I noticed alot of people having a hard time finding “finding work”. Here is the perspective of someone doing this professionally. For more: instagram.com/mortynet.art

This is a subject that obviously is very diverse. but I’ll answer assuming you want picture book making to be a priority in your life.

There obviously is the generic advice... but take it from someone that does this professionally and doesn’t even own a website, much if it is noise...

Often times we allow the validation/rejection of prospective clients define your artistic self worth... and that right there is a core problem to address.

Ask yourself, if it were a guarantee that you’d never make a dime off your art, would you still do it?

If your answer is yes, you are an artist regardless of your clients. you owe it to yourself to give yourself that validation FIRST!

If you don’t, and seek that validation by means of outside approval, likes, followers, sales... etc. your creativity will be dependent on market demands, trends and aesthetics.

If your creativity is pandering to the common denominator, your art is bound to be formulaic and be the first to be replaced by AI.

Now that the mentality is addressed, let’s talk clients and work.

Do you just need anyone willing to toss money at you so you can feel validated as an artist? Or is there a specific thing you like to do? Are you looking to publish? Or do you prefer to be commissioned for covers? Are you looking to write? Or simply illustrate? Do you have vision? Or do you prefer instructions?

All these questions are important when narrowing down what you exactly want, and in part, leads to how to plan your approach.

I myself wanted to write and illustrate my own stories, I did so because telling stories is where I get fulfilment from. so I worked on my own projects until I felt happy with a book I made... wether it got published or not was honestly irrelevant to me, as long as I was happy with what I made, that’s all that mattered.

Looked up some publishers, found one with similar values and books that I wanted to stand amongst... Tossed my project their way, got picked up, made it abundantly clear what I expected from them, and now they let me make whatever I want, and they’ll handle the rest.

Point is, ask yourself what you get fulfilment from, what you expect from an artistic career, and what you’d like your day to day to look like. Ask yourself how much freedom you want, or how many restrictions you need... these will inform your trajectory

And remember, profit is a result, not a goal. If money was the goal, there are way more lucrative pursuits. Money is a great tool to make things happen, but a horrible guide.

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