Some questions (illustrator agents, publishers,...)

[Cédric Trojani]

Hello,

I have some questions, sorry if I'm a little long in this post...

- Illustrator agent (or representative, I don't know the right word) : do you think it can be usefull to contact some agents in the usa or anywhere else ? I used to work in France with one illustrator agency but it's a small agency and they didn't give a lot of work to their illustrators (and I had to work a lot to do good portfolios for them). There is only a few agents in France and I don't know if in other countries they help more often illustrators


- publishers : do you know where I could find a list of publishers (child publishing but not only) because I'd like to try to contact some of them. Do you know if they really read emails and if they take some time to look at online portfolios (I can't afford multiple color prints of the drawings and send it to many people) ?

- online portfolios websites : do you know if websites like iStockphoto.com or portfolio.com are interesting ? Some are free and some can be expensive and I don't know if they are a good display place for drawings, if customers really visit these sites ? if yes, wich one could be a good first choice ?

thank you for any idea (even negative ones) because until now I worked more as a graphic designer and I 'd like to try to be more a illustrator, maybe not immediatly but I don't know exactly where to begin.

Cédric

ps : you can give me answers here or by email ( ced at graphinc.com)

[D Akey]

Reps are funny.

They might be good for you, OR you may never get work through them.

Their thing is that they are showing their whole stable of artists. Whichever one the client wants is fine by them. They make money when they sell any of their people's work.

So, their incentive to push you is nebulous. If you show that you sell well, you'll be probably well represented. If not, then you may have wasted the term of your agreement with them (a year or more).

Plus they will claim that should you personally get any work, that it was because of their showing your work around. So they may claim a percentage of your sales that you got on your own. Sometimes that's fair and sometimes not.

They could also claim any sales for a period of time after you disolve the working relationship and you go elsewhere. Mind what you sign AHEAD of time. And yuo may want to say that they can claim only the area that they represent you in. e.g. advertising but not editorial or film markets.

Think it through and thoroughly read any contracts.

Also, Hanzz made you a good suggestion in another thread -- contact all the magazines you can think of. Start with a letter of inquiry first though. It's polite, tells you what their submission policy is, and may get you remembered when they finally see you and/or your work.

Your advantage starting out is to develop a personal raport with art directors and editors. If they learn they can trust you to deliver, they may start calling you regularly.

There's a lot more to it, but this is enough info for this post.

Good Luck!

:)

[Cédric Trojani]

thank you for your asnwer. I'll follow what Hanzz suggests me.

Cédric