Earn money from illustration - Illustrators reveal industry income, what are the employment prospects in this industry?

How much money does an illustrator make in a month?

Illustrators generally charge on a per-picture basis. If signed by a company, one picture may cost several hundred to several thousand yuan, depending on the quality. If it is an individual, one picture may cost dozens of yuan.

In fact, the salary of an illustrator is not stable, because you need to submit a manuscript at the beginning. Generally speaking, you will do illustrations for a well-known company, and if the drawing is good, one picture may be published. The manuscript fee is 10,000 yuan, but if you are a novice contributor to a magazine, it will usually cost a few hundred yuan if you are selected. If you do well in a magazine, the fee will be around 1,000 yuan. The specific monthly salary depends on your monthly output. A cartoonist also costs a few hundred yuan for a storyboard. You can learn this by yourself, but you definitely need to learn some basic sketching skills. Moreover, it is difficult to make money by painting. If you want to enter this kind of industry, then on the basis of learning basic painting, it is recommended to learn more design things, such as graphic design, space design, game design, etc. If you paint well, you can make a lot of money. Relying on comic illustration alone is still quite laborious, and the employment opportunities are too narrow. Unless you become a capable or somewhat famous illustrator.

Recruit novices across the Internet to learn for free, test whether you are qualified

If you want to know more about illustrators, you can learn about Guangzhou Zhongjiao Online Education Technology Co., Ltd. The company (hereinafter referred to as: China Education Online) aims to provide professionals with advanced VR modelers, next-generation scene/character designers, original painting designers, and Tongshi post-technical certificate certification. The service scope covers all parts of the country. Currently, it is 3D An authorized management center for modeling, original painting and painting certificate training and certification. How to make money by drawing illustrations

Share the channels for making money with illustrations

1. Illustration contributors:

1) Visual China/Zhanku Hailuo

These two platforms are relatively authoritative platforms. Visual China needs to upload works on the platform after signing a contract, and Zoku Hailuo can upload them directly. When uploading, you can choose exclusive or non-exclusive depending on your needs. Although the income from non-exclusive works is not very high, the same work can be sold continuously to make money, which is a good way to continue to make income.

2) Other contracting platform websites

For example, Illustration China, Mi Painter, Graffiti Kingdom, Painter Alliance, Art Box, UI China, Qiantu.com, Petals, etc.

When uploading works on these platforms, it is best to pay more attention to targeted uploads of commercial hot spots and upload them in a series, which will achieve double the effect.

2. Peripheral products

1) Zizier.com:

You can open your own store here, so you need to have a certain amount of traffic of your own. You can also sell on behalf of others. The income share from the sales on behalf of others will be much smaller, but you can use the traffic of the platform to sell products. I uploaded a few simple pictures before, and the simple pictures surprisingly sold a few orders. However, because it was a consignment sale, the income was not very high, but it was still a small channel that could continue to make income.

2) Taobao store cooperation:

After you continue to increase your exposure and promote yourself, some Taobao stores will take the initiative to seek cooperation with you. There are two ways to cooperate with stores:

You set the price

For example, a T-shirt store has its own base price and will let you set the price. The money you make is determined by you. Price minus store reserve price.

Pricing (you decide) = store price difference (earned)

Earn commission

For example, in a decorative painting shop, he will give each 5 to 10% of the monthly sales will be divided into specified times each month.

3) Open your own store:

Taobao store or Weidian. This requires you to have your own traffic, have a certain degree of popularity, and many people like your paintings very much, then you can open your own store to sell some peripheral products made from your own illustrations. For example, T-shirts, notebooks, mobile phone cases, canvas bags, pillows, etc.

4) Publishing books:

You can continue to receive royalties from illustrated books or picture books.

5) Offline large-scale illustration activities:

For example, Illustration Carnival, Singularity Art Festival, China International Illustrators 100 Exhibition and other activities. Here you can constantly sell your own peripheral products, and you can also meet many illustration partners in the same industry. Many businesses will come here to find illustrators, which will give you more possibilities and opportunities.

Please click to enter the picture description

3. Customers are looking for you

This requires you to continuously publicize and promote yourself. Actively publishing works on different platforms, increasing your connections, and being active in various groups will bring you greater opportunities. Regarding how to let customers actively find you and promote yourself better, this part has a lot of content, which will be explained in detail in the next article.

4. You find customers

1) Illustration groups

Join as many illustration-related WeChat groups as possible. You will often have illustration-related needs. Take the initiative when it feels right for you. You can also publish more of your latest works to let more people know about you, so that when there are suitable needs, they will most likely think of you first.

2) QQ outsourcing group

QQ has many illustration outsourcing groups. If you pay more attention, you will find more opportunities.

Please click to enter the image description

3) Public account submission

There are many public accounts that publish content through illustrations. If you feel that the style