Thanks for more great advice, Lee! I had to smile a little at your comment about starving artists. I remember a friend & I went to a presentation by an art college, and the presenter said something about being an artist as opposed to making money with your art. That's when we decided to leave. 😄 Whether or not you want a career in art - we didn't like the snobby, pompous attitude. I love your down-to-earth, clear, practical teaching style.
This video single handedly just saved my art career, you are so kind for sharing this knowledge thank you lee, for your generosity, your art is absolutely deep and beautiful ❤
This is really useful, Lee. Thanks so much for making this video. I do feel that many illustrators get into this business because they just like illustrating, rather than thinking of the business side of it. I probably had one foot in that category too. But as I'd imagine most illustrators are freelancers, and therefore self-employed, they need to be even more business minded than the regular employee. I'm a member of the Association of Illustrators and attended some of their online workshops for new illustrators. They pointed out that you'll need to use about 50% of your time on your artwork and the other 50% on business/marketing etc. I was surprised that it was so much time spent on the non-art side of the job. But with your (and a few others) help and being a member of SVS, the business side of our wonderful job is becoming clearer to me. I am really grateful to you for helping others like this. When I started in this world, I was told that artists have a reputation for trying to help their newer peers climb the ladder and get better. It is certainly my experience and I already love doing the same. Thanks for your inspiration!
I just came across your videos. I’m completing my degree in illustration. I took a class in watercolor painting. I like to illustrate a book. I’m retired and thinking about what to do.
Hi Lee! Love your drawings 😊 I am taking your classes on svs learn and am really enjoying them! These are some really great ideas. I am in my 3rd yr of running my art business and I just this year thought of my art in a multi-product kind of way. I'll def have to give some of these a try!
thanks for taking the time to make/post this info, super helpful. I've just begun taking illustration//storyboarding seriously and pursuing it as a profession in the last 2 years, and have been taking all the sVS courses and listen to all your guys' podcasts. One of my goals this year is to have 3 or 4 decent portfolio pieces for a picture book I'm writing. Thanks again!
I'm glad you started doing youtube videos again, Lee! Thanks for all the advice. I'm only starting on my art journey (moving from graphics design) and my pieces are not at a level where I can make money from them yet, but it's a good thing to keep in mind even at the learning stage: make products and come up with multiple lives for each piece. Cheers!
HI Lee! This is so helpful! How big do you make the original, and would you sell it right away (after you got it good digital version) or try to hold onto it for a while?
Great advice thank you!!. I find the scary thing is spending money on all the product! and then getting people to know you exist to sell it to them! It feels like a mountain of work to get that one sale :( (or maybe my expectations are too great!) It is really great you share everything you know though! it really helps us!!
Hey Lee! Thanks for this video; it's a lot of good stuff to think about. Here's a question: the techniques you recommend here are very self-publishing focused. Also, in the last few episodes of 3PP, you guys have been talking a lot about the benefits of self-publishing over traditional publishing. This is all leading me to wonder are queries to publishers/agents... barking up the wrong tree? A waste of time? I love the idea of self-publishing, but for someone in the early stages of an illustration career, it's incredibly intimidating. Without already being established, it looks like an impossibly long road. Hence why the trad publishing route seems like a more reliable option. Love to hear your thoughts - thanks!
That's a good question Bailey! I think that the steps here are something to start early and just begin building it. You can't do it all at once of course, so think of it as a marathon (not a sprint). I think implementing these things along with traditional pitches to publishers and agents is the real strategy. And even then, you can use this kind of thinking to really ask yourself "what am I making and where is it going?" The answer might be to a publisher, which means that. you are probably creating a pitch or a new portfolio, etc. which is in itself a sort of product. It's a grouping of images intended to show your overall skill set. So that kind of thinking could change the work you are doing in terms of new images. The big thing is to not get swept up into being "busy" and just drawing any old thing. If you are thinking "THIS piece will go into a publishing portfolio and THIS piece will be part of a print series, etc" then that is the way to go (in my opinion)." Not to make too long of a post here, but I had to go through this thought exercise today actually! I am done with my book dummy and that has been sent out to agents. And I know I wanted to make some new work. So I slowed down and just thought about what I was doing and where it will go (product vs just illustration). So I ended up doing sketches for the first card in the extended Tarot Deck I'm doing that will come out next year! Only 57 cards to go! lol!
