Contacting illustrators

Over that last few weeks a have been trying to contact children’s book illustrators, mostly illustrators that are also authors as that has been the focus of my practice this year. I have mainly been sending emails so have made an illustration saying hello to try and make them a bit more personal and to stand out and hopefully encourage them to respond. I have also included a link to my website. So far I have only had one response but it contains some useful information and advice. A lot of the advice is the same as we cover on the course but it is nice to have it reinforced by other practitioners. This does highlight why I should be aiming more at publishers and agents to try and promote my work at this stage rather than just asking for advice from fellow illustrators. This is the advice I got back from
Emma Levey:

"Hi Joe,

Thanks for getting in touch with me and good luck with your final year this term.

I am pretty busy at the mo so can't take too long on this but hope the little I can offer is worthwhile.

1. Be prepared for a long old slog! It's a hard industry to get in to and not the best pay. Don't work for free and only do spec work if you get paid for it.

2. Get an agent but do your homework. My advice is to look for agents that look like they would represent your 'style' and see if there's room for you (and that you'd stand out) on their books.Know that it's easy to get a rubbish agent and difficult to get a good one. Do not go with my old agent. They were TERRIBLE. But they did help get me my first book deal.

If you're specifically going down the picture book route then try looking for a literary agent.

3. Make sure you have a strong portfolio of about x20 images showing range. Character development, b/w illustrations, observational drawings and final pieces based on narrative projects.

4. Buy this book, it will pretty much tell you everything you need to know
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/store

5. Attend book fairs. They're great for networking and for seeing what's going on in the market. 

You don't have to go to all of these but Bologna is the best one

Bologna Book Fair

London Book Fair

Frankfurt Book Fair

6. Draw, draw and draw!

Enjoy your last couple of months at Uni and make sure to try and stay in touch with other students on your course. The freelance life can be a little isolating at times.

I work in a shared studio space which definitely staves off the lonely vibes and is a very supportive environment. “

It was really nice to get this reply and it covers some very important and useful information. I had been thinking about attending the Bologna book fair, ideally getting a table at it to display my work. Every illustrator I have talked to mentions the importance of building and then maintaining a network that helps to provide job opportunities and also acts as a support network. Networking isn't something that necessarily comes naturally to me so I need to make sure I attend these events to get used to it.
The advice about what a portfolio should contain follows on from our portfolio workshops and tutorials and highlights the importance of demonstrating a range of work/skills. Including work that demonstrates your abilities in a range or formats and stages of development.
The advice about agents is really good, it is difficult starting out to know what a good agent is and also easy to feel like they are doing you a favour by giving you your first break. I need to start researching literary agents, looking at who they have on their books and thinking about how my work would fit.