How to Start Your Illustration Career (Part 2) - Contacting Art Directors

[@sofijakamasi6467]

I learned more about art industry and business from your videos than from 8 years of art schooling. Thank you for sharing

[@AnooshaSyed]

You are so welcome!

[@KaranKumar-ee6rn]

Thanks very helpful video, going to try these tips .

[@happyhealthymonkey]

Thank you so much for a bunch of helpful tips dear Anoosha! I definitely will apply most of them on my searching for gigs now. THANK YOU, and I wish you all the best for your gorgeous career!!!

[@Javicandraw]

Hi Anoosha! another great video! Your email examples are a big help! at the end of the video you talked about improving your video setup. I Don't think you need anything else for video, the iphone works just fine. However if you want to improve your audio you can get a cheap snowball microphone and after a bit of equalization you can make it sound great. I'm also sure that if you look for it there are videos about equalizing an iphone's mic from whatever editing app you are using, maybe that is all you need. I'm loving your content, keep it coming!

[@AnooshaSyed]

Hey! Thank you so much! I actually still have my good mic left over from when I used to do my podcast, but I couldn't figure out how to record audio and video separately (since I cant connect the mic to my iphone) and then join them together in Premiere :(

[@Javicandraw]

@@AnooshaSyed connect the mic to the computer and record the audio directly from premiere. Or just use any audio recorder app and then drag the audio into premiere. If you do this, remember to clap at the beginning to sync the audio and video!

[@AnooshaSyed]

@@Javicandraw Ahh awesome, thank you!

[@claytonbouldin9381]

I stumbled across your YT page and it has been most helpful. Thanks!

[@tehremy683]

This is super helpful! Thank you Anoosha 😍 keep making more videos. Video about designing a portfolio would be a good topic as well.

[@AnooshaSyed]

I'll be sure to do that one day!

[@NeverErase]

Your videos are incredibly helpful & inspiring. Loving seeing a south asian queen! Thank you so much for sharing :)

[@AnooshaSyed]

thank you so much!!

[@Cam-ue5ly]

Thanks for the thorough and extremely helpful videos!!

[@AnooshaSyed]

You are so welcome!

[@ziggyssia]

thank you so much! Your videos are so informative!

[@cinnamon5124]

Hi Anoosha, thank you so much for all this wonderful info! I swear you launched my career. If the publisher website has a general submissions email (mostly for manuscripts) that does not go to the art director, but the art director has a personal site with a contact form...can I bypass the submissions page to submit my illustration portfolio directly to the art director? Or is that considered rude...?

[@elim4605]

Thanks so much for this amazing advice! I took a ton of notes lol

[@AnooshaSyed]

You’re welcome!

[@stevetgraphixartist]

LOVE THE INFO! THANKS!!!! Iphone is fine!! YOU ROCK!!

[@caitlinbogan6657]

Thanks so much for these awesome videos! It's really nice to hear your personal and first hand experience, and how to apply that to my own journey.

[@AnooshaSyed]

You are so welcome!

[@sophiependragon2467]

Very helpful ❤

[@soulsista934]

This is so helpful!! Thanks for sharing!

[@AnooshaSyed]

Glad it was helpful!

[@verii5307]

Thank you so much for this video! I'm an illustration student whose classes are cancelled indefinitely, so this video helped a lot!! Thanks, Anoosha!

[@AnooshaSyed]

Glad it was helpful! And best of luck!!

[@drawingintheforest]

watching your videos to get ready for my 2021 art goals/new years resolutions!! thank you so much for making these! i found them soooo helpful! happy holidays :^)

[@AnooshaSyed]

Thank you so much!! Happy holidays :)

[@TheMissbambi]

Hey, could you write a video on how to answer an email when you get an assignment? What kind of questions you then ask? Because I got an email with a small job but no idea about budget, art style and what they have in mind, just one about if im available and interested and a small idea about what magazine it is for. I just don't really know how to ask the right questions!

[@AnooshaSyed]

Hey! I'll definitely make a video on that in the future. But when you get an email for a possible project, don't accept anything until you have all the necessary information you can use to help with your decision. It's fine to ask as many questions as you need. Things like, what is the budget of the project, what is the description of the project, how many pieces do you need, what format do you need delivered, do they have any preferences for the style, what dimensions will the work be, what the schedule and timeline is like, when and how payment would be made etc

[@tawfeeqsadan5718]

This is very helpful. Alot of these points might come across as obvious to illustrators and designers but it is stuff most of us tend to overlook and makes us seem less professional. Lol for Tom Nook. Thanks for sharing. As for the audio. Theres a free program for windows and mac called Audacity. It has a Noise Reduction menu where you can toggle the amount of echo in your audio. Other video idea: short tips on making your first live portfolio (maybe w Behance or something). Good job on the video. Have a nice day.

[@AnooshaSyed]

I wasn't sure how hard or easy to make these videos haha; I know I take a lot of my knowledge for granted now but realize that there are people starting out where this information would be really helpful. I'll aim to do a mix of both, making videos aimed at people for different skill levels. Oh yes thank you for the audacity reccomendation!

[@tawfeeqsadan5718]

@@AnooshaSyed that's a great idea. And you're welcome :) I hope it helps

[@elenacomte5086]

Thanks again! Really helpful.

[@AnooshaSyed]

Happy to help!

[@jessoliveart]

thank you so much for this video ♥♥

[@gerganastoyanova3335]

Do you have advice how to approach an AD at a convention?

[@Gleniz]

Thanks for doing this! This is very helpful. You're audio is really good don't worry about it :)

[@AnooshaSyed]

Thank you!!

[@snowballvsjohnnynow9181]

Hello, I was watching this video and thinking that you were helping us find your art director agent. So, that I can work with your agent. Did you make a video on that? thanks love your work and would love to see more about the process to write a children's book with you as an illustrator. thanks

[@_DevipriyaB]

thank you

[@jieyudeng8921]

May I know if contacting an art director when I have an (exclusive) agency is effective?

[@mimimar_]

Thank you so much for these videos Anoosha, the information you're sharing is really valuable!

[@AnooshaSyed]

You're so welcome!

[@gnaspani72]

It’s very helpful advice, Anoosha! Thank you so much for uploading such great information about them. :D is it okay to send a email to art director directly if their publishers do not accept unsolicited portfolio on official site? I’m just afraid if I disturb them too much or they do not check my portfolio not at all Lol….

[@AnooshaSyed]

Thank you! Depending on the situation you could send them an email with your work! If you're only emailing them once, I wouldn't call it 'disturbing too much'. And yes there's a chance they don't look at your portfolio at all (it happens, but theres a chance they might look!) but if you don't send the email at all, theres a 100% chance they don't see your work!

[@gnaspani72]

@@AnooshaSyed wowww thank you so much for your kind message!! 0v0 yes as you mentioned, I agree that I wouldn't disturb them if I send email once or twice.. and yes, I should to try as much as I can to build up my career :D I was quite nervous to submit, but I feel more confidence and relexed after I read your comment. Thnak you, Anoosha. I will look forward to see your lovely new book soon! :)

[@AnooshaSyed]

@@gnaspani72 thank you so much and best of luck!

[@danysercia]

I’m starting this grueling journey in 2022, I’ll hopefully replay to this comment once I get my first job. Hopefully within the next 5 years.

[@rad_raf]

Thankssss a tooooonnn

[@aliveasalways]

The email hack is the whole reason I made my work email specifically unpredictable in my previous office, although nobody outside of the office ever emailed me 😂

[@zeze3669]

Hi! I have been watching a few of your videos about illustration freelancing. I am currently working in Korea, but do you know if I can contact to the art directors in other countries to work with them? For example, if I contact an art director in the States, will they still willing to work with me even though I am not in the states? thank you so much, I really think these videos are helpful and I didnt really learn about it during my college years. So I am happy I found your videos! :)

[@AnooshaSyed]

Hi! Some companies might require only hiring people locally or within the continent because of tax/internal reasons, but most companies are willing to hire internationally. Since all this work is done online and you're only doing email, it makes no difference if the artist is near or far away. You might need to figure out the banking, (like how they will send you your money internationally and know that there might be a fee for it) and any special forms to fill out (like because I'm in Canada, I have to sign a government W8-BEN-E form) but their finance team should help. It won't hurt to contact any of these AD's you are interested in and just let them know you are based in Korea. :) Good luck!!

[@zeze3669]

@@AnooshaSyed Hi, thank you for your reply! I would definitely try it out first! Have a nice day and stay safe ! :)

[@agatarek_pl]

Thank you

[@kaferine]

So helpful! Do you think you'd like to work as an art director someday?

[@AnooshaSyed]

Maybe one day, but I love being an illustrator right now. As an art director you end up drawing less and managing more; and while some people are better suited to that, I just love drawing too much!!

[@melaniac9895]

Hi Anoosha! Just finished watching these series of videos about how you started your career, I'm just a self thought beginner illustrator so I really value all professional advices! Thank you for that! How did you managed frustration and nor giving up? I'm really pushing and committing myself to reach the goal of becoming an illustrator (and photographer, since it's what I studied irl), I'm planning to start with merchandise illustrations but my wish would be to be able to make some publications as album illustrations books, right now I have so much work to do, to improve my skills and build a presentable portfolio, that sometimes I loose hope...

[@AnooshaSyed]

I knew that being an artist is what I wanted to do more than anything else in the world. However, I originally wanted to work in animation and unfortunately that dream didn't quite work out for me. I found that illustration was a career that was more suited to me and I learned that goals are allowed to change. You can read more here: twitter.com/foxville_art/status/1079745107199475716?s=20

[@JazzyCast]

i have a question...should you ask an art director for % payment upfront?

[@AnooshaSyed]

Jazzy You could ask to make the change in your contract but it depends on the client and how they run things. For picture books since it’s a long project, the contract will say 50% on signing and 50% upon delivery. But for a short term project it would be paid at the end. The clients I worked with have all been trustworthy/reputable clients/companies so I’m not concerned about being paid at the end. But if you are worried about being cheated, you could insist and 25% on signing? Something you’d have to discuss with the client.

[@JazzyCast]

@@AnooshaSyed Thank you so much for taking time to reply ! It is a reputable company and they reached out to me first , since this is my first time doing book cover i am a bit cautious and asked them in my reply, hope they reply soon..

[@AnooshaSyed]

Jazzy best of luck!

[@JazzyCast]

@@AnooshaSyed Thanks so much Anoosha

[@tehremy683]

Kelly Kapoor 😂😂😂 she'd be so happy that you shifted her from Client Services to Art direction. 😉

[@AnooshaSyed]

Debating between kelly and michael scott haha