How much does an illustrator earn? Profession illustrator: we will show everything that is hidden

The Village continues to find out how the personal budget of representatives of different professions works. In the new issue - an illustrator. Typically, these specialists work as freelancers, and there is no fixed cost for their work: for the same task you can get either 5 thousand rubles or 50 thousand. The girl who quit her job as an art director to pursue illustration told us about her income and expenses.

Profession

Illustrator

Income

90,000 rubles

Spending

20,000 rubles

flat rent

15,000 rubles

10,000 rubles

entertainment

7,000 rubles

4,000 rubles

transport

1,000 rubles

cat expenses

33,000 rubles

savings

How to become an illustrator

I love to express my attitude to the world through drawings, and illustration is what I wanted to do since childhood. I graduated art school, and then took an illustration course at the British Higher School of Design. After completing the courses, I worked as an art director in a large advertising agency, but after some time I stopped liking the job due to the lack of creative freedom. I collected a financial cushion and quit my job in the hope of getting a job as an illustrator.

I began offering my services to publishing houses, the media and art directors of various companies. At the same time, I launched a project in which I illustrated one piece of news I liked every day. The idea was suggested by my husband, and I like to react to events and make it quite funny, so I gladly took on the project. I posted drawings on in social networks, and the project became popular. When I collected about 15 works, I combined them into one post, in which I said that I was looking for an illustrator job, and asked my friends to repost. In the end, everyone I knew knew that I was looking for a job, and that helped. During the first month of searching, I received five or six orders and took on almost everything. The news project lasted for several months until I began to receive orders steadily.

The publications and art directors to whom I sent letters at the beginning of my search began to respond about six months later. As a result, over several years of work, I created packaging designs, illustrations for a bank, shopping center, alcoholic products, magazine and online media, came up with a corporate identity for the cafe, and also participated in the creation of a comic book and illustrated a book. By the way, I don’t have my own website with my work; clients learn about me through word of mouth. Or I write to people I like.

Aspiring talented illustrators are often embarrassed to show their work publicly and wait until they put together a cool portfolio. I did this too, but I realized that there is no need to wait for anything, you need to act now, be bold and actively talk about yourself on social networks.

Features of work

Over the two years of work, I began to feel more confident and began to refuse some offers. Now I try to fulfill large orders and only take on work that I like. When communicating with a client, I try to find out as much information as possible: what are the features of the product, who is its audience, and so on. Often this requires meeting and discussing details in person.

Over time, clients began to trust me and give me creative freedom, but I never know in advance what I will draw. I don't stick to one style and try something new every time. Magazine and book illustration is a visual commentary on the text. But this does not mean that the picture should simply duplicate it. It can be a witty addition or a personal opinion of the author, with which the reader may or may not agree. The illustration can also ask questions or refer to interesting facts written. With advertising illustration, everything is a little different, because there needs to be a clear brief. On this topic, by the way, one illustrator said good phrase: “If you are drawing an apple, then you do not need to sign the drawing with the word “apple.” IN reverse side this works too.

There are two types of illustrators: the first get a kick out of drawing anything out of their heads, and the second always need a challenge. I belong to the latter: I don’t like to draw just like that, and my news project was, in fact, an order for myself. Even when I am given complete creative freedom, I set boundaries for myself and set my own task within the client's order. It is important that not only the customer, but also me like the drawing.

During my studies, I painted a lot, but over time I realized that the most comfortable thing is to work on graphics tablet. Firstly, it is always with me, and I can draw from anywhere, and secondly, it is faster. If you draw with your hands, you then need to scan the drawing, and this takes too much time. In addition, it is much easier to make edits on a tablet. Last year I drew illustrations for a book with pencils and almost died from this process.

I work from home every day for five to six hours. I usually do several drawings at the same time, so in the morning I always need to make a work plan for the day. Work on the drawing begins with color range where I want to work. Sometimes it just pops into my head, and sometimes I have to spend a lot of time looking at pictures on Tumblr or Pinterest to find a good color combination. Once every two months it happens that I don’t work for two weeks. This happens not because I am lazy, but simply due to a lack of orders.