Thanks a lot, this is very interesting and helpful! I found it very difficult to keep the price of prints, calendars and cards at a reasonable level, because printing cost is so high.. I tried to research local printing shops, but unless you print thousands of copies it’s still quite expensive. Do you maybe have any tips on that?
This is really great advice! And something I've been struggling with.. To think about everything I'm doing as products and be a little more strategic and business-oriented in my creative choices. Still very hard! As artists we naturally want to draw these random ideas that come to us 😅 At times it seems impossible to make anything else than intuition or some unexplainable feeling tells us to make at that moment. But it often doesn't lead anywhere 🥲
yea, what you are saying is true. We naturally resist what is hard. And making random sketches and even full paintings is pretty easy. Our brain WANTS us to feel at ease. Making things to move you forward is hard. It requires planning, and some not so fun stages. But push through because that is where the great things are actually made. I noticed that when I look back on things I made 2 years ago, the things that were a struggle then, are the things I still like now. And the things I made on a whim, don't really matter as much. So doing the hard work pays off. But dang, it sure is hard! lol!
Thanks for more great advice, Lee!
I had to smile a little at your comment about starving artists. I remember a friend & I went to a presentation by an art college, and the presenter said something about being an artist as opposed to making money with your art. That's when we decided to leave. 😄 Whether or not you want a career in art - we didn't like the snobby, pompous attitude.
I love your down-to-earth, clear, practical teaching style.
Thanks so much! : )
This video single handedly just saved my art career, you are so kind for sharing this knowledge thank you lee, for your generosity, your art is absolutely deep and beautiful ❤
Soooo many great tips! Thank you. 🤗👌👏
This is really useful, Lee. Thanks so much for making this video.
I do feel that many illustrators get into this business because they just like illustrating, rather than thinking of the business side of it. I probably had one foot in that category too. But as I'd imagine most illustrators are freelancers, and therefore self-employed, they need to be even more business minded than the regular employee.
I'm a member of the Association of Illustrators and attended some of their online workshops for new illustrators. They pointed out that you'll need to use about 50% of your time on your artwork and the other 50% on business/marketing etc. I was surprised that it was so much time spent on the non-art side of the job. But with your (and a few others) help and being a member of SVS, the business side of our wonderful job is becoming clearer to me. I am really grateful to you for helping others like this.
When I started in this world, I was told that artists have a reputation for trying to help their newer peers climb the ladder and get better. It is certainly my experience and I already love doing the same. Thanks for your inspiration!
Awesome man! pay it forward is what I say. : )
@@leewhite134 I do love this philosophy.
I just came across your videos. I’m completing my degree in illustration. I took a class in watercolor painting. I like to illustrate a book. I’m retired and thinking about what to do.
Thanks Lee! Glad you're back to making videos again! Tons of great info as always!
Thanks so much! Glad it helped.
Hi Lee! Love your drawings 😊 I am taking your classes on svs learn and am really enjoying them! These are some really great ideas. I am in my 3rd yr of running my art business and I just this year thought of my art in a multi-product kind of way. I'll def have to give some of these a try!
awesome! hope it helps some along the way. : )
thanks for taking the time to make/post this info, super helpful. I've just begun taking illustration//storyboarding seriously and pursuing it as a profession in the last 2 years, and have been taking all the sVS courses and listen to all your guys' podcasts. One of my goals this year is to have 3 or 4 decent portfolio pieces for a picture book I'm writing. Thanks again!
That is great! Can't wait to see your picture book on a shelf some day. : )
@@leewhite134 thanks!
I'm glad you started doing youtube videos again, Lee! Thanks for all the advice. I'm only starting on my art journey (moving from graphics design) and my pieces are not at a level where I can make money from them yet, but it's a good thing to keep in mind even at the learning stage: make products and come up with multiple lives for each piece. Cheers!
