Illustrating

Hi Hannah,

There *are* a lot of jobs out there in which you can put your illustrating abilities to good use -- and several others in which you can use the same skills that make you a good illustrator (graphics, design, etc.). Whether it's full- or part-time and the amount each job pays will vary greatly from place to place.

I always recommend an offbeat choice for people, like you, who are in school looking for an entry-level position upon graduation: Newspaper designer. A designer at a small newspaper has a truckload of opportunities at her fingertips: Good equipment, decent pay/benefits, and a wide variety of roles to fill. Plus, since you're working on a daily deadline, you get used to deadline pressure, develop great time-management skills and get a detailed understanding of the printing process with daily feedback. Plus, you'll be asked to illustrate, design pages, create charts and diagrams, work with photos, and do a whole host of other design tasks. You'll become proficient at several software applications within a few months. You'll do it all and you'll do it often, so you'll get very good at it very quick.

Aaaaand, since newspapers were doing poorly since way before the current economic downturn, they're always trying to hire fresh, eager talent like you (because you cost less to employ than a seasoned veteran.

The downside of that is that you shouldn't allow yourself to become complacent. You're probably not going to have much of a future there. Get what you need out of it and move on. The good news is: People from other industries *love* people with newspaper background because of that aforementioned ability to work quickly, manage time well and handle deadline pressure.

You could also look into other fields such as marketing and advertising. I would not rule out the non-print media -- like TV or Internet -- either. Remember, those skills that make you a good illustrator can be directly applied to other design-related tasks.

If you're very good -- and really want to work hard to get started, you could concentrate on doing illustration exclusively by becoming a freelance illustrator. The obvious downside of freelancing is that you don't have a steady paycheck coming in. If you're not getting hired by firms or ad agencies or publishers to do illustrations, you're not earning any money.

Most people start out at either an ad agency or a publisher of some sort (newspaper, magazine, etc.) and then start their freelance career once their work becomes recognized. It's much easier to secure clients that way.