One day a very big company, who needed to develop characters for the game. However, they themselves did not know what they wanted, and as a result of negotiations they asked me to draw up a brief for them. I compiled it and sent it, but the person I was communicating with stopped responding, and a week later another employee of the same company sent me a task with my own brief. That is, they decided not to work with me, but they used my brief, sent it to different illustrators and accidentally sent it to me again. This was the only time I allowed myself to be rude to a customer. In general, if at the very beginning of a discussion I have problems with a client and my brain is blown, then I try to immediately refuse the job.

My friends told me what to do if you don’t want to take an order. You just need to tell the customer an insanely high price for the work. Usually everyone immediately refuses, but a couple of times someone agreed, and we had to work. Large companies and publishing houses usually set the price for the work themselves, and with startups and new teams, each case is dealt with individually.

Income

Over the past two to three years, the illustration market has grown significantly. There are more customers, and they are ready to pay normally. There are also more illustrators, which is also good, because healthy competition improves quality.

In my profession there is a very wide range of prices. I once conducted an experiment and found out that some people are willing to pay 5 thousand rubles for the same job, while others are willing to pay 50 thousand. People don’t know how and how much to evaluate an illustrator’s work. At the same time, by the way, little-known customers are more willing to pay large amounts than many big brands. Some advertising agencies estimate the cost of work in A4 sheets, but this is strange because each illustrator spends a different amount of time on an illustration. For example, I draw with large shapes, and another illustrator draws every detail. It’s unfair that he will spend much more time on a drawing in A4 format than I do, but we will get an equal amount money. It seems to me that it is most correct to pay for labor by the hour, and sometimes I calculate the cost of the order based on the cost of the hour.

Now I try not to take on orders worth less than 10 thousand rubles, although sometimes I make exceptions for one publication that has a fixed payment for work. I can make a small order for 5 thousand rubles in a day, and my largest order was for 200 thousand rubles, I did it for a month and a half. In addition to money, customers periodically send me various goodies. For example, on New Year I was given perfumes, creams and other nice things.

I consider my salary commensurate with my work because I get a lot of rest. I have enough money to live on, but as a person with ambitions, I always want more. I think if you constantly take on a lot of orders, then in three or four years you can earn 150 thousand rubles.

Expenses

My husband and I are trying to keep track of our income and expenses, but with varying degrees of success. In general, we are big spenders: we spend a lot of money on entertainment. We constantly go to the cinema, bars, skating rinks, exhibitions and so on. We lead an active lifestyle and adhere to the philosophy “You should not save, but earn more.” If one of us wants to buy something or go somewhere, then we do it.

We rent an apartment for 40 thousand rubles and save money spontaneously; we don’t save for our own apartment. Usually, when the amount of savings reaches 200 thousand rubles, we cannot help but go on a trip.

It's important for me to travel. Last year we traveled abroad twice and my husband and I traveled around Russia about five times. We toured the cities of the Golden Ring in two trips and visited Sochi several times. By the way, once in Sochi we managed to spend 100 thousand rubles in four days, despite the fact that we lived with my husband’s parents. I myself don’t understand how this happened. I'd like to put it off more money, but it doesn’t work out yet.

Ideally, I want to take a two-month break from work and Moscow in some warm country for two months a year. I was thinking about working outside of Moscow, but my husband’s work keeps him busy, so this option is not being considered yet.

From the author: Hello friends! I probably dedicate today’s article to all creative people who are inclined to choose the profession of illustrator. I'll tell you how to become a master of your craft and where to start. If you are wondering how to become an illustrator, then this article will be useful to you.

What is the profession of an illustrator?

