Kelley McMorris

I would send one manuscript / dummy in a query. If they are interested, they will ask to see more - but keeping it to one dummy will be a lot less daunting.

If I were querying picture books as an illustrator - in the body of the email (or the form) I’d have the manuscript of the book - and then I’d provide a link to my portfolio so they could see my artwork - and a link to a dropbox with the Dummy in it (such that anyone who has the link can view, but it isn’t just up on the internet randomly).

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Hey @claudela , you ask I answer - and the answer is OH LORD NO I do not just start painting, oh my god I wish I could instead of banging my head against a dozen steps over the course of 20-odd hours.

First it’s thumbnails - sometimes there’s a couple dozen, sometimes just a few, sometimes it’s stuff like this where I have a few to choose from and some more that I just straight-up deleted before finishing because they were bad.  Absolute unskippable first step to figure out composition, TBH.  I used to do these in a sketchbook, but I’ve been trying to work on my value structure so I’m doing them this way instead.  Then I grab a bunch of reference, both photos and other peoples’ art, and try out some colour stuff.

Then, once I’ve got client approval (and a tweak or two) on the comp, I shoot some deeply embarrassing reference photography… when I can I use a friend or hire a model, but this one is all me, my living room, and some empty D&D character sheets taped to the wall.  Also need some clothing reference, in this case just a bunch of photos of Oliver Twist because that’s what the client asked for:

…then take all that and do a final drawing with some final-ish colours to send to the client.  Tell them that there’ll be other posters in there later, I swear.  Think about how I’ve committed to a whole wall of wanted posters and wonder how the hell I’m gonna do that.

Next step: start painting.  Oh god, this is awful.  I’m a joke.  Why did anybody hire me I have forgotten how to do anything I am a menace to myself and those around me, I’m a sham of an artist.

Don’t panic.  (Okay, panic a bit, but then get over it.)  Keep painting.  Pay attention to the reference.  Ask friends for critique.  Redraw things that need redrawing.  Focus on the big shapes.  Draw some damn perspective lines instead of just eyeballing it.  Think through the figure in 3D, where the light would actually hit.  Work out the wanted posters in separate documents and warp them into place.

Get a great paintover from a friend pointing out some places where the colours could use tweaking, stuff about the head angle and the hand pose, and that even for extra-long arms they’re probably too extra long.  Paint and repaint over stuff I’ve done before.  Get it working.

Finish the background.  Flatten the whole thing and paint over top to make it feel a bit more integrated, and make the wanted posters feel less sharp and pasted in.  Final tweaks.  Finally, a painting.  Take a deep breath, send to the client, and desperately pray that they’re happy with it.

Everyone starts out with fears. And continues with fears. And ends with fears. Sometimes your fears change, but you’ll always be scared, insecure, and have doubts about something. No arbitrary level of fame or success quiets those voices. So get used to it. If you are not ready to face down your fears every day, I do not think art is a good career for you. Do other careers have fears too? OF COURSE. But there are definitely safer, easier careers. Accounting, for one. People always need accountants. (No one ever wonders if there will be enough jobs for them as an accountant.) Or really any career where you’re not literally putting your deepest emotions and self-worth out in public view for judging by literally anyone with an internet connection. That really turns up the volume on any normal doubts & insecurities you have and pumps them up to deafening level.

You know who else has voices in their head? People who give up their creative dreams for “safer” careers. Just the other day we answered a question from a 43 year old woman who gave up on being an artist, but it’s still haunting her decades later. She’s desperate to know if it’s too late for her to try to be an artist in her 40s. 

So it all boils down to this: You are going to have doubts and fears no matter what. You have to choose: Would you rather be secure and have fears that you wasted your creativity? Or would you rather be an artist and be scared that your career is not secure? You have to choose what scares you more. And don’t be brainwashed by Pinterest motivational quotes: Either choice is valid. You are still an artist even if you don’t do it full time or you just do it for a hobby. It’s YOUR choice. You have to live with it.

And this is also not a black and white decision. There’s plenty of middle roads to take. There are many kinds of art jobs — many more than you probably realize. Some are riskier than others. But some are pretty solid. You don’t have to be a freelance illustrator to be a professional artist. I have plenty of friends that have very stable jobs in art. You should not be basing your decision on what other (especially non-artist) people think is stable. You should talk to people who are real working professional artists and ask them what they think. They will probably tell you that it is both very rewarding and very very hard and scary to have a job making art — the judgement really wears on people, but many artists feel it is still preferable to having a non-art job. Some will definitely say making art a job (and not keeping it a hobby) sucked all the fun out of it. 

Unfortunately, no one can make this decision for you. Ignore all the non-artists trying to convince you not to be an artist. Ignore all the Pinterest platitudes trying to convince you that you’ll never be happy if you’re not a full time freelance artist. What do you want more? Or, more accurately, what do you not want least?

—Agent KillFee

I have seen many artists in your position. I have often been the AD who has said to artists “You’re doing everything right, when the right project comes up I’d love to work with you.” — And I never say that to people unless I mean it. Unfortunately the time between “ready to be hired” and “hired all over the place” is variable. I have seen it happen so many times: An artist develops their work and gets to a unique voice and a hirable skill level. They have all the right connections. Multiple ADs have their eye on the person. We all know they’re going to “break through” all at once and get hired a ton of places…but it’s just a matter of timing. Once they get that first job or two the momentum quickly picks up speed and their career is off and running. A year later no one even remembers that they were struggling to find work.

Unfortunately I don’t know what to say other than hold on. If you’re getting responses and people are saying they’re keeping you in mind then trust that and hold on. ADs don’t say that shit to be nice. I can’t tell you how long you have to hold on. It may take a while for the right manuscript or Magic card or magazine article, etc. to land on that AD’s desk that says YOU on it. You may need to get a side job or take non-art work to hold on but please hold on. You are pushed right up against the glass and you just need that one commission to break through the crust. Do a good job or two well, communicate well, hit your deadlines, and the gossip machine will click into effect and all those ADs who told you they were keeping you in mind will start seeing that job and hearing from the AD that hired you what a great job you did. Chances are, some of the other ADs will be jealous that they didn’t get to hire you first. We seriously do gossip about you artists all the time. And we root for you too. 

Just hang on. Keep making great work. Keep showing it around. Send out that newsletter quarterly. Keep networking. A year from now, you’ll go back and read this post and will be surprised you doubted this much.

Just.

Hang.

On.

—Agent KillFee

I just wanted to post this again, after my dear friend included it in a post of hers.