This is what I wrote in the FAQs:

Draw a lot of fashion figures and a lot of clothes.  Have a website, even just a simple one, with examples of your best work. Make business cards with “fashion illustrator” and your website address on them. Go meet people, hand out your cards, draw, meet your deadlines, repeat.

Yes, that is pretty much the gist of it, as far as I know.  Because no one ever told me how to be a fashion illustrator.  I can count the number of fashion illustrators I’ve met on the fingers of one hand, and as far as I can tell, we’re all just making it up as we go along.  Especially now, as I am sure it is for anyone who works in any angle of media, the experiences of previous generations are more fascinating and romantic than they are useful. So before you read any further – its normal to feel like you don’t know what you are doing, and you are not the only one that feels that way.

If I have any choice nuggets of advice to give from my own brief experiences (and I’ve only been doing this for just a few years), maybe the first would be to be skeptical of advice. In fashion school, my illustration teacher cautioned me against putting my work on the internet. In retrospect, if I hadn’t, I have no idea how I would have started a career at all.

The fashion blog has been the catalyst that seems to make things happen – I am lucky that I seem to have a penchant for being a communicator and a connector because those things serve me well when it comes to hustling.  I’m sometimes asked if I want an agent – I’m not opposed to the idea but I’ve never met anyone yet who seems to have a better grasp on what I do than I do.  The only agent in Canada I can think of that I’d be into working with is Anna Goodson Management – read her blog to see why. She gets it.

Since I think making a website and business cards are pretty self explanatory, what I’m going to talk about in this post is more about the financial and philosophical angles of being a fashion illustrator, based wholly on my own experience.

The Right [Nitty-Gritty] Stuff

How much do you charge?  Estimating is an art itself. When I started out and asked the same question of other illustrators, they gave me the very oblique answer “whatever the market will bear” and at the time I vowed to myself that if I was ever in that position, I’d just give a number.  But now that I am sort of in that position, I can see that they were exactly right, in so many words.  I’m still going to try and get a bit more specific, but do keep in mind that the right answer, always, is “whatever the market will bear”.

Okay, so it is your first time making an estimate for an illustration job. Start by figuring out what your hourly rate should be in order to cover your expenses, plus however much you think you should earn based on your experience.  Use a calculator like this one from FreelanceSwitch. A rookie illustrator should be at least $30 an hour.

I prefer to quote by the project so the client can budget up front. Every time I am contacted by a potential client, I try to get as much information as possible about the project so I can develop a fair estimate.  The most important information is what the illustration is, what it will be used for, and when it is needed by.  At that point, I try to estimate how long it will take me to develop the illustration. To that, I add a buffer for a set of revisions – make sure that when you deliver the estimate, you also include a limit on the number of revisions included to keep a lid on scope creep.  Then I add how much time it will take for me to interact with the client – how easily they can give you the project specifics usually is a good indicator of how much effort correspondence will take. However many hours that is times your hourly rate is the minimum amount you should estimate.  If the deadline is really tight, its a rush job.  If you do the calculation and see you will be working outside of your normal working hours to get it done, you should double the estimate.  If you have to pull an all-nighter, it should be triple, in my humble opinion. If a client wants to see you go above and beyond, the extra effort should go both ways.

By the way, you should also have a working knowledge of copyright and usage and all of that – this stuff is tricky but important to know especially as some clients will have contracts for you to sign – I suggest obtaining the most recent copy of the Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook for comprehensive info on that – or check out the CAPIC site for Canadian-specific stuff.  I’m not going to discuss it much here because frankly, I’m no legal eagle.

ALWAYS ASK FOR MONEY. If you want to do this for a living, this is what it is all about, so don’t be shy about it. Ask for MORE money.  You’ll never know what your services are worth unless you push it.  If you get every job you send out an estimate for, you’re undervaluing yourself.  If you never have to negotiate, you’re lowballing.  This is what the illustrators I asked meant when they said “whatever the market will bear”.  Each job is worth whatever the client is willing to pay for it. Figuring out what that number is is the art of the estimate.

