I thought I would share some books that I have found helpful and inspirational for illustration and business. Going through my books I found more than I thought I would, so will probably break this up into two posts.
Nuts & Bolts
This is a book by Charles Hively, the art director behind 3x3 magazine (an illustration magazine). It is a collection of illustration advice from speeches he gave at universities. It is very direct and gives short to the point advice for emerging illustrators. He talks about illustration as a business, websites, and being visible as an illustrator. I picked Nuts & Bolts up in New York, so am not sure if it is available in Canada.
Art Inc.
This book is by artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon, and talks about building your career as an artist. It is a compact guide for artists wishing to grow their business. She discusses different paths you can take, for example galleries or exhibitions, and also illustration and licensing your work. She goes through the nitty gritty of promoting yourself and treating your art as a business. Lisa also talks about managing success, and different options when you get really busy. She also includes profiles of different artists.
How to be an Illustrator
by Darrel Rees
This book goes a little more in depth to how to operate your illustration business. He talks about portfolios, looking for your first job, how to go about producing your first job, finances, promotion. He also discusses the pros and cons of working from home, or renting a studio. Darrel also talks about agents, and the pros and cons. He includes interviews with professional illustrators, such as Sam Weber and Yuko Shimizu.
Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines
This is the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, and is an extremely thorough look at the graphic arts and illustration industries. It covers legal rights, professional and technology issues, business practices, contracts. It goes in depth into graphic design, web design, and illustration and discusses each industry. It also has lists of pricing standards for each industry. This is the section I find most useful, and use it for quoting jobs. For example it will list price ranges for editorial illustration for full page, half page, spot illustrations. This book also includes samples of contracts, so you can use it for drafting your own contract.
Children's Writers and Illustrators Market
This books talks about the publishing industry, and how to go about submitting your work. The majority of the book is a list of publishers and their contact info. The list includes book publishers, magazines, and agents. Information on how to submit work is included with each listing. There is also a list of conferences and workshops.
The Handmade Marketplace
by Kari Chapin
This book is about the craft and handmade industry. It talks about branding, business practices, marketing. It also talks about blogging and social media. There are also sections on craft fairs, online stores, and getting into brick and mortar stores.
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