1. As illustration agents, how important would you say personal projects are in an artists' folio?
There is an established truth that you will generally be commissioned to produce the work that is already present in your folio. While it may be the case that the professionals directly briefing our illustrators or animators have similar art school backgrounds to our own and share many of our creative sensibilities, they will invariably have clients or executives that they are answerable to who don’t. The “creative leap”, the ability to see an artist’s potential to interpret a subject matter that’s new to them, isn’t a faculty that everyone shares. So, if you want to get the work that excites you, you’ve got to brief yourself to do it first.
Self-initiated projects are an opportunity to add intellectual depth to a folio and an increased insight into the individual drivers of an artist's creativity.
2. What would you say are the key benefits of self-initiated work?
A regular practice of self-generated folio work will empower you to influence the commissioner into bringing you the projects you want. It’s a shop-window for the intellectual subject matter and cultural influences that drove you to be an artist in the first place. Not only will you relish the time to express yourself more freely, you’ll provide the ammunition for a T-shirt to persuade a collar why you’re the best artist for a job. To demonstrate your capacity to engage with complex ideas and be more than a window dresser.
3. What tips do you have for artist's starting a personal project, that would help shape the kind of commissions they receive in the future?
Today, what previously might have been termed your “style” is referred to as a "visual language". So, show the world what you have to say with it. Give yourself a license to inspire the commissioning public, tell them what matters to you, demonstrate your ability to see the world in a unique way and articulate it with dynamism and beauty. It’ll become obvious to the client why you’re the perfect match for a project and you’ll have reduced that inherent element of risk in hiring a new talent.