The Truth About Illustration Agencies

So you want to get an illustration agent, or maybe you’re wondering if you actually need one.

Up until recently I was an illustration agent at Folio. I worked there for 10 years. Today I want to share what I’ve learned about agencies, how you can apply and get noticed, the pros and cons, and how to choose the right agency for you.

Before being an agent, I used to be exactly where you are, trying to make it as an illustrator. I applied to agencies and got shot down a few times. I wasn’t good enough.

That was a while ago, but I think a lot of you can relate. You take some courses or go to college, then you graduate and then what?

Then you have to find some clients and figure out how to make money. I felt completely unprepared for that part, and it’s a pretty important part.

One of the natural next steps a lot of new illustrators take is to try and find an agent. After all, agencies are there to take care of the business stuff, and their job is to find you clients so you can focus on the creative part.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever applied to an agency. I’m guessing quite a few of you have.

I’ve also been doing a lot of research into agencies around the world over the last couple of months because I wanted to create a really useful resource for you. It’s a directory of illustration agencies from about 15 different countries. It gives you a rough idea of how many artists they represent, and it tells you how to apply.

You can find that resource at illustrators.com, hopefully that’s easy to remember.

There are more than 100 agencies on the list. Each one represents multiple artists. Some are as small as 10 illustrators, and a few are in the hundreds.

So you’d think it would be straightforward to find an agent with so many agencies around, but as I’m sure a lot of you have realised, it’s not that simple. It’s not easy to get an agent.

Now, plenty of successful illustrators don’t work with an agency. You don’t need one to be successful.

However, agencies can provide a useful service. A good agent can help you reach the kinds of clients you might not be able to find yourself. They’re experienced with contracts, pricing, and handling problems with clients. They can manage projects and give you more space to focus on the creative work.

Agencies work on commission, so they’re paid a percentage of the project fee. Not every artist needs that service or wants to pay for it, so it just means there’s more to learn and more hats to wear, which is totally fine.

I’ll run through a few benefits of working with an agent, and a few realities.

If you work with an agent:

You may have access to bigger and better clients. Agencies are often the first stop for brands and advertising agencies. It’s more convenient for them to contact an agency and get recommendations than it is to hunt down individual illustrators.

Agents can often negotiate larger fees. That’s not to say you can’t do it yourself, but they have a lot of practice, and it’s often easier to negotiate on someone else’s behalf than it is to negotiate for yourself.

They have a lot of practice with contracts too. Contracts can be confusing, and having someone experienced check them is genuinely helpful.

Being part of an agency gives you social proof. Being chosen by an agency signals to clients that you’re at a certain professional level.

And they promote your work. You have a support network when you need it, and they’re experienced at handling difficult situations with clients.

All of that is great, but you pay for it, usually between 25 and 35 percent. That’s a significant chunk of the fee, but combined with access to bigger budget clients and better negotiation, it’s often worth it.

But having an agent is not a guarantee. They can’t promise you’ll be busy all the time. And if you join an agency, don’t expect instant success. It takes time.

So if that sounds appealing and you do want to go the agency route, how do you actually get one?

If you’re right at the start of your career, straight out of college with no clients of your own, you probably don’t.

In fact, I’d recommend you don’t even try until you’ve got a handful of clients of your own, for two reasons.

First, it’s unlikely an agent will want to take on a complete beginner. Agents aren’t for beginners. They represent established professionals.

Even if your portfolio is great and you’ve got a unique style, they want to know you’re more than a website full of pretty pictures. They need to know you can handle yourself professionally, keep to deadlines, and that you’re reliable for clients.

The only real evidence of that is having completed client projects successfully. They don’t have to be big clients, they’re just proof you can do the job. It takes trust for an agent to recommend you to a client.

Second, if you get an agent right at the start, you might never learn the business fundamentals yourself. If they handle pricing, finding work, contracts, invoicing, all the stuff you don’t want to do, you’ll never have a reason to learn it. That makes you reliant on your agent.

And if something happens and you can’t work together anymore, maybe you fall out, maybe they retire, whatever it is, you can end up right back at the start.

You’ve got a portfolio, but you don’t know how to find work, how to read a contract, how to price yourself. And depending on how the agency operates, you might not even have the contact details of past clients, because they’re the agency’s clients.

That’s not a great position to be in.

Ideally, you want some experience finding your own clients. You need to understand pricing and contracts well enough to be self-sufficient. That’s what this YouTube channel is about, helping you learn those skills.

