Ben Cox - Central Illustration Agency

It was good to meet Ben Cox of the central illustration agency today and have him review my work, as well as listen to his advice on illustration agencies and portfolios.

I never really considered how helpful an agency might be until this talk. I sort of thought they just took a chunk of my earnings and that was pretty much it. However, I now realise having an agent could really help with booking jobs and meeting new clients. Clients may come to an agency before going directly to an illustrator, as they may not have a particular person in mind so want to shop around a bit. A respected agency would only have good illustrators on the books, so getting in with an agency would be an immediate boost. They also help protect you legally and sort of the finance side of things - something I've found I'm not scared to stick my teeth into, but I don't know enough yet and an agent would help make sure I was doing it correctly. 

TO DO - Find out about some good, well respected agencies.

Ben also talked through what makes a good portfolio. His advice was..

• Around 30 pages is an ideal size, although he respects that we might not have portfolios this big as recent graduates
• Digital portfolios are much more common, although some clients still like to see a physical one. This could be better anyway for things such a screenprints. 
• The portfolio needs to show a variety of briefs and projects, e.g. a bit of advertising, a bit of editorial, a bit of children's illustration, packaging design etc.
• However, the portfolio should have a strong and consistent tone of voice. It needs to be able to speak for itself and show the client almost a sense of personality.
• Projects with quite a different tone of voice should be put into a separate portfolio, ready for when they are needed for a different kind of client.
• It should be clean, clear and well designed. 

His direct advice to me after looking at my work was that it was bright, bold and eye-catching - he said it would grab his attention from across a room, which was really good to hear! He did however say I need to work on the communication side of some of my images, which I sort of knew he'd say. It's not like they fit into any particular sector of the industry and they need to be given some sort of context (mockups, photos of prints in exhibitions etc.)