@irina

@irina said in Agent or no agent. How to get work and what's your dayjob:

Thank you muchly again. One more thing

Is it customary for agents to help you develop your work? Like offering constructive feedback or telling you what they find is a stregth in your work and what you need to develop? Is there any help with growth in that sense?

It´s not common for agents to do that. That´s what I understand from listening and talking to other artists as well as my own experience. They may point out illustration styles that sell well (my agent does - though mostly I don’t know what to make with the information), but will not offer feedback. Indeed, my agent is so careful to avoid expressing any comment on my work, that I almost think there is some taboo there....

@chip-valecek It will be amazing in your way!

@chip-valecek Sounds familiar

A long list....Where should I go with my career/business? Where do I find time to do work AND promote it? Is my agent the right one? How do I know she´s doing her best for me? How do I keep up with the competition? How should I evolve my art style? How can I find time for personal projects? Am I going to make the next deadline and NOT hate the work? How much budget should I allocate for marketing?

All interesting problems, for sure!

@irina

Does a literary agent mean i have to write my stories too? Or does it mean they work in the publishing industry whereas an illustration agent can find you jobs also for say an advertising agency?

It just means they only work in the publishing industry and they normally represent writers too.
Author-Illustrators are seeked after, though, so if you want to write they encourage that.

@nessillustration No, that would be a total no go. Of course you have to be able to seek out your own jobs - that is spelled out quite clear in my contract. The only thing my agent asked is to inform her if I write to publishing houses, so that she can take note that I contacted them already.
Otherwise, my contract covers exclusively book work. Everything else is free range...I can involve her or not, as I see fit. And she can decide not to get involved on a non-book contract if she doesn’t want to. This past year I’ve had all possible variations: jobs completely without her, jobs with her finding and managing the contact, jobs where I had the contact, but she managed it, jobs where she declined to manage even if I asked her ....a whole mixed bag.

I actually gave in and ordered an iPadPro 2 as well. I hope it will run more stable than my old iPad with ProCreate and also be able to run PS for iPad when it comes out next year. I also love the new pencil. Apple got me again....
It´s arriving before Xmas, I hope.

For me the iPad is fundamentally a tool for when I’m traveling (which is relatively often) and a super-boosted sketchbook. I don’t use it for final illustrations on client work because there are too many things missing that create more work: CYMK color profiles, brush modes, guides (for bleed, gutter, etc...), text management (to handle layout). I’m also terribly spoiled from using the Creative Cloud - I keep all my textures and color palettes in the cloud and not having them available creates extra work too.
Also, the size is really too limited for me. I want to see a whole spread in real print size, not just a piece at a time
But it´s a fabulous tool - no question. It´s inches away (literally and figuratively) from being a complete workstation substitute....

Actually many agents will insist on exclusive contracts - particularly literary agents. This means that no matter who finds the job, if it is in their remit, they will get a percent of the contract. This is quite standard, as it is difficult nowadays to know what triggered a contact in the first place. Was it something you did or something your agent did? If your agent pitches you at a meeting and then the client contacts you directly six months later for a different job, is that your agent´s contact or yours? Marketing is also just a small part of an agent´s job. They negotiate fees and deadline and take care of all administrative or legal tasks. My agent consistently negotiated more than double what I would have asked - so I’m very happy to have her tune in even on stuff that comes through a direct contact.

You know I think your linework is amazing. You evidently enjoy the inked lines and you're a master at it - so I wouldn't see a reason to change that unless you want to. You've got it all figured out: the line control, the width variation, the way it describes the shapes - I like all of it.

Now for the render - one thing that strucks me consistently in your work it's that it's overall very dark. Your shadows and midtones are consistently on the dark to very dark side and that, combined with he limited and relatively unsaturated color palette, makes it look "heavy" and a bit "unfriendly".
Here's one of your images with the midtones considerably lighter and a slight increase in saturation (compared to the original):

As for the rendering style, why not just experiment? If you're not sure you want to keep doing it this way, try cell-shading or flat coloring and see how you like or dislike the process and results. I like rendered comic books when they are well done (like in your case) and I also like more flat coloring. It can be a bit easier on the eyes, especially when you're looking at a whole page with many panels.

@irina are you going to Bologna? Fancy meeting for a coffee there? I will be at the fair the whole week.

I’m not familiar with the UK agencies (though I know Bright on their fame alone) and @NessIllustration has given you plenty of advice from her awesome experience.
Your work is excellent and you’re more than ready to get picked up by an agent - indeed I think you can have your pick! An agent can open doors that would be very hard to tackle by yourself...but it comes at a cost, of course. For me it was totally worth it, also because I know I wouldn’t want to spend too much of my time in promotion mode (it´s already plenty, even with an agent....).

Keep in mind that a Literary Agent (representing book illustrators) will cost much less than an Illustration Agent (representing all kinds of illustrators) - 15-20% of all contracts instead of 35-50% of all contracts. You can choose a mixed setup, like I did, where you have a literary agent for book work and you take care of all other types of work by yourself. Nowadays, I think I would like to have an agent take care of all the other stuff too, so I’ll be looking into getting a second rep for non-book work next year.

As for day job, I have a 20-hour contract as art director for a small internal corporate comms agency (the corporation is big, the internal agency is small ;-)). I love it because I get to do illustration there too, as well as working with other super-talented artists and designers: I learn loads of stuff that comes in very useful also in my children illustration business. It´s also very well paid. So, since you worked in architecture, do not discard the possibility to work in the same field in a different role. I hear there is an appetite for hand-drawn renderings or sketches of spaces and not all is 3D. I’ve also been involved in designing exposition booths as part of my day job, and there are artists there too - and agencies that churn out ideas for those using illustration and sketches rather than 3D software. Do not underestimate the value of your expertise and look for creative ways to position in for other jobs.
I’d personally always favor a job that is close to illustration and has a strong intellectual involvement rather than a more „classic“ day job, like being a shop assistant or waiter. The first is a source of learning and inspiration and is generally more profitable. The alternative is often just a time-sink (though I’m sure you can get loads of inspiration from working in contact with people in all cases).