You don’t need to be an expert, but you want to know enough to approach an agency as a partner, not as a beginner. That’s a much better foundation, and then the agency can help you take your career to the next level.

If you’re in that early stage, you can still contact agencies, but a good first step could be asking for feedback. It’s a way to introduce yourself and learn. If you take their advice and keep improving, when you apply later they may already know who you are.

So let’s say you’re past that stage, you’re getting some clients already, and you’re ready for an agent.

Most agencies will be happy to receive a simple email with a short introduction, a few images, and a link to your portfolio, basically the same way you’d approach a client.

But many agencies have specific submission guidelines. It could be a dedicated email address, an online form, or more detailed instructions about what they want.

Think of this as your first test. Can you follow their submission instructions? If you can’t, your work might not even get looked at. So always check the agency’s submission guidelines.

In the agency directory I’ve put together on illustrators.com, you can see how to apply to each agency that lists specific instructions. For the ones that don’t, I’ve included general guidelines you can follow. Still, it’s always worth double checking the agency website too.

Not every agency is right for your work, so don’t apply to all of them. Be selective. Find agencies that fit your vibe and your values.

Tell them what you’re good at, and tell them what you want to do with your career so they know how to help you. Then you wait, and you might not hear back. It’s competitive, and it can take time.

Follow up. If you don’t hear back, try again in a few months.

That process can feel stressful and emotionally draining, just like emailing clients. But keep this in mind: a lot of agents once had ambitions of becoming illustrators themselves. Some still make art alongside their day job. Some, like me, are failed artists.

They get it. They remember what it’s like to be in that stage trying to get interest in your work.

Agents love seeing new work, and speaking with illustrators, if they have time. They’re not going to be annoyed by a polite follow up. If illustrators were too scared to contact agents, agencies would have a much harder time. You’re doing them a favour by showing them your work, and they understand the anxiety that comes with it.

So there’s no shortage of agencies out there. How do you choose the right one, or at least narrow down a shortlist?

You should apply to a few agencies you genuinely like. A lot of illustrators take the first offer they get. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

Here are a few things to look out for.

What styles does the agency already have? If your work is very similar to another artist they represent, it’s less likely they’ll take you on because they already have that style covered.

What size is the agency? How many artists do they represent, and how many agents do they have?

Some agencies represent 200, 300, even 400 plus artists. That means there can be a lot of crossover in styles. There may be artists whose work looks similar to yours, and you could end up competing for jobs within your own agency.

On the other hand, big agencies often have more marketing power and more client enquiries. So it’s not automatically good or bad. It’s just something to consider.

If you’re looking at a big agency, ask how your work will get fair visibility. If they can give you a good answer and provide you with regular work, great. If they can’t, you may disappear in the crowd.

Also think about how the agency presents itself online.

There are newer agencies with slick websites and strong social media. Some are great. There are also older agencies, some 50 years old, with strong networks and solid client relationships. Also great.

But anyone can start an illustration agency. Some new ones look the part but are run by people with not much more experience than you, and I’ve seen a few come and go.

And some older agencies can be stuck in outdated ways of working. They may become irrelevant if they can’t adapt to how the industry is changing.

Before you decide on any agency, ask a few artists they represent what they think. Send a DM or an email. If you get good feedback, that’s useful. If you don’t, you’ve learned something.

Personally, I like agencies that are active in the creative community. The world is more open now. I’d look for reps who share useful information, do portfolio reviews, and try to make the industry better, not businesses that hoard their secrets and never contribute to the wider community.

A few examples that do great work in that direction:

Jacky Winter

Nikki Field at Jelly

Grand Matter

Handsome Frank

There are plenty of other great agencies too, but those are four examples of agencies or reps with a mindset of making the industry better for everyone, and for the artists they represent.

That’s something I’ve tried to do with this YouTube channel as well, and I think it’s a great mindset for artists too.

Share what you know, help other people. The illustration industry is hard enough, we might as well support each other.

That’s not to say any agency that doesn’t share online is bad. Maybe they’d love to, but they’re busy with great projects. Just pay attention to the agencies that are trying to push the industry forward, because they’ll be important in the future.

There’s also a checklist of other things to think about when joining an agency in my book, The Illustrator’s Guide. If you’ve got a copy, give that section another read.

If you want to learn more about the industry from my point of view, hit subscribe. There are loads of videos here about marketing, finding clients, pricing, portfolio tips, and more, all made to help you establish yourself as an illustrator.

Here’s a playlist to get you started.

See you next time.