How to up your game as an artist

Want to know how to up your game as an artist? One of the questions top art agent and former illustrator Lilla Rogers gets asked most frequently is “Which of your artists gets the most work?” The key is in upping your game.

If you’ve been wondering how to get work as an artist, watch this video – or if you can’t watch right now, find the transcript below.

If you want to up your game as an artist, get more work, and learn how to make your art more commercially viable while staying true to yourself then sign up for one of our game-changing courses today!

How to up your game as an artist

I’m often asked which of my artists get the most work? And I’m going to tell you – sort of – the answer. And it’s all about getting work.

So the artists that get the most are the ones that send us personal pieces on a regular basis. Now, how do they make these personal pieces – that is, pieces not for jobs specifically? Some of them are so busy with work that they don’t have time to make personal pieces, but some are super busy and squeeze it in.

But how do you create a personal piece? You have to be inspired. You have to learn, grow, get inspiration, and all those things. So the answer is the artists that do those things, get the most work.

So I want to talk to you about upping your game, because I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and I reflected on a time when I didn’t up my game, and then I did up my game.

This was a long time ago when I was an editorial illustrator in New York, and the big exciting annual to get into, the big award book, was American Illustration. And if you got to not only was it prestigious, but you got some really, really – the coolest jobs.

First year I entered, didn’t get in, was crushed. You know, typical thing.

Second year, I tried a little more, and I got one in. Yay, I’m cool, I’m great.

Third year, I sent in a whole bunch of pieces – and it’s expensive too! Nothing. Zippo. So I’m like, okay, I got to up my game.

Some of Lilla’s editorial illustrations from her time as a professional illustrator.

“Well, I’m already doing my best,” I said to myself. Well, the other part of me said, “No, there’s more you can do. You know what you can do, you can start your piece earlier, you can get a lot of research and visual reference, set up stilllifes to draw from, maybe go buy some more materials (yeah, that’s always cool!). You can spend more time on the piece itself, put on great music, like really just do everything you can, do more blending of the pastels if I was working with that, whatever it was, you know.” And I did, I really pushed myself, I’m like, you know, I’m gonna bring everything I’ve got to the programme.

And then I applied, I submitted, and I got eight pieces in American illustration. It was really amazing.

And so you have control over your talent, you have control over your career. You don’t have control over end result per se, like if you say, oh, I’m going to make $100,000, you don’t have control over that figure. What you have control over is upping your game. And so when Beth talked to me about what I wanted to teach in my e-course, it’s a lot about what are those things that can inspire people, and tools, techniques, time management, anything I could throw in. I mean, like, everything’s in there, the kitchen sink’s in there. And so that was important to me, and those are my thoughts on upping your game.