Illustrator is creative person, creating images for written texts and stories for magazines and books, as well as for Internet resources. Of course, these illustrations should not just dryly convey the meaning of the text, but visualize the ideas, emotions and thoughts of the author. This is the essence of the illustrator’s profession - to clearly, succinctly and concisely express the intention of the author of the text in the image. The most in demand are broad-based illustrators who can create beautiful pictures, design, process photographs, find and refine images.

What are the responsibilities of an illustrator?

To the main job responsibilities illustrator can be classified as:

creating illustrations and collages;

retouching and processing of photographs and images;

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font development;

color correction;

working with raster and vector images.

Additional functions of the illustrator may include creating characters and drawing frames for cartoons, developing corporate identity and other tasks.

What every illustrator should know?

The essence of an illustrator’s work is development finished works and sketches for customers. Before you start learning the craft of an illustrator, pay attention to the following drawing techniques:

Graphic illustration. Creating a drawing using the graphic technique in black or with a simple pencil. When creating an illustration, strokes and spots are used. The main requirement of graphics: the presence of lines of the same color.

Technical illustration. These are drawings that accompany all engineering documentation.

Botanical illustration. Such pictures are images of the objects being described and are usually used in textbooks for schools and universities.

Illustrations made special techniques. Such illustrations include embroidery, modeling, origami, appliqué, etc.

It is advisable for the illustrator to master all of the above techniques, because customers can present absolutely different requirements to work. The basic requirements for an illustrator also include:

ability to draw in such graphic editors like CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop;

knowledge of various programs, for example, Power Point;

ability to take photographs, make collages, process photographs, apply effects, etc.

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It is advisable, of course, to develop your own, okay recognizable style. Some publishing houses want to have their own identity and hire illustrators with a “zest” for long-term cooperation.

Pros and cons of the profession of illustrator

If you are determined and are already planning to take an illustrator course, then before doing this, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the disadvantages and advantages of the profession. You may think that I am starting from the wrong place, but I am doing this consciously. Yes, first I want to list the disadvantages of working as an illustrator, so that you can immediately understand whether you are ready to follow your calling, no matter what.

So, if your goal is fame and easy money, then I advise you to choose a different profession. In most cases, the customer pays for the final product and no one cares how many hours you spent on the work.

Also, sometimes you come across clients who really like to make amendments and changes. Plus financial instability. Today you don’t know what job to grab, and tomorrow there’s a lull. You shouldn't become an illustrator if you don't know how to adapt to a project, a client, a situation, and can't stand criticism.

This profession, alas, assumes the first place for the client, so you have to “dance to his tune.” Forget about things like vacation and sick leave, because it's all planned around your work schedule. Well, in the end, in addition to drawing, you will regularly have to engage in self-promotion, participate in competitions, and update websites.

As for the advantages, they are much smaller, but if being an illustrator is your calling, they will significantly outweigh the disadvantages.

The illustrator profession has no language barriers or geographical boundaries. You can work for any country and anywhere in the world.

This profession will not allow you to get bored, because each next project will not be similar to the previous one. With each task you will improve and learn a lot of new things. useful information. You will do what you love and still get paid!

But the most important advantage of being an illustrator is the realization that you turn boring letters into beautiful pictures. Believe me, it’s very nice to see your work on websites, in magazines and books!

Where can I learn to be an illustrator?

In order to become an illustrator, you need to learn drawing techniques. You can obtain the necessary skills and knowledge by enrolling in art school or after graduating from art school. Since this type of training requires quite a lot of time and financial investment, most people wonder how to become an illustrator without education.

And here computer courses, video tutorials and distance learning to the illustrator. With their help you can get everything necessary knowledge, without leaving home.

How to get a job as an illustrator?

The profession of an illustrator is quite in demand. Even if there are no vacancies in leading companies, you will always have the opportunity to look for customers on the Internet. The specialty of illustrator-artist may be in demand in the following areas of business:

It will be enough for you to simply find a job in one of these organizations. To do this, you should periodically review vacancies on the Internet, freelance forums and channels, and design sites.

