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The Indispensable Illustrator: How I Taught Myself to be an In-Demand Graphic Artist by Amping Up my Value in 7 Key Areas
Alex Mathers reveals what he knows to be an in-demand illustrator, by making a few small adjustments.
This is a guide that will make you a better illustrator in all areas.
What I will show you is based on my nine years developing my skills as an illustrator. I did not go to a creative college, nor did I take any formal classes in marketing or selling.
I taught myself how to develop a strong illustration style, increase my value in all areas, and get seen. My real world experiences, working with the crappiest clients, right up to the best, including Mars, the BBC, Wired Magazine and Saatchi & Saatchi, was my school.
It took me seven years from knowing zilch and having no portfolio to being hired by Google in Mountain View as an illustrator on contract.
Reader
“With the Indispensable Illustrator, Mathers continues to establish himself a clear, concise and knowledgeable voice amongst the shelves of generic marketing guides.”
— Michael Cunliffe
‘The Indispensable Illustrator’ takes you through the seven areas of your business that require awareness in order to deliver the very best service in a way that people will consider you absolutely vital to what they need.
“Alex has mastered the methods for effective self promotion in the creative world.”
~ Scott Belsky, Behance, 99u
Here is a preview of what you'll
• How to nurture and hone a powerful mindset that will determine your success and magnetise clients to you and your work.
• What exactly in your artwork that will attract people and what to change.
• How to aim your product to a well-suited audience, so that you make the best impression, and convert sales.
• How to tweak your online presentation to turn prospects into paying clients.
• What to do exactly to bring a human element to your brand so that you become irresistible to prospects.
• How I maximise how credible I appear to prospects to massively increase the chance of being hired.
So whereas 'How to Get Illustration Clients' was a guide on how to market your business, this is a guide on how to increase your value in line with the best clients so that their decision to work with you is a no brainer.
The guide is also packed with advice from illustration agents and notes on exactly what they are looking for.
This book is for illustrators and graphic artists, though any independent creative professional and freelancer will benefit.
What others are
“Alex has provided some of the most valuable and constructive help and advice I’ve received in my career to date.
The biggest and most practical benefit for myself was to figuring out how to build a simple client management system, based on Alex’s methods and then how to put that system into practice."
~ Sam Octigan, Illustrator, Fine Artist
Already I've felt a boost to my own work and mindset and I can see this being my 'yearly self review' bible.”
— Amy, Amazon Reviewer
Illustrator, Illustrators, Freelancing, Creatives, Small Business, Value, Sell, Promotion, Exposure, Success, Graphic Artist, Artist, art, illustration, marketing, craft, skill, self employed, advice, clients, customers
This is a guide that will make you a better illustrator in all areas.
What I will show you is based on my nine years developing my skills as an illustrator. I did not go to a creative college, nor did I take any formal classes in marketing or selling.
I taught myself how to develop a strong illustration style, increase my value in all areas, and get seen. My real world experiences, working with the crappiest clients, right up to the best, including Mars, the BBC, Wired Magazine and Saatchi & Saatchi, was my school.
It took me seven years from knowing zilch and having no portfolio to being hired by Google in Mountain View as an illustrator on contract.
Reader
“With the Indispensable Illustrator, Mathers continues to establish himself a clear, concise and knowledgeable voice amongst the shelves of generic marketing guides.”
— Michael Cunliffe
‘The Indispensable Illustrator’ takes you through the seven areas of your business that require awareness in order to deliver the very best service in a way that people will consider you absolutely vital to what they need.
“Alex has mastered the methods for effective self promotion in the creative world.”
~ Scott Belsky, Behance, 99u
Here is a preview of what you'll
• How to nurture and hone a powerful mindset that will determine your success and magnetise clients to you and your work.
• What exactly in your artwork that will attract people and what to change.
• How to aim your product to a well-suited audience, so that you make the best impression, and convert sales.
• How to tweak your online presentation to turn prospects into paying clients.
• What to do exactly to bring a human element to your brand so that you become irresistible to prospects.
• How I maximise how credible I appear to prospects to massively increase the chance of being hired.
So whereas 'How to Get Illustration Clients' was a guide on how to market your business, this is a guide on how to increase your value in line with the best clients so that their decision to work with you is a no brainer.
The guide is also packed with advice from illustration agents and notes on exactly what they are looking for.
This book is for illustrators and graphic artists, though any independent creative professional and freelancer will benefit.
What others are
“Alex has provided some of the most valuable and constructive help and advice I’ve received in my career to date.
The biggest and most practical benefit for myself was to figuring out how to build a simple client management system, based on Alex’s methods and then how to put that system into practice."
~ Sam Octigan, Illustrator, Fine Artist
Already I've felt a boost to my own work and mindset and I can see this being my 'yearly self review' bible.”
