Get Your Work Commissioned & Make Money as an Illustrator

Want to get your work in print? From editorial placement to anthologies to published portfolios, it can be a huge boost to your career to get featured in (or on!) a book or magazine. Join Skillshare live for a fun and informative discussion on how get your work noticed (and printed) from three unique perspectives:

• Cara Bedick, Editorial Director (Former Harper-Collins, Chronicle)
• James Hughes, Illustration Agent, Creative Coach, and Skillshare Teacher
• Daniel Lievano, an award-winning Conceptual Illustrator, Author, and Skillshare Teacher

This Session Will Cover:

• Getting your work in front of editors.
• What to consider when self-evaluating your portfolio via a live, visual portfolio-review from panelists.
• How to negotiate fees and establish your value as an artist.
• How to leverage each opportunity to get more gigs.

This session is for any artist who is building their illustration career and looking for insight on how to best present their work for potential clients.

Panelist Bios

Cara Bedick is a book editor with over nineteen years of experience including director and executive roles at Chronicle Books and Simon & Schuster. She brings an unmatched level of enthusiasm and entrepreneurship to her projects, resulting in numerous bestsellers, including The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking and Fit Men Cook by Kevin Curry. Her evolving list includes the recent #1 New York Times bestselling series Stay Curious and Keep Exploring by Emily Calandrelli, Life As We Know It (Can Be) by Bill Weir, and How to Wear Everything by Kay Barron.

James Hughes is an illustration agent at Folio Art in the UK, working with some of the industry’s most popular illustrators on projects ranging from indie magazines, to global campaigns. He is the author of The Illustrator’s Guide, and helps new illustrators start their careers through a YouTube channel of the same name and coaching and mentoring.

Part of Daniel Lievano’s work consists of visualizing avant-garde ideas from leading minds in science and art. Recent projects include: three illustrated award-winning collection books for the English publisher Folio Society, a digital cover for The New Yorker magazine on the future of sustainability, and the cover of the Financial Times magazine on Wassily Kandinsky. Among other accolades, his recent graphic novel Gravity and Other Substances received the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators of New York and the Seymour Chwast MA-g Award in Zurich. In 2022, Daniel was awarded the first prize of the World Illustration Awards, given by the Association of Illustrators (AOI) established in the United Kingdom.

Your Host

Dani Zacarias has spent over a decade helping creators make money on platforms they love. As VP, Community at Skillshare, she works with a passionate team to manage and evolve teacher programs and bring new features, like 1-on-1’s and Lives, to the Skillshare community. Previously, Dani was Head of Content and Creators at Wattpad, where she worked to find and polish the best stories within a library of millions, helping to take some of those stories from a V1 draft to a TV series, movie or a published book. Prior to Wattpad, Dani spent half a decade working with writers and publishers across Sub Saharan Africa and India to create new monetization and distribution strategies for their stories.

What is a Skillshare Live Session? Join a Skillshare Live Session to create alongside Skillshare’s most inspiring teachers in an interactive, hands-on environment. When you join a Skillshare Live Session, you deepen your creative practice, strengthen your skills, and step fully into your creative potential with the support of the Skillshare community. Skillshare Live Sessions give you the opportunity to engage with your favorite teachers and ask questions along the way. You’ll leave every Skillshare Live Session feeling accomplished, having created something new with the guidance of the best creative teachers out there.

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