If the illustrator profession attracts you, but you are not sure that you can find a job easily, don’t worry, there are plenty of part-time jobs on the Internet, the main thing is to create a high-quality portfolio for yourself. Don't expect instant recognition, just enjoy your work and the world will smile on you!

If you liked my article, click like and share with your friends!

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Many people think about who draws pictures in children's books, and not only in books. What is the name of this mysterious profession and what is it eaten with? Now we will try to understand this issue.

Who is an illustrator?

First of all, an illustrator is an artist. And in the very in a broad sense words. Cartoons, commercials, drawings in books, graphics in computer games, films, desktop wallpapers, website designs, postcards - this is all the work of the illustrator. And although there is one profession, it is divided into many branches.

I would like to note that this hard work. In addition to the ability to draw, the artist must have his own style, understand the customer’s requests and provide him with several different options for the same task.

Where can an illustrator find work?

Despite the fact that an illustrator is a rare and creative profession, in a regular job market you don’t often see such an advertisement. Search similar work carried out using a portfolio on specialized websites. Also, the profession of illustrator is in great demand in book publishing houses and editorial offices, in design studios and advertising companies.

It's rare to see an artist on salary. Their salary is tied specifically to how much they make. Book illustrators get paid for a specific project. That is why it is difficult to say what the salary of a professional in this field of activity might be. According to some data, the average salary ranges from 20 to 70 thousand rubles. The scope precisely reflects the fact that artists are project workers.

Study and career growth

There are two opinions on the topic of education for illustrators. Some say that graduating from a higher educational institution is a mandatory requirement. After all, where else if not at a university can artists get an idea of ​​computer programs for drawing, techniques, methods and much more. Others, on the contrary, say that education is for talented person- this is a completely useless thing. And if you want to learn something, you can do it yourself or with the help of short courses.

Even popular artists, whose experience has been tested over the years, have not come to a consensus. Perhaps the profession of illustrator really does not require anything other than talent.

The career path of an illustrator is very varied. The artist can lead creative group, open your own advertising company, become the head of an art agency and even achieve worldwide fame. It all depends on talent, aspirations and ability to do business, as in any other profession.

Pros and cons of the profession

Like any other activity, being an illustrator has its pros and cons. The first include the following:

• No connection to the workplace. The illustrator does not need to go to the office every day, and he can not only work from home, but also travel without violating project deadlines.
• Opportunity to be creative. Any artist paints pictures with love and enjoyment.
• Vacation at any time of the year. There is no schedule, only the deadline for submitting the order and discussions along the way.
• You can start at any time. If you are no longer 20, this is not a reason to say goodbye to your illustrator career.

• Criticism. Not all creative people able to tolerate criticism, even if it is constructive.
• Last minute deadlines. If inspiration does not strike the artist, there are times when, in a panic, you have to finish something. The same applies to those who find it difficult to organize their time.
• High competition. Despite the rarity of the profession, there are a lot of talented people who simply know how to draw well.
• Self-promotion. advertising oneself is also the responsibility of the artist.

Any disadvantages can be eliminated if you hire a person who can control time, manage notebook, promote the artist and deal with his image. Novice specialists cannot always afford this, but, as we remember, career possible, because this is a profession - an illustrator.

Children's and adult artists

Often when we think of picture books, we think of children's books. But in fact there is a large number of books for adults with stunning illustrations. These could be graphic novels, which are now at the top of their popularity, fairy tales for adults, publications with pictures by the author, and much more.

Children's artists come to mind much more often, because children are the main consumers of illustrators' talent. They love picture books regardless of age. Teenagers switch to comics, and adults are content only with rare copies of books, where the artist helps to imagine what they have read.

Modern book illustrators

One of the most well-known foreign contemporary illustrators is Chris Riddell, whom you can recognize from Neil Gaiman’s books (“The Maiden and the Spindle,” “Coraline”) or his own (“Young Lady Goth” and others). The Russian-speaking public also knows the following artists: Kay Acedera (“Lisle and Poe”), R.V. Alley (“Paddington Bear”), Art Spiegelman (“Mouse”) and many other talented names.