— Amy, Amazon Reviewer
Illustrator, Illustrators, Freelancing, Creatives, Small Business, Value, Sell, Promotion, Exposure, Success, Graphic Artist, Artist, art, illustration, marketing, craft, skill, self employed, advice, clients, customers
270 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 14, 2020
Packed full of valuable insights and advice to help anyone in the illustration field focus in on how to get to the next level.
I particularly like that it is fluff free and to the point. Highly recommended.
I particularly like that it is fluff free and to the point. Highly recommended.
February 18, 2020
Helpful
I love learning from people that are self-taught. I’m trying to be self-motivated & this book is helpful. The resource section alone is worth it. Alex also had agents contributing advice that I think I highlighted every quote.
I love learning from people that are self-taught. I’m trying to be self-motivated & this book is helpful. The resource section alone is worth it. Alex also had agents contributing advice that I think I highlighted every quote.
July 14, 2020
If you want to become an indispensable Illustrator or if you are a disoriented Illustrator, then you should definitely read this guide, because the name of the book fits perfectly with its content. At the same time, as Illustrators we all would want to be treated as indispensables, not as optionals.
Alex's suggestions are very valuable and realistic and they actually give you a clear direction. What he shared in this book shows that he has a lot of experience in this area. And not only Alex shares his experience he also shares the advices of several professionals in the area of illustration and design, which is truly useful.
This guide is very easy to read and to consult anytime you need it because by the end of each chapter, Alex sums up the most important things to remember.
I would say that this book not only is helpful for aspiring illustrators, but for anyone in the creative business like graphic designers, lettering artists, photographers or even writers. If you are an illustrator and you would also like to be an indispensable creative in other areas you can follow many of these guidelines.
This book covers all the essentials about the Illustration as a business and will give you the clarity, confidence and motivation you need to start on the Illustration path or to become a more assertive illustrator.
Alex's suggestions are very valuable and realistic and they actually give you a clear direction. What he shared in this book shows that he has a lot of experience in this area. And not only Alex shares his experience he also shares the advices of several professionals in the area of illustration and design, which is truly useful.
This guide is very easy to read and to consult anytime you need it because by the end of each chapter, Alex sums up the most important things to remember.
I would say that this book not only is helpful for aspiring illustrators, but for anyone in the creative business like graphic designers, lettering artists, photographers or even writers. If you are an illustrator and you would also like to be an indispensable creative in other areas you can follow many of these guidelines.
This book covers all the essentials about the Illustration as a business and will give you the clarity, confidence and motivation you need to start on the Illustration path or to become a more assertive illustrator.
July 17, 2020
I had the pleasure of reading Alex’s book, The Indispensable Illustrator, for early beta. It was an incredible read full of useful insights for my career as an artist. I’ve been drawing for a long time, but always struggled with standing out among the masses and work to the best of my ability. Alex does not have just general advice, such as “practice” as all artists always tell you, but what he has is a game plan. He goes over how as an artist, you need to focus on a niche to stand out—something I’ve always been thinking about art-wise as I have many interests from graphic design to 3D illustrations—an issue he also addresses. Instead of stretching yourself out, you can have many skills to display but find your niche. That’s one of the many practical tips Alex offered among others in his book. Something else that stuck with me was that “motivation comes after action.” When I don’t feel motivated to continue my art practice, I think about this line and pick up my pen again. I definitely recommend this book as it is well worth your money to become a great illustrator that can find clients.
July 17, 2020
This book is amazing! As a fellow illustrator myself, I have worked on my craft and searched for ways to improve. Years ago, I bought the first edition of “The indispensable Illustrator” and found lots of the answers to my problems. I was blown away by this book.
Here, Alex Mathers shows us the main ingredients you need in order to step up your illustration game to the next level. Honing your skills, finding your style, how to find value in your work and how to present it to others, including your future clients.
This is an awesome book/guide, very detailed (is 260 something pages!!) with no bluff or banal talk, is pure information and wisdom and experience from Alex It’s truly worth it.
Here, Alex Mathers shows us the main ingredients you need in order to step up your illustration game to the next level. Honing your skills, finding your style, how to find value in your work and how to present it to others, including your future clients.
This is an awesome book/guide, very detailed (is 260 something pages!!) with no bluff or banal talk, is pure information and wisdom and experience from Alex It’s truly worth it.
July 14, 2020
An invaluable resource packed with tons of advice on all the different sides of being a freelance illustrator. This book is really empowering. Like a pep talk but with actual practical and actionable advice, broken down into sections so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming. I loved how much advice there was from different agents working in the industry. Such a well researched book. I cannot recommend it enough.
July 14, 2020
This book has a lot of good information that would provide the most benefit to those just starting out in the illustration business. It contains detailed advice on how to identify troublesome clients so they can be avoided. It also offers perspectives from a variety of illustration agencies. Overall, there's good advice here that can make a difference if acted upon.
January 28, 2020
Good advice but a lot of the links don’t work at this point and some information feels dated.
July 26, 2020
I absolutely loved this guide. Straight forward and to the point. Jam packed with loads of valuable information and tips. Very informative but never boring. I can’t wait to read the next one!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews