I think a good Linked-in presence and good connections on there is very useful. Instagram and Pinterest tagging so you get picked up in the right searches. Some commissioners look at Behance. ... And having portfolios on places like the AOI (I think SCBWI may have a directory, too?) and childrensillustrators.com can be useful. Your own website with good SEO, too, for when people are googling something in particular and you fit (though... that one is more likely to net people who are not used to commissioning illustration, I have found and who therefore have ridiculous budget expectations that they won't share until you've spent a day putting together a really detailed quote and then faint when it's way outside the stock fee they had in mind!)
When I was doing a lot of commissioning illustrators (in educational publishing in the UK) each publisher had their go to two or three agencies (usually with one first choice one who they preferred working with - different one for each the publishers I worked with) they looked to first and only when we couldn't find someone there (which we mostly could) then start researching in other ways, an then that was a combination of word of mouth and googling (this was before Instagram was big/existed). Oh, and for the majority of them it was flat fee full buyout and there were lots of reasons why it wasn't possible that all *could* have been got round if really needed, but it would have to be a super special project for that to be the case.
Nowadays, most artwork in the projects I work on in the business is commissioned in-house and almost all of it goes overseas and predominantly to Indian outsourcing companies.
I think the thing is different commissioners will have different places to look and you're not going to be able to be on all of them or you won't have time to actually make any art.
Once you have books with your credits on and name on the cover that should help, because commissioners do look at competitors' work a lot.
And, I think there's a strong case for paying for some marketing and PR help. Getting your work or your studio or practice etc. in the media that commissioners may well be reading....
I think a good Linked-in presence and good connections on there is very useful. Instagram and Pinterest tagging so you get picked up in the right searches. Some commissioners look at Behance. ... And having portfolios on places like the AOI (I think SCBWI may have a directory, too?) and childrensillustrators.com can be useful. Your own website with good SEO, too, for when people are googling something in particular and you fit (though... that one is more likely to net people who are not used to commissioning illustration, I have found and who therefore have ridiculous budget expectations that they won't share until you've spent a day putting together a really detailed quote and then faint when it's way outside the stock fee they had in mind!)
When I was doing a lot of commissioning illustrators (in educational publishing in the UK) each publisher had their go to two or three agencies (usually with one first choice one who they preferred working with - different one for each the publishers I worked with) they looked to first and only when we couldn't find someone there (which we mostly could) then start researching in other ways, an then that was a combination of word of mouth and googling (this was before Instagram was big/existed). Oh, and for the majority of them it was flat fee full buyout and there were lots of reasons why it wasn't possible that all *could* have been got round if really needed, but it would have to be a super special project for that to be the case.
Nowadays, most artwork in the projects I work on in the business is commissioned in-house and almost all of it goes overseas and predominantly to Indian outsourcing companies.
o of them
Tasha thank you for sharing your experience in such detail!
I think the thing is different commissioners will have different places to look and you're not going to be able to be on all of them or you won't have time to actually make any art.
Once you have books with your credits on and name on the cover that should help, because commissioners do look at competitors' work a lot.
And, I think there's a strong case for paying for some marketing and PR help. Getting your work or your studio or practice etc. in the media that commissioners may well be reading....