When making illustrations is your line of work, you're probably familiar with the waves in which commissions come and go. Sometimes you're buried in work and sometimes...not so much. Especially summer is a more quiet period for many illustrators. A great time to proactively work on getting more illustration commissions! Here are my 3 main tips.
1. Make new LinkedIn connections. How? By adding everyone you've ever worked with as a connection. This has two major benefits. One: those people will be reminded of you and your work again. Two: when they accept your invite, you can see all of their connections and start following the people that may be interesting for you. Want to know everything about using LinkedIn as an illustrator? Check this blogpost.
2. Make a personal project. I know people say this all the time, but there's a reason for that: it works. To really make it work though, your personal project has to meet a few requirement. It has to be something you really love to create. And it has to be a type of illustration that you can see being used in a certain way: always create with the purpose in mind.
A while back I painted a map of Amsterdam with my favourite Amsterdam hotspots, as you can see below. After I included this personal project in my portfolio and shared it on Instagram, I received two map commissions from two different organisations.
3. Finally: spend some time on making your website texts SEO-proof. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimalisation. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It basically means that you use the words you want to be found on via Google in your web-texts. It does take time to learn how to do this the right way. Luckily there are many videos on youtube that will tell you how to write an SEO-proof web-text. If you're wondering wether this is worth your time: many of my commissioners find my illustrations via Google. If you are searching for something yourself, you use Google too right? Why would your commissioners be any different?
These three tips should help you to get new illustration commissions when you have some time on your hands. But don't forget to enjoy the summer vacation either ;)
Are you an illustrator wanting to find the right clients?
Check my e-book on personal branding! It's especially tailored for illustrators.