Is your portfolio gettin' ignored? Errr, let's fix that

I wasn't supposed to find Anna's website BUT I DID, bwahahah 😆 (sorry Anna)

If you're here, then you’re probably looking to land more live illustration gigs, and yer not alone!

I’ve just had a nice chat with illustrator Anna Rickards, and we had a whistle-stop tour of her portfolio and online stuff.

In case you hate video (above) or are in more of a reading mood, here it is in words instead.

1. Ummm, are you a live illustrator?

Anna's website = beautiful, but at first glance, there was nothing that immediately said "I do live illustration." If a potential client has to dig to find out what you do, they’ll probably move on before they’ve clicked more than 2 things.

Quick fixes:

• Have "Live Illustrator" in a clear heading on your website and social media profiles.

• Make sure your website shows your live event work front and centre.

• Use a pinned post on Instagram or LinkedIn that explicitly states what you do and how clients can work with you.

2. Curate your portfolio

If you want live illustration work, show live illustration work! Clients don’t always have the imagination to translate editorial or picture book work into a live events setting, so make it obvious.

Portfolio tips:

• Organise work by project rather than scattering examples throughout.

• Include real client names and logos where possible.

• Show where the work was used: Was it shared on LinkedIn? Displayed at an event? Clients want you to make them look GOOD. If they hire you, and the attendees are all raving about the live illustration, guess who’s going to get hired again?

  That’s right bébé. It’s yoooou.

3. Can you do the thing? (Photos or it didn’t happen)

Clients usually feel veeery nervous about hiring live illustrators, especially if they haven’t worked with one before. Anything you can do to reassure them will help.

Ways to calm ‘em down:

• Show more high-quality photos of you working live. If you don’t have any, consider setting up a staged shoot or collaborating with a friend running an event.

• You can never have too many testimonials or case studies explaining how past clients used and benefited from your work. Social proof! It’s magic.

4. Hierarchy and Layout: BIG vs smol

One of the trickiest things with live illustration is making the final piece clear and easy to read, rather than overwhelming. When there’s too much info on there, and it’s not organised nicely for your eyeballs, you might experience something called ‘map shock’.

Our graphic designer friends are EXPERTS at using hierarchy to make things easier to understand. Actually, we illustrators can learn loads from graphic designers. It’s hard though, because they’re often too cool to chat to.

Tips for avoiding map shock:

• Use hierarchy: Big important things = bigger text and images. Less important details = smaller. Have variety! Lots of small stuff is overwhelming.

• Chunk the information: Divide the board into sections so it doesn’t feel like a wall of text.

• Leave things out… leave out more than you think you should: It’s so tempting to capture everything, but the best live illustrators have a knack for boiling it down to the absolute key messages. (This takes practice, and it’s really scary on the spot so the annoying and only solution is practice, practice, practice!)

• Colours & containers can group information together beautifully.

5. Pricing and gettin’ more work

Anna mentioned that she’s sharing her projects and applying for jobs board jobs, but isn’t seeing a snowball effect of new work coming in. This is normal in the early days!

Ways to increase bookings:

• Keep sharing, but make sure your website is as reassuring as it can be. Can potential dream clients immediately see that you’re definitely the right illustrator for the job? Is it easy and clear how they can book you?

• If you’re at an early stage in your career, keeping your prices lower (but absolutely not free, and definitely above £200/hr) can help. Prioritise events that will get you great photos, high visibility, or valuable connections.

• Be active on LinkedIn – is it disgustingly corporate and intimidating? Yes 😅 but it can be a goldmine for finding event organisers and opportunities.

• If you’re willing to travel to events, make that clear!

• It’s a numbers game. Aim for 100 rejections to start you off. Gamification can get you through this shiz. I wrote a whole post about rejection here:

6. Googlin’ yourself is a good idea

If someone Googles you, what do they find? Anna’s already coming up first in search results for her name 😎. Niiiiiiice. Make sure that when people DO find you on Google, they immediately think “Ah yes, this is a live illustrator who can help me with my event.”

How can you make it super clear that you are what you’ve said you are?

And sign your work!

Final 2 pence from me

Anna’s already smashin’ it - she’s sharing her work consistently, thinking strategically, and making changes to her portfolio & website. It’s ooonly a matter of time til them bookings start rollin’ in.

Thank you for letting us look at your portfolio, Anna!

Follow Anna and see more of her work here:
https://www.instagram.com/annarickardsart/

x Katie