AGM in New York City for ICON5

Here are some pics from AGM’s recent trip to NYC for ICON5.

Less is not always more, especially in illustration

I have noticed a serious decline with budgets in illustration lately and I firmly believe it’s not always the client’s fault. I mean it would be a whole lot easier to blame them but I have other ideas. Yes, we could always blame the economy or the Republicans for that matter. Personally I point my finger at the illustrators themselves.

How to get started as a professional Illustrator

Many aspiring illustrators often ask me how to go about getting started in this industry. Here are a few pointers that I hope will help you out.Firstly, it is very important is to understand the difference between doing “art” for yourself and doing “art” that is “commissioned.” Once you understand that, you are half way there.It is really important in my opinion to develop a unique style. Often when I am showed student’s portfolios and there are several styles of work in the same book. This is often required in schools that teach illustration and want to have you explore various styles. That’s great for school but I would stay away from doing that in “the real world”. First, it makes it hard to recognize your particular style and second it does not give a recognizable look or signature to your work. Art directors are always looking for a certain style at any one time and tend to associate one particular style with one particular illustrator. Even thought you might be great at a few styles, I still stress the importance of choosing just one to focus on.

Should an Illustrator have an Agent represent him/her?

To have or not to have, that is the question!

I am often asked this question and to be absolutely honest, I don’t think that every illustrator should have one. Its like marriage, it’s not for everyone. But if you are an artist who has been working in the industry for a while or someone just starting out, then having a rep might be the right thing for you. It is important to fully understand what an Agent or Rep does in order to really know if you need one or not.

At AGM we handle all the business end of the business, allowing our illustrators to concentrate solely on creating and illustrating. We do all the business development, read and negotiate all contracts that come in, create, produce and distribute group promotions and promote their work via our highly visited website. AGM also does quite a bit of PR for the artists that we represent as well as taking care of all the accounts payables and receivables. Like I said, basically we do everything but the illustrations themselves. Thank god we leave that to the real experts, our illustrators.

How do I find the artists I represent

I am often asked how I find the artists that I represent, so I decided to share this not so secret information with you… I find them in magazines, in newspapers, on the Internet, on murals, in annuals and on blogs. Yes that’s right I actively search high and low for talent to represent. I hunt them down!

More commonly now I visit various websites that I have bookmarked over the years. I read the updates and the news. I check out portfolios and click on a blog or two. I look to see who is up to what and what is up to par. I search for a feeling, best described as “love at first sight”. While browsing I hope that somewhere, something will jump out at me.

I have been doing this since back to when I first started my agency some 12 years ago, this February. When I started back in 1996 my fingers did the walking but not on my keyboard. Back then I did indeed have a website but I really didn’t know how it worked nor was I very familiar with the Internet. My source for finding new artists was limited to the printed page. CA magazine was always a source for inspirations as was Applied Arts and others. Their Illustration and Photography annuals were where a place of inspiration.

National Post article - Illustrators are always a big draw

I made some comments recently for the National Post

“What’s exciting for the business of illustration,” says Anna Goodson, the principal of her eponymous boutique artists’ agency, “is that it gives an artist a commercial way to succeed. Art is a difficult milieu to be in and make a living at.”

Still, you never know where a bit of commercial, anonymous illustration can lead. “One of our illustrators had done an editorial illustration for the Hartford Courant newspaper,” Goodson recounts. “Somehow, Prince saw the portrait of himself and loved it, contacted us and bought the full rights to the image. We also print on Zoom [ads], which are in bathrooms and everywhere, so I’ve had people contact us and request an artist because they’ve spotted them in the men’s room, standing at the urinal. I get that a lot!”

To read the full article visit - www.nationalpost.com

Facebook- Illustrators “ be -a –ware”.

By now, most of us have heard of or received an email from a “friend” on Facebook. And in order to read email we have had to sign up. Yours truly included.

Like everyone else I had no idea what this website was all about but after a few minutes, I was curious and intrigued. I was also cautious, so before logging out, I decided to take off my photo and remove my name and email address.

Two days later I get another email from yet another “friend” from Facebook and have to sign up all over again to read the email. Of course I do, because the curious creature that I am and that most of us are, I wanted to know who had written to me.