Russian illustrators also do not lag behind their foreign colleagues. Igor Yulievich Oleynikov works not only with books, but also with films. This is a very popular artist both here and abroad. Known for the books “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,” “Peter Pan” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.”

Evgeny Antonenkov has published many books together with Rosman. He can be recognized from the illustrations of books by Alan Milne, Boris Zakhoder and Korney Chukovsky.

Ukrainian colleagues from the publishing house “A-ba-ba-ga-la-ma-ga” - Vladislav Erko (“ The Snow Queen") and Evgenia Gapchinskaya ("Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass"), as well as from the publishing house Clever - Galina Zinko (Andersen, Perrault, Pushkin) - also amaze with their sensual and heartfelt drawings.

There are a lot of names of great artists, so when choosing a profession as an illustrator, think about whether you can achieve the ideal in your drawings and compete with outstanding names by turning your hobby into a job.

An illustrator is first and foremost an artist. He must be able to create a drawing on a given topic or based on a specified text.

Demand

Payability

Competition

Entry barrier

Prospects

An illustrator is a human artist who creates an image from a written text or story. They are the ones who create themed pictures in books and magazines. Beautiful illustrations on websites are also their work.

The history of painting goes back to the time of the existence of primitive people. Cave drawings- the first illustrations created by human hands. As civilization developed, the latest technology. Also in Ancient Greece And Ancient Egypt the paintings on the walls were of great importance and value. During the Middle Ages or dark times painting was unpopular. Only canonical church motifs and portraits of nobles were welcomed. And yet, everything that tried to break through the clichés established by the Inquisition became “the work of Satan” and ended in the burning of the painting and the master. The situation changed with the advent of the Renaissance. Such eminent masters as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Michelangelo, Buanorotti and many others appeared. Over time, painting was filled with genres and developed. Styles such as modern, avant-garde, cubism, etc. appeared. Different genres began to separate. One of them was the art of illustration. It first appeared in chronicles, when troops were depicted as a drawing for a text. In the 20th century, illustration appeared as a term and took a significant place in fine arts. All of us at least once in our lives bought books with bright and colorful images for ourselves or our children. colorful drawings. The illustrations give the book life and color. They encourage our brains to visualize what they read, creating images of characters. Modern illustration- this is real art.

Description

The essence of an illustrator’s work is creating sketches and finished works for customers. Illustrators must own a huge amount various drawing techniques:

• Graphic illustration. Drawing using graphic techniques. This can be a simple or black pencil. The drawing is applied in the form of strokes and spots. The main requirement of graphics is the presence of only one line color.
• Botanical illustration. This is a picture that is an image of the object being described. These are usually used in school or university textbooks.
• Technical illustration. These are all kinds of drawings that are required to accompany all engineering documentation.
• Illustration using special techniques. These include origami, embroidery, modeling, applique, ikebana, etc.

Any illustrator must master each of these techniques, because different clients have completely varied requirements for the work performed.

The scope of illustration is quite wide. This art in demand in the following areas:

• literature and press;
• posters, posters - printing;
• animation - storyboard;
• Internet banners consisting of illustrations;
• Promotional Products.

Illustrator is one of the constantly in demand professions.

What specialties to study?

In order to become an illustrator, you need to learn drawing techniques. After all, it is precisely this that is the main requirement of customers. You can obtain the necessary knowledge by choosing the following specialties:

• illustrator;
• graphic designer;
• illustration and printmaking;
• illustration.

These specialties will allow you to become a real artist, capable of creating unique images through drawing.

Where to study

In order to become an illustrator, you can choose any nearby art school in the city. Nowadays, there are not too many such institutions, so more and more people are trying to get the necessary education online. Among the educational institutions we can highlight:

• MGUP (Moscow State University Print).
• VASHGD (Higher Academic School of Graphic Design).
• British Graduate School Design.

