Shortly after Esther’s debut we had an email from a junior illustrator needing a bit of help getting her foot in the door. She wanted to know the best way of getting into magazine illustration work and any tips on writing emails to art directors. See below for Esther’s advice..

Dear Wannabe,

You clearly have talent as an illustrator.

Let us begin by assuming you are independently wealthy or have another income stream on which to rely. In which case by all means you should pursue freelance magazine illustration as a career.

Approach the magazines that interest you and regularly use illustrations in their content. Find the Art Director’s name in the masthead and email them a short note and include three or four illustrations (especially if published already), along with a link to your site.

You might also want to try getting representation from places like Drawing Book Studio drawingbook.com.au. A lot of work that illustrators get is in the line of polishing storyboards for television commercials.

Good luck with it. Even though your work is very good, getting consistent freelance illustration work is quite a difficult area to pursue, and you may need to look at a studio job as well.

Cheers, Esther

You can ask Esther Clerehan anything about putting your book together, getting a job, what salary to ask for or what to do when someone steals your ideas. Go on, Ask Esther. There is no other creative recruiter with more experience to educate us on the art of the job hunt. You can email her direct in confidence at esther@clerehan.com (esther null@null clerehan NULL.com) or here at junior at wtf@lifeatthebottom.com (wtf null@null lifeatthebottom NULL.com) or, on Twitter @clerehan (http://twitter NULL.com/clerehan)