Business of fashion illustration masterclass available now:
www.fashionillustratormasterclass.com/registernow
Do you want to get your work seen by potential clients but find the thought of it overwhelming? Where do you even start? Should you even bother? In this post I’m gonna show you exactly how to implement a step towards maximising self promotion and help get some results. I’ll show you why getting your work seen by more people doesn’t have to be scary, intimidating or even overwhelming, stick with me for just 5 minutes and we’ll get you through it.
Now let’s talk about how you can get results with maximising self promotion and exactly how you can get started today… honestly the first thing you need to do is…
Get out of your own head.
I know it either doesn’t sound like an easy step, or you think it doesn’t have any relevance in what we’re talking about, but I know as artists we’re the first to champion our own work and think we’re the second coming but in the same thought, the same brain wave, the same millisecond, we’ll also be thinking our scribbles don’t even deserve a space on the front of our mum’s fridge.
It’s honestly insane how much this self doubt can seep into other unexpected areas. Why don’t you post more work in progress? Because you ‘think’ people won’t be interested. Why don’t you share your work? Because you ‘think’ people will not like it. Why don’t you contact brands? Because you ‘think’ the brand won’t be interested or they’ll be wondering why you’re even contacting them. Why don’t you ask for payment? Because you ‘think’ your work isn’t worth it or that you don’t think they have a budget so why even ask.
For every reason I said you’d ‘think’, it is pure and utter fiction not fact. You’re speculating on what might happen to stop yourself from having to try because you’re scared the outcome will not be what you want, this is self sabotage.
I’m not going to get all preachy because my name aint ted but i am here to talk ehe, but when you’re far too inside your own head and your thoughts spiral off, a simple ‘maybe i should submit my work to this brand’ turns into ‘what am i thinking’ ‘who am i to send work to them’ ‘if they wanted me they would have approached me’ ‘i don't want to bug them’ ‘my works not good enough’ ‘they wont even reply to my email’ ‘they’ll blacklist me’
It’s exhausting! All those thoughts don’t do you any good, and the amount of time you spend dwelling on all those outcomes you could have already done what you were scared to do and had a response. I’m only saying all this because I’ve been there and debated submitting my work countless times or saying yes to opportunities because I’ve been too far in my own head. I almost said no when I was approached to do a talk at Apple’s flagship store because I didn’t think it was worth the event or why would anyone care. But when you put that aside and realise it’s not for you to judge, things become a lot simpler.
In reference to putting your work out there, remember it just really isn’t that deep. I know we artists put our all into our work and take it incredibly personally if someone doesn’t want or like our art and the fear of rejection is hard, oooo it’s hard. But we completely over-inflate it in our heads, we spin up these epic tales of rejection and heartache that shakespeare would get a boner for, sitting there imagining sending our work in and marc jacobs, anna wintour, meryl streep and da vinci himself be sitting there laughing at our work, burning it and chanting spells to curse our pencil lead to snap inside the sharpener forever more .
This just ain’t going to happen, the worst thing that will happen is you’ll get ignored or you get a reply saying ‘we don’t need someone right now’ or ‘your work doesn’t fit our brand’. That’s it. No public shamings, no trending hashtag about your failure, you don’t get cancelled. That’s it. Then you read the message, thank them for responding and move on.
I used to be a marketing manager for a luxury jewellery brand and if I had a penny for everytime someone approached me with their work and I was too busy to reply, overlooked their email or just replied saying their work wasn’t a good fit for the brand i wouldn’t be sitting here selling a masterclass, cha ching bish.
All you have to realise is that in the creative industry, especially fashion there will be enough people saying no, people ignoring your work etc that you don’t want to be too intimidated to contact and stumble upon the ones that do reply or want you for a job because you’re caught up on the thought of what might potentially happen that or get in your own way.
So go fly, be free, share your work and let others tell you no rather than stopping yourself before they get the chance to!
Now in my upcoming business of fashion illustration course I'll be sharing a lot more strategies with you such as getting more website traffic, approaching an agent, and finding your style. So make sure you stay on the lookout because in a couple days I'll release more info about it and I'll show you exactly what's included.
Hope you enjoyed the post, thanks so much for reading
See you soon!