is too all over the place. I am trying to work on that, but it's tough. I'm definitely still in the stage of figuring out how I like to work. Time will fix that, I hope. But it'd be nice if things could look a little more cohesive.

I also like number three!

This will be a lovely (and hopefully very healing) book when you are done with it.

Your garden pictures make me wonder if you have ever read The Secret Garden. If you haven't, I'd highly suggest it. It's a lovely book about healing and love, at its core. And my mental images of the garden in the book looked a lot like your real life garden that you made. I think you'd really understand the protagonist in a way that those of us who've never built a garden can't.

This was a really good episode! As usual, I wish I would've found you guys before I made my own transition from public school teacher to illustrator. I definitely got debt free and then saved up a year's salary before quitting, so I had some kind of safety net. However, I did not utilize that first year of freelancing in the ways that I should have. Lots of really good advice in here!

I will say that, contrary to popular opinion, teaching (at least as a public school elementary art teacher) did not afford me the oft-perceived ample amounts of free time implied by the schedule. Due to constant in-services, continuing education requirements, conferences, etc, summer vacation usually ended up being maybe 3-5 weeks if you smooshed together all of the days from weeks that were broken up by job requirements and school year prep. I tried to make it work for five years, but I did not find that I had enough time, even during summer "break" to satisfactorily complete anything of substance with my art. Kudos to any teachers out there making it happen! I often think that had I taught high school or private art school it would've been much more manageable.

Adjunct is something I'm actually looking at for that part time work piece right now; I gather that the workload for those positions is much, much lower than what I experienced. In fact, I'd love to hear a podcast on teaching at community colleges/universities as an illustrator. Especially as someone without a masters. More and more I run across professional artists that I admire who teach part time. I'd love to know best practices for getting the job, teaching well at that level, etc.

Thanks for another great podcast, you guys!

I love your work! It looks very cohesive for sure, I echo what the others said about maybe having more complex scenes.
I just dealt with this same issue about how to organize things. I ended up having a similar layout to yours but then a side menu that directs to more a comprehensive selection of each type of work.

Also, side note, when I clicked the link to your homepage in your signature, it didn't work. Maybe that's on purpose, but just thought you'd like to know.

Thanks again everyone for the input! I took it all in and ended up totally revamping the website with a newer and hopefully more professional-looking design. Also stuck all my better (in my opinion) portfolio pieces on the front to hopefully entice prospective clients.

If you have a sec to check it out, let me know if it looks okay or if I need to consider changing some other stuff.
https://www.kaseysnow.com/
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