Hi, thanks so much for this, it's such a great resource. I've been wanting to ask; how necessary is an Illustration Agent? I have an illustrator I'm in total awe of. I had imagined she procured all her clients herself, and that was massively inspirational for me, but I found out recently she actually has a large agent in London. Does it help a lot to get big clients if you have an agent? Is it seen as more professional? Thanks so much
You don’t NEED an agent. Many top illustrators don’t have one. Very few agents help you launch your career. The good ones start asking after you once you’ve gained a certain amount of notoriety and they think they can help push you further. I would say agent or no agent isn’t an issue you should even think about until you are already working professionally for a year and getting some steady clients. At the earliest. It’s a way to move from medium-to-large scale, not from small-to-medium and especially not nothing-to-small.
Remember, agents need to make money too. Why on EARTH would they take a risk so large as to work with a complete unknown?
—Agent (but not THAT kind of agent) KillFee