Illustrators- Do you have success emailing potential clients for illustration work?
I've never gained work by emailing my portfolio to art directors and am wondering whether other people see a lot of success from this? All of my work so far has been found in other ways e.g. exhibitions, placements or Instagram. I'm wondering whether it's worth continuing to email potential clients or should I concentrate on other things? (I always research beforehand, personalise emails and have even created work specially but don't feel like it's paying off). Would love to hear about anyone elses experiences (:
Replies7
- This is super interesting, following this thread as ive never thought about emailing clients before with portfolio!
- @Cody Muir Thanks so much Cody, that's very helpful!
- @Joanna Zdunik Hi Joanna, I was always told that sending work/updates to ADs on a quarterly basis was ideal to keep one's work top of mind, though admittedly I end up sending more like once every 4-6 months since I find emailing to be a real pain. I think sending a third email, as long as it has been a few months since the last, is totally fine if you have new work to share! The blog DearAD has a lot of tips on this sort of thing which I've found really useful over the years.
- @Cody Muir Hi Cody, that's very interesting, with the people you have been e-mailing for a long time with no response from their end - how often would you say you send a follow up/update e-mails? For example, would you contact the potential client a few times a year or once a year for a few years even though they haven't responded to any of them? I have a list of clients I think my work would be suitable for and over the course of a few months I have sent two e-mails and I have found that more people replied to the second one so I am thinking of doing a third round in some time (to the people that haven't repsonded).
- @Cody Muir Hi Cody,This is really interesting, thanks so much for your reply! I always worry about bothering people so it's reassuring to hear that work can come up after a little while (:All the Best,Ursi
- Hi Ursi,Email has been the most reliable method for me to get work but I receive a reply only a third of the time or so. A lot of the ADs I end up working with are people I've emailed for 3+ years too, often with no reply in the meantime. Definitely feels like sending emails into the void sometimes but I've heard a lot of ADs say that just because they don't reply or comission right away, it doesn't mean they don't see and save the work they're sent for when the right project comes around!Best,Cody
- Hello Ursi,I really like your illustration style!Most of my work is done for clients I first emailed. The approach I use is to find illustrators that do similar style as me, and than see who they worked for. And when you get two or three regular clients, the emailing is over. Hope this was helpful.Cheers,Zoran
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