One of my goals for 2009 was to get more freelance work as an illustrator and make moves towards my ultimate goal, draw for a living from home. It’s now June and I have yet to really get things started. My biggest problem is that I have a lot insecurities when it comes to my work and this fear seems to have sabotaged my progress. So I thought I’d get some advice. I headed on over to my local amazon and picked up How to be an Illustrator by Darrel Rees.

I can’t recommend this book any higher. I guess it’s a bit premature because even though I read through it in three days, I haven’t put any of the advice into practice yet. But still, this book is full of great advice for those seeking to make illustration a career.

Darrel Rees has been a working illustrator since 1986 and now heads his own illustration agency, Heart. The advice and examples he provides are culled from two decades of professional experience. Honestly, this book has everything they should have taught you in school about actually working as an artist. Peppered throughout the chapters are short interviews with illustrators and art directors.

I found the chapters discussing job-hunting and self promotion to be most instructive. I’ve been meaning to overhaul my website for the longest time, but I never seriously considered sending out postcards until reading those chapters. Apparently, even today in the age of information, sending out post cards is one of the easiest ways to get your work noticed by editors and art directors. They can sort of act like a trailer for your portfolio. I’m going to take some of my own advice and this new bit of reading and apply it to myself.

If you are serious about making illustration your livelihood, this book will give you some good advice on how to go about doing just that.

How to be an Illustrator by Darrel Reese – $16.47 from Amazon