This morning I woke up to find an email from Ellie Altomare, Marketing Associate and Marketing Partner at Serbin Communications, Inc. in my inbox. Serbin Communications published the “Directory of Illustration” — an encyclopedia of sorts for artists and illustrators.
Since there has been a lot of talk, and understandably so, about how to make artistic ends meet in this economy, I thought I’d take a quick minute to make sure you are aware of this advertising opportunity.
Although the Directory is made up of artists who do more work-for-hire than traditional licensing, I believe some do a mix of both. It is possible to sell the rights to your art for a particular product for a flat fee, while maintaining the rights to licensing (for royalties) on other products. If you are looking to add a mix of selling strategies to your business, you might want to take a look.
This description, in italics, is from their website:
- The Directory of Illustration offers a comprehensive program to meet the needs of today’s professional illustrator in an ever-changing marketplace. Our web and print platforms reach the widest variety of active art and creative directors who have the ability to hire you. We attract the best artists in the industry while giving you the tools to stand out from the crowd. Think of the Directory as your marketing partner, providing just the right combination of innovation, value, support and stability to help you get ahead.
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- Directoryofillustration.com attracts tens of thousands of unique visitors each month. It’s where qualified art buyers go to find top talent.
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- The printed Directory is distributed to as many as 20,000 buyers in January and cross-promoted with national advertising, internet banners, trade events, seminars and industry sponsorships.
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- We reach out with targeted e-blasts that identify premier buyers and drive traffic to directoryofillustration.com. We continually explore new and emerging markets to showcase your talent.
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- Our marketing professionals all have 10-15 years of collaborative experience promoting artists like you. We know this business inside and out.
About 12 years ago I was living outside of Seattle, about 5 miles from Microsoft. I became friends with a woman whose husband was an amazing digital artist. He did a lot of packaging design for Microsoft and even designed the blue “e” for Internet Explorer and the Windows logo. (He used to get embarrassed when i would introduce him as “the guy who designed the windows logo — but how cool is that?) Anyway, that was the first time I saw the Directory of Illustration. They told me it was their main source of advertising.
I haven’t gone this route personally but I do believe it is a highly used source for companies who buy art. Their early submission deadline is December 17th.
If you want to learn more, here are some links.
Directory of Illustration main website page
Have a happy and creative day — be open to the many artistic opportunities out there!
~ Tara
Very good info!
I’ve bookmarked this site!
Charles
I have advertised in the directory a couple of times and no one has ever called or e-mailed me to ask if I would like to work on a project with them.
The directories theory is that you need to consistently advertise in the book over 4 or 5 years to create a presence and show that you are a professional. That’s a big investment, especially if you don’t get any work from it.
I have decided in the past couple of months to start an e-mail campaign instead of using the directories or postcards.
Robert — thank you for your experience and insights. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you and hope you see better results with your e-mail campaign!
hello, after talking to a bunch of illo reps, and several illustrators, and doing freelance illustration myself, i pesonally think everyone has their own opinion on what works. some people swear by the directory, and others don’t. some artists swear by postcard mailings, and others dont have any luck their either. its so much a trial and error game, but it does seem that you have to be consistent in whatever you choose for at least a few years.
i’ve advertised in several places, and not had great luck either. i advertised in the directory of illustration & i have advertised in other books http://altpick.com/ (they used to have a book, not sure if they do amymore), and got a few calls through that ad, but nothing that led to a job. i also have done the ispot and altpick websites, which i havent gotten any jobs from either.
regarding the books:
i hear that you need to do 2-3 years, but at 2500$ a pop, thats a big risk (though thats less than doing a licensing / surtex trade show). i know illustrators who only advertise in the directory of illo and make a living from it, so it depends on your style, etc. i personally have done better with licensing & just coldcalling, and word of mouth, but i guess its worth a shot if you have the budget.
there is also good resources for mailing lists if you do postcard mailings
they update their lists regularly, and you can output the files formatted onto labels, etc, which is really handy. i was always a bit lazy with my mailings, but this is the best resource i’ve found, and every illustrator i know uses it.
http://www.adbase.com/