KNOW WHEN TO SAY NO. Trust your gut – if a brief gives you a feeling of dread, if the potential client creeps you out, its best to pass on it, even if you’re hungry.  If a client isn’t willing to pay enough for you to cover your costs, if you suss out the hours it will take to do a project and discover you’re working for minimum wage – say NO. That’s not good business and its not worth encouraging those kinds of clients.  I’d sooner walk dogs than undersell my illustration work.

Sometimes – rarely – it is a good idea to say yes to a job for less.  For me, that’s when I’m bartering services with another artist or designer, or if the illustration is in support of a charity I believe in, and most occasionally, if the project opens a new door for networking.  I don’t buy that line you’ll get, sometimes from prominent corporations who can easily afford to pay for creative work, that the job is worth doing for “great exposure” alone, but then I’m not a believer in unpaid internships either. There are some nifty magazines out there which are prestigious but don’t pay. As someone who is a committed blogger, if I’m working for free, I prefer have it on my own website. If you’re not hooked on blogging, you may want to do a few free gigs for hip rags to beef up your portfolio or as an opportunity to show off some of your edgier, artsy stuff. It is your call.

The Right [Airy-Fairy] Stuff

It is normal in the beginning stages of a business to be hungry.  The hunger is a good thing.  It takes time to develop credibility and connections. The first few years will be the most difficult.  Have a part time job, or a generous boyfriend. Get a roommate, find a side gig. Be frugal, really, really frugal.  Don’t buy things. Illustration is an easy business to get into in the sense that the overhead is very low. It is a bad business to get into if you like material indulgences and economic certainty, or if you’re servicing large student loans or mortgage payments.  If you think you can’t live on $1000 a month, you might not be able to hack it, because in the early stages, that is what it comes down to. If you’re lucky.

One thing I’ve had to get comfortable with is the idea that doubt and uncertainty will never be transcended.  The longer I do this, the more philosophical I can be when I confront adversity, but I’m not going to lie, it still gets to me sometimes.  If I go a week or two without a new job, I fear my career might be over.  If a job I wanted falls through I doubt my ability to grow my business.  If I work with a hard-to-please client, I feel insecure in my talents as an illustrator. If I see another fashion illustrator get a client I’d die for, envy chokes me. Not too long ago, I decided that these feelings were normal – that no matter where you are in your life and career, these feelings are part of being human, and are temporary conditions if you allow them to be.  Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, has been a great source of comfort for me lately.  Especially in the fashion industry, where everyone is so concerned with status and popularity is so fleeting, it is so easy to be overwhelmed by it all.  It is important to be able to figure out how develop the confidence it takes to handle your own ego and emotions as they will be constantly tested.

FAIL! Its a part of life as an illustrator – not every job is going to pan out the way you want it to.  Figure out a way to sever the ties between your work and your ego if you want to avoid heartbreak. Whether you do commissions, or you are a fine artist in the gallery scene, or a crafty kid with prints on cards and tote bags, you’re going to discover that most people are not in the market for your work, and somehow you can not let that stop you. You have to hunt down those rare, wonderful people who will pay you for what you do. Your ability to hang on long enough to succeed has everything to do with not giving up when it gets tough, and it will.

TRY! Persist and try again! Be social and meet new people, find new clients. Try your hand at making products – print your illustrations on stuff. Try teaching classes on illustration. Try contributing to a group show at a gallery. Explore designing textiles, graphic design, learn how to make your own website. Make your own opportunities. Explore every tangent related to fashion illustration – myself I’m quite into this fashion blogging thing.  Some stuff will work and some won’t, but its always worth being inventive, especially if the investment is minimal. As Gala Darling says in The Smart Girl’s Guide to Business, don’t be literal about your career definition – be expansive, be experimental, be excited.

I could write ten posts about this.  But I think I’ve covered the important stuff I want to say to all of you who have asked me about how to do what I do.  I am on my own trip, so your mileage may vary.  Feel free to add your own thoughts and tips in the comments.  And good luck on your own trip.

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