These are the most famous educational establishments, in which they do not just teach various techniques. Here you will discover a world of beauty. You will be able to see the beauty even in those things that previously caused only disgust.

What do you have to do at work and specializations?

The work of an illustrator is not standardized. You will practice drawing every day. Considering the fact that most of these artists work online, it is important to understand that you will be constrained by deadlines. It doesn't matter if you have inspiration in the next 12 hours or if something happened to you. You are obligated to submit your work on time and there are no excuses.

Most illustrators have long switched to the Internet and use only graphic editors in their work. Therefore, it is especially important to study all the nuances of working in them:

• Illustrator.
• Photoshop.
• CorelDRAW.

It is files processed in such editors that are one of the main requirements of customers.

Working in an office is convenient. You will be able to create without any distractions. But even here, meeting deadlines is important.

Drawing is the main responsibility of an illustrator. It is diverse and creative work, which can give a lot of pleasure. But it requires perseverance and the ability to create high-quality drawings even on days when there is no inspiration for art.

Who is this profession suitable for?

This profession is suitable for creative and creative individuals. Good illustrator has an amazing and powerful developed imagination. Having heard the words, his brain immediately creates vivid and original images to them.

In addition to high creativity, an illustrator must have perseverance and willpower. This is a man of purpose. Having set a task, he goes to it, no matter what. This most important quality for an artist - to overcome oneself, even on the most gloomy days, and create.

Demand

This profession is always in demand. Even if there are no vacancies in the offices of leading companies, you can always find customers through the World Wide Web. Illustrators are in demand in the following business areas:

• publishing houses, editorial offices, printing companies;
• organizations specializing in design;
• advertising companies;
• individuals and organizations;
• foreign companies.

You can easily find a job in one of these types of organizations. To do this, you should regularly view sites with vacancies on the Internet, forums and freelance channels, and design sites.

How much do people working in this profession earn?

An illustrator's salary is measured in conventional units. Most often, salaries are in US dollars. On average it is from $1000 to $5000. Income directly depends on the number of orders, speed and quality of work.

Is it easy to get a job?

Finding a job as an illustrator is not difficult. These are all kinds of part-time jobs via the Internet, where you can earn substantial fees. But getting a job in the office of a prestigious company that specializes in illustration, printing and design is much more difficult. Vacancies appear rarely, and there are many more applicants to fill them.

The most important factor will be your portfolio. Don’t forget to print all your work not only as a picture, but also as a screenshot. This will give the future employer the opportunity to assess your relevance, talent and work experience.

They meet clothing illustrators. You have to be neat and at the same time show your creativity in everything.

If they liked you at the interview, they will send you a letter within a week. test. You will need to create an illustration for such and such a description. Remember that you are not the only one who has received this task. It is important not just to create a picture, but also to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Successfully passing the test task guarantees your subsequent employment.

How does one usually build a career?

A career as an illustrator usually involves working from home. You can earn the respect of your superiors and be appointed as a remote curator of a group of artists. You will send the formulated technical tasks to the performers, accept them, edit them or send them for revision. Such an illustrator serves as a link between management and performers.

If you work in an office, it is quite possible to build a career. Having gained experience and demonstrated your leadership skills, you can get the position of head of art direction.

Also, working as an illustrator will allow you to learn all the intricacies of the profession and open your own art agency.

Prospects for the profession

The illustration is constantly evolving. This is development and the pursuit of excellence. The main prospect of the profession is the real opportunity to open your own business.

If you still have the slightest doubt that the profession of “Illustrator” is your calling, do not rush. After all, you can spend your whole life regretting the years you lost studying and working in a specialty that simply doesn’t suit you. To find a profession in which you can maximize your talents, go through online career aptitude test or order consultation "Career vector" .

From the author: Often people with a creative nature have difficulty finding a profession. Routine does not suit their character, and what they like to do, unfortunately, does not bring in the necessary income to maintain a decent standard of living. However, there is interesting profession, which combines good income and a creative context. In this article, we will tell you how to make money as an illustrator on the Internet, and how much graphics creators can generally earn from freelancing and hired work.

