I was a writer long before I was an illustrator, so I always think of style in terms of "voice". I think voice or style are really an artist's point of view, an expression of individual experiences, training, and happy accidents (as Bob Ross would say).
I think the key to finding work is not trying to match your style to what you think the market demands, but building a portfolio that showcases your voice to attract the kinds of editors, art directors, etc. that are attracted to your point of view.
That is pure. I think differently, maybe it’s my years in startups and being a UX designer. I see it as problem solving. Publishers have a problem, I’m trying to be the solution, yes I’m also trying to maintain vision and voice, but that is within the framework of the publisher’s problem.
Looking at style as an exercise in problem solving makes a lot of sense to me. Seeing what publishers want turns it into a B2B (business-to-business) proposition. It makes it easier to find the path to making work that is publishable.
This reminds me of Cathy Heller. She has a podcast and book called "Don't Keep Your Day Job". In her book, she talks about how she found success as a songwriter. She moved to LA, fought hard to get a record deal, got one, but was dropped by her label before her record came out.
She knew she wanted to write songs. So she emailed every music director in LA she could find at every network, studio, ad agency, etc. Instead of pitching herself, she offered to bring the music director their favorite Starbucks order in exchange for an informational interview about their job.
She got a lot of rejections, but several people accepted her offer. She brought the coffee and asked the music directors about how they went about their job and asked what kind of music they were needed for upcoming projects. But she did not pitch herself. She kept the focus of the meeting on them.
Later, she wrote songs that fit what the music directors said they needed. She then could warm email people she had already met and pitch them stuff that had already told her they needed. She ended up selling a lot of songs and started making $300,000+ a year this way.
You can make a lot of money is you can make someone else's job easier.
I was a writer long before I was an illustrator, so I always think of style in terms of "voice". I think voice or style are really an artist's point of view, an expression of individual experiences, training, and happy accidents (as Bob Ross would say).
I think the key to finding work is not trying to match your style to what you think the market demands, but building a portfolio that showcases your voice to attract the kinds of editors, art directors, etc. that are attracted to your point of view.
That is pure. I think differently, maybe it’s my years in startups and being a UX designer. I see it as problem solving. Publishers have a problem, I’m trying to be the solution, yes I’m also trying to maintain vision and voice, but that is within the framework of the publisher’s problem.
Looking at style as an exercise in problem solving makes a lot of sense to me. Seeing what publishers want turns it into a B2B (business-to-business) proposition. It makes it easier to find the path to making work that is publishable.
This reminds me of Cathy Heller. She has a podcast and book called "Don't Keep Your Day Job". In her book, she talks about how she found success as a songwriter. She moved to LA, fought hard to get a record deal, got one, but was dropped by her label before her record came out.
She knew she wanted to write songs. So she emailed every music director in LA she could find at every network, studio, ad agency, etc. Instead of pitching herself, she offered to bring the music director their favorite Starbucks order in exchange for an informational interview about their job.
She got a lot of rejections, but several people accepted her offer. She brought the coffee and asked the music directors about how they went about their job and asked what kind of music they were needed for upcoming projects. But she did not pitch herself. She kept the focus of the meeting on them.
Later, she wrote songs that fit what the music directors said they needed. She then could warm email people she had already met and pitch them stuff that had already told her they needed. She ended up selling a lot of songs and started making $300,000+ a year this way.
You can make a lot of money is you can make someone else's job easier.