Thanks Maria! Good luck in your journey! : )
Glad you're back on UA-cam Lee. Great video.
More to come!
Great advice! Should you inform the buyer of the original that you are going to sell this image multiple times in different forms?
Awesome video, thank you for sharing!
glad ya liked it! : )
so informative Lee!Thank You!
Thanks! So glad you liked it. I'll be adding a lot of topics that go with this info soon! : )
@@leewhite134 awesome 😀
HI Lee! This is so helpful! How big do you make the original, and would you sell it right away (after you got it good digital version) or try to hold onto it for a while?
Hi Anna, Glad you found the video helpful! I typically make my originals around 20x24 inches. I sell it right away if I see someone is interested.
Great advice thank you!!. I find the scary thing is spending money on all the product! and then getting people to know you exist to sell it to them! It feels like a mountain of work to get that one sale :( (or maybe my expectations are too great!) It is really great you share everything you know though! it really helps us!!
Hi Emily! I'll be adding videos addressing that topic specifically. How to get into each of these areas without spending a fortune! Coming soon!
@@leewhite134 yay!! ☺️
Hey Lee! Thanks for this video; it's a lot of good stuff to think about. Here's a question: the techniques you recommend here are very self-publishing focused. Also, in the last few episodes of 3PP, you guys have been talking a lot about the benefits of self-publishing over traditional publishing. This is all leading me to wonder are queries to publishers/agents... barking up the wrong tree? A waste of time? I love the idea of self-publishing, but for someone in the early stages of an illustration career, it's incredibly intimidating. Without already being established, it looks like an impossibly long road. Hence why the trad publishing route seems like a more reliable option. Love to hear your thoughts - thanks!
That's a good question Bailey! I think that the steps here are something to start early and just begin building it. You can't do it all at once of course, so think of it as a marathon (not a sprint). I think implementing these things along with traditional pitches to publishers and agents is the real strategy.
And even then, you can use this kind of thinking to really ask yourself "what am I making and where is it going?" The answer might be to a publisher, which means that. you are probably creating a pitch or a new portfolio, etc. which is in itself a sort of product. It's a grouping of images intended to show your overall skill set. So that kind of thinking could change the work you are doing in terms of new images.
The big thing is to not get swept up into being "busy" and just drawing any old thing. If you are thinking "THIS piece will go into a publishing portfolio and THIS piece will be part of a print series, etc" then that is the way to go (in my opinion)."
Not to make too long of a post here, but I had to go through this thought exercise today actually! I am done with my book dummy and that has been sent out to agents. And I know I wanted to make some new work. So I slowed down and just thought about what I was doing and where it will go (product vs just illustration). So I ended up doing sketches for the first card in the extended Tarot Deck I'm doing that will come out next year! Only 57 cards to go! lol!
Thanks a lot, this is very interesting and helpful!
I found it very difficult to keep the price of prints, calendars and cards at a reasonable level, because printing cost is so high.. I tried to research local printing shops, but unless you print thousands of copies it’s still quite expensive.
Do you maybe have any tips on that?
I'm doing a whole video on that either next week or the week after. : )
@@leewhite134 Great, thank you!
This is really great advice! And something I've been struggling with.. To think about everything I'm doing as products and be a little more strategic and business-oriented in my creative choices. Still very hard! As artists we naturally want to draw these random ideas that come to us 😅 At times it seems impossible to make anything else than intuition or some unexplainable feeling tells us to make at that moment. But it often doesn't lead anywhere 🥲
yea, what you are saying is true. We naturally resist what is hard. And making random sketches and even full paintings is pretty easy. Our brain WANTS us to feel at ease. Making things to move you forward is hard. It requires planning, and some not so fun stages. But push through because that is where the great things are actually made.
I noticed that when I look back on things I made 2 years ago, the things that were a struggle then, are the things I still like now. And the things I made on a whim, don't really matter as much. So doing the hard work pays off. But dang, it sure is hard! lol!