If you love to create, create and delight other people with graphic works that are born in your mind, then I recommend trying your hand at drawing images. Why is the profession of illustrator still for a long time will remain in demand in the labor market? Today, content is of great importance, in particular, that which is published in text format - books, articles, training courses - all this allows you to retain the target audience and use it further according to at will(motivate them to buy your product, inspire them to new feats, etc.).

However, without beautiful images, capable of recreating in the minds of readers certain emotions that the author sought to convey, the text will seem like just a white, unreadable sheet. It is this problem that the illustrator must solve. His main task is to create beautiful pictures, paid according to the format of the activity and the level of professional skills. Below we will talk about how much illustrators earn, and what you need to do if you are starting from scratch.

The essence of the profession

Depending on their specialization, an illustrator can engage in the following types of work:

preparing illustrations and collages for articles, books, posts on social networks;

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image processing;

retouching and color correction of finished pictures and photographs;

creating fonts;

development of vector and raster images.

More complex and highly paid areas that are affected by the activities of an illustrator include:

development of corporate identity for companies (logo, business card design, etc.);

creating characters for videos and films from scratch;

drawing fragments from cartoons;

designing for goods, clothing or textiles;

creating art for the entertainment industry;

other related directions.

If you want to start making money as a freelance illustrator, then you can try all areas of this activity at once. The most diverse and non-standard orders are found on the exchanges, so the creative impulse will have plenty of room to run wild.

Necessary skills to get started

Mandatory higher education not required to work as an illustrator. Approximately 40% of highly qualified specialists currently in demand on the market studied this area on their own. However, statistics do not indicate that they did not receive knowledge at all.

Of course, it is imperative to go through good courses in web design and other related areas in order to master a certain base from which your own style will grow.

To start making money creating illustrations, you will need the following set of key skills:

ability to create images in major graphic editors - Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Photoshop;

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developed creative thinking;

good feeling taste;

excellent imagination;

ability to draw both online and by hand;

ability to do beautiful pictures and process them efficiently.

Options for earning money

There are 3 main options for making money creating illustrations.

1. Freelancing.

How much do illustrators who operate remotely in freelance format earn? On average, a specialist in this field earns $1000. It all depends on your current skills, as they open up access to more complex orders, which are paid accordingly higher than others, as well as the amount of work performed.

2. Photo banks.

Such resources are sites on which creators of illustrations post their own created images, and other people purchase the pictures they like. All you need to earn income in this way is to register in the system and upload several of your best works. As soon as someone becomes interested in your creation and purchases it, the money will immediately be transferred to their personal account. Photobank takes a small percentage of the transaction in return.

You can earn about $300–$1000 a month this way by selling about 5 pictures a week. It is quite profitable and completely energy-intensive, so you can use this format as an additional source of income.

3. Work in a company.

It is quite difficult to answer exactly how much you can earn as an illustrator as an employee. Amounts can vary from 20 to 100 thousand rubles. It all depends not so much on your professional skills, but on the ability to “sell” yourself. There are often cases when both people are equally talented, however, they receive radically different amounts. Low earnings are typical of those people who believe that creativity and money are incompatible things.

Therefore, if you want to earn a good income from creating illustrations, you will also need to prove at the interview what a great specialist you are. You need to be able to explain why in this situation the illustration was depicted in this particular way, and what essence it generally conveys, in order to inspire confidence on the part of the employer.
The higher you rate yourself, competently justifying your own expertise, the more likely you are to get a job. good company with a decent level wages.

Employers in this case may be:

Surely, after reading the article, it became more clear to you how an illustrator makes money, as well as what actions you need to take to get started. So, maybe we can take the first step towards realizing our goal right now?

For example, you can take a web design course from experienced professionals who will dive you into the intricacies of creating stunning images. This will be the best solution to gain basic skills and, after a month or two, take on your first trial orders and understand how much it costs to work as an illustrator of your level.

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