How Do Clients Find Me?

[@teohyc]

Pretty much what I expect. It's so easy, relatively speaking, to get discovered online nowadays, assuming the artists share art regularly and write text (SEO) for them.

[@marisspot7677]

Yes absolutely I would LOVE a more in-depth video on portfolios!!!! I can’t thank you enough for all the advice you share, I always thought the only way to start getting client work was to send out postcards or email to a bazillion companies, now I can focus my attention on my (currently sad) website and portfolio! THANK YOU HOLLY!

[@anateixeira9006]

Yes! Portfolios are so important...For people struggling with this subject: Build your portfolios for clients, don't build it for agencies. People often forget that are working for clients...As a Creative Director we receive a lot of portfolios that are built for agencies. Sometimes we don't even know the true potential of people because the work people show are not meant for clients, it's full of work that don't represent what you can do and if you're capable of answer a briefing. Yes, big agencies compete against each other, their websites are made for other agencies to see what brands are they working, it's a slap in the face to many...yes, it's kind of a battlefield...they are not build for the common client. Unless your goal is to work for a big agency and big brands you need to think like a client when you're building your portfolio. Another thing, don't be frustrated if you do not get an answer from the client/agency...It's common, it's not polite and not the right thing to do, but it's how some people work. At my work we try our best to give an answer to every email we receive, even if we're not interest in their work. It's something called respect, something that people often forget. Last, sorry Holly for the huge answer to your video... I like how you explain things to people that are knew in this field, it's simple and it really shows that you're willing to help.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Such good advice!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I couldn’t agree more. 99% of all my clients find me from the same places you mentioned (though a lot of mine come from Insta rather than Twitter), and cold emails rarely ever elicit new work. I also just did a bunch of postcards myself a couple months ago, and mine have had no direct results either. Glad I tried it because I never had before, but aside from the $, putting together all of the addresses and writing little notes took a TON of time. In future I think I’ll probably just focus on portfolio work when I have flex time, and let the clients come on their own when it’s the right time.😊💕

[@jiobutler9821]

It would definitely be useful to see an in- depth video about portfolios and stuff. Thanks for sharing, this was lovely to watch :)

[@WillaGebbie]

It's interesting, and you're not the only illustrator I know who says they find all of their work online. But, I'm that other kind of illustrator, who puts much more energy into promotional postcards and emails, and it seems to work for me. I'm not great at social (nowhere near as good as you), but I do pay a lot of attention to SEO and I think this has really paid off too. My best advice for illustrators is to make sure whatever you do, do it well.... no point being on 8 different social media platforms if you're struggling to keep them all up to date. Better to stick to 1-2 and make them shit hot. Or, only do promotional mail-outs and make them shit hot. Oh, yeah, that and LOTS of time. This is a slow game. Took me about 5 years before I was getting regular work.

[@KateBauerArt]

Great info/suggestions Willa! I found I just couldn't get into twitter so i decided to drop that, as like you said - no point if you're not going to do it well!

[@danikap2533]

Really enjoyed watching this video, and would love to see a follow-up about more in-depth portfolio stuff! I'm in the middle of filling my website up with content- it's very encouraging to watch videos like these. Keep up the good work :D

[@shanslam1970]

The postcards are utterly awesome!! Did you put those together on photoshop?

[@momeraths]

This is so useful, especially as I’ve just finished my illustration degree, so thank you! Throughout my degree we’ve always been pushed into creating promotional packs to send out and to pay for high quality physical portfolios, so it’s good to know that that kind of thing is less effective before I plunge a lot of money into it, I think some of the information given on degrees is a little outdated like that. Everything you said makes a lot of sense, I’ll definitely need to make sure my SEO is up to scratch!

[@millermacaroni]

Same!! i just finished studying illustration and I feel like it didn't actually prepare me to find clients, they mostly told us to send postcards lol.

[@hollyexley]

theoctopusride can’t believe they’re still putting so much emphasis on physical portfolios! So much money to get them printed! 😲 Do they advise what to do with these portfolios?

[@momeraths]

holly exley yeah we’ve spent months putting together our physical portfolios, and online portfolios have just been treated like an afterthought where we were shown Cargo Collective and told it might be useful 🙄 We’ve always been told that illustrators will meet clients in person to look at portfolios, which hasn’t made much sense to me as I know how digital everything is but I’ve obviously not worked enough to question it! Thankfully I just bought a cheap portfolio for the degree show rather than the £50 one they recommend, I had intended to upgrade when I had more money but I won’t bother now!

[@kristafernald6940]

Your voice is so soothing to listen to😊💜

[@ambergreene5985]

Great tips! I've wondered about creating and printing promotional items such as postcards and other mailings. I've always thought the price isn't really worth it, especially when you could just really focus on having a great online presense. THE SEO tip is one that I need to work on!

