Where can illustrations be found?
Instagram has put a lot of people at the forefront of illustration who may not have made it in the industry professionally. Forgive me for saying this because there are a lot of amazing illustrators out there who do not sell their work, or discovered illustration later in life.
Products illustrations go on
What is illustration? Illustration emerged as a new topic just in recent years as illustrators made big breaks through social media and with the help of Patreon. This industry used to be a job embedded in marketing where a copywriter and an artist collaborated under the direction of an art director. Today a lot of companies don’t have the budget for 3 people to do this kind of work. Marketing managers fill in the gaps here now. Illustrators are paid to do the artwork more independently and most don’t work in house now.
Illustrators used to work in marketing departments for big publications. The New York times was a highly coveted publication illustrators submitted work to quarterly. That’s not the case now. The general belief is that gaming art is the future of illustration and certain fields or specializations in illustration are dying. I could give you a dollar for how many times I’ve been told by instructors in art programs that editorial illustration is dead, “don’t pursue it because it doesn’t exist any more.”
I’ve been told by instructors in art programs that editorial illustration is dead
What does that even mean though? If you can get your work into a magazine or work with one, then is illustration really dead? I think the opposite of this flourishing industry. Don’t get me wrong. Illustration is extremely competitive now as many people who are hobbyists get their work into professional platforms.
Surfaces Illustrations are used on
packaging & products (this is huge because this can be any industry)
publications (online and printed)
blog posts
your own shop with print on demand
anywhere there is a printed surface
This is an example of something I created just this week.
Photo credit to Pexels.
The point
Ultimately the point of everything here is to tell you that not only is there space for you in this industry, but you can be successful if you put the time into making your work professional. Even though the internet has created an influx of professional illustrators competing for the same brands, there are new brands arriving on the market every day. There is always a space for illustration and we love cute things. If anything, more individual artists are finding success marketing to their own network of followers. While brands are coming and going, artists have the ability to print on demand and offer their work to their own network of followers.
Follow my blog if you’d like to read more! I publish articles every week on topics of design and illustration. Thanks for stopping by!