Resources for starting out in illustration, from Alive with Ideas
Spanning industries like publishing, advertising, editorial, branding and gaming, illustrators bring their ideas to every corner of the creative world. Kat Hassell is an illustrator and designer with over 15 years of experience crafting compelling visuals for clients like the NHS and National Energy Action. Now working at creative agency Alive with Ideas, Kat recommends an essential list of resources to get you started in illustration.
🧑💻 Online Articles and Resources
Ex Why Zed Printing (Batch printing for self-publishing)
From zines, comics, and books to self-promotion materials, ExWhyZed offers an array of products. They are passionate about print, and their website and socials offer great insight into what people are creating – it's a fab source of inspiration for sharing your illustrations.
Check out the website here
The Inspiration Grid (Daily inspiration)
This is just one example of the many inspiration feeds out there. Find your jam, bookmark it, subscribe to the newsletter and take a few minutes daily to digest what other creatives are making. See also: It’s Nice That, Behance’s illustration feed, Dribbble’s illustration feed, Pinterest and Creative Boom.
Branding Style Guides (Archive of brand guidelines)
This is a giant archive of brand guidelines documents from tiny to gigantic companies. They're downloadable and great to draw inspiration from and it's useful to delve into how brand illustration can be created and applied.
Check out the website here
The Association of Illustrators (Online network)
The AoI offers events, webinars, support, legal advice around pricing, contracts, promotion and much more. It can also act as a platform for showcasing and promoting your work. Take advantage of all the free resources you can and consider a paid membership if it is accessible to you – there are many benefits to it.
💰 Funding Opportunities
If you're willing to dig deep on the internet, you'll find bursaries, grants and funding opportunities available. Some are well-publicised, but others are more well-hidden! Consider approaching organisations with a proposal for funding if they are not currently advertising one but have historically done so.
This list isn’t exhaustive, but is a good place to start:
- Arts Council England
- Artswork RISE Creative Bursaries
- V&A Youth Collective
- The Supporting Act Foundation
- ArtQuest opportunities
- The White Pube Grants
- Creative Debut’s Black Artists Grant
For more, ACAVA keeps an updated and extensive list of funding opportunities.
📚 Online Portfolios
If you're setting up or adding to a personal website or portfolio, looking at other illustrators' portfolios can be great for inspiration. This selection of illustrators has online portfolios with a mix of personal, commercial, static and animated content, as well as some shop sections. Have a browse!
💬 Online Creators
Kirk Wallace
Kirk Wallace (aka @BoneHaus) shares his knowledge to empower creatives to improve and monetize their skills. He provides tutorials on Skillshare, videos on YouTube and a website filled with helpful resources.
Check out Kirk Wallace's resources here
James Martin
James Martin (aka @MadeByJames) is dedicated to sharing industry knowledge across all platforms, including pricing your work. He is firmly against gatekeeping and provides accessible insights to help creatives thrive.
🖼️ Events
Finally, I'd advise getting out and looking at other illustrators and their work in the wild. This might be at DIY art markets, illustration fairs, graduate shows, ceramic markets or open studios.
Illustration Fairs
My biggest recommendation is to attend free and low-cost entry illustration fairs. I attend as many of these as I can for a big dose of inspiration and good feels. Most of the fairs include screenings, talks, industry workshops and resources, and the stalls of illustrators selling and showing their work. (You could even be among them if you want!). I can't recommend these fairs enough.
Here are some of my faves:
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Alive with Ideas is a Creative Lives in Progress brand partner. Every year, we partner with like-minded brands and agencies to support our initiative and keep Creative Lives a free resource for emerging creatives. To find out more about how you can work with us, email [email protected]
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Written by Kat Hassell