[@KateBauerArt]

Thank you for sharing your insight and information! It's surprising the various avenues that we can get seen. I've found I get no visits from instagram, but lots of sales, views from pinterest! I love the postcard idea, hopefully you do get some bites from that. Pun intended. lol.

[@amiewhiting6390]

Would love to see another video going into portfolio's in depth! Thanks so much for the helpful info :)

[@debbiejoysart8128]

Yes please. I would love some tips on setting up a website and who you used to host it. I've seen some other You tubers use, eg. Wix, Square space etc...... Thank you Holly. Kind Regards Debs

[@waakkeuppp]

Love your videos. Keep up the great work 👍🏽

[@andobreslin8735]

Did you become a member of the AOI (Association Of Illustrators) to get any exposure? I'm contemplating joining, but if they don't offer anything other than some advice, I don't see the point in spending money going. In regards to Twitter - I get no interaction apart from comment sections. It's pretty much lifeless. Any peak times to upload illustrations? Ho do you encourage people to interact??

[@MerunaArt]

Good video and information/advice, would definitely like a more in depth portfolio video, or even about how you set up your website. Thanks Holly!

[@bettyszwagierczak4062]

Great vid Holly! I'm in a process of updating my portfolio, would love to here more on a topic ( best website to host it, eg wix/squarespace/artstation/behance, and how to categorize work). ps. i first came across your work thru blog! good old times :)

[@hollyexley]

Woa- such a long time ago!

[@karolsartoasis4815]

Thanks Holly, These video's are really helpful. I would love to learn more about search engines, about finding a niche market, building a portfolio and choosing the correct platforms to share my work on. Thanks Holly I really love your video's.

[@HollyDunnDesign]

What you said about postcards was really interesting. I’ve got quite a bit of work through sending out mailers, but it has only been in Australia and New Zealand. No response from my UK ones, at least not yet. Maybe they aren’t so effective in the UK? I’ve had very little illustration work come through from portfolio sites and social media so far, but other opportunities have come from it. Great to hear your thoughts on this topic!

[@KhinJohnson]

Thanks for the insights, Holly! It's interesting that Pinterest is good for being found as illustrators too.

[@PolinaKalina]

Thank you Holly!

[@micaelanunez1296]

Such a great video! I would like to know how to develope a Skill, and find what we really like, is so hard and frustating sometimes!

[@ashbell28]

@Holly Exley I have a question about portfolios. So I want to be a freelance character designer. Mainly my portfolio will have finished character designs, character turnarounds, expressions and attitudes. Where would be a good place to put in rough sketches/concepts to show potential clients the process of how I arrived at the finished design? How many of these sketches are acceptable to put in a portfolio? Should I do a "cleaned up" version of the rough sketches/concepts so it will be easier for potential clients to read them in visual format? Thank you Holly for sharing your knowledge and experiences with me.

[@coffeefox2k]

Where to start/what would be good to include in a portfolio??

[@Adrianmillsdesign]

Thank you holly

[@joyabbott5844]

Super helpful thank-you!!!

[@puffinprints4707]

Very useful, thank you!

[@marciaashley]

Have watercolor always been your medium of choice? Do u see yourself exploring any new mediums?

[@emanuelamarchetti5559]

Very useful, thanks :)

[@andromedablue]

Could you please make a video about your experiences with an agent. Do you think that nowadays having an agent makes a sense from the perspective of finding new clients? Thank you.

[@hollyexley]

Ania Drozd I can do! In the meantime I wrote a blog post about it about 3 years ago if you want to read! hollyexley.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-i-left-my-agent-advice-on.html?m=1

[@andromedablue]

wow, thank you Holly!

[@adriennepriceart]

​@@hollyexleythe link is dead 😢

[@sarah8592-t1b]

Holly I’m about to go onto University studying illustration but I’m really struggling finding a style or a purpose to my work.. I do a lot of random work and none of it matches and it really gets me down. I’m struggling to find a style :(

[@RobinHoodArtist]

Good info! 🙂

[@niharikamanjunath]

Thanks for this!!

[@bajaboolie]

The music in this video was so nice!

[@jillianclemmons]

Hi Holly! Can you leave a link to your Pinterest? Thanks!

[@hollyexley]

Jillian Clemmons ah I just use Pinterest for making wedding boards etc. I meant to say other ppl pin my illustrations and that’s how they appear on the site

[@jillianclemmons]

Gotchya. Thanks! I love Pinterest!

[@3polygons]

My approach has been always the opposite, direct contact only...It can work - worked for me well- but it might have a much more limited 'ceiling'. Only with promotion is how you get farther, as explained in the video, imo.

[@marnimanning2457]

This isn't relevant to your content in this vid, but I wanted you to know, though I'm having a rough day, your sweet self, your accent, your personality, your editing, your visuals, your aesthetic, your whole video surely brightened my mood. I always enjoy your videos, and yours are the ones I look forward to seeing pop up in my feed every week

[@hollyexley]

So glad I could cheer you slightly! Hope you are having a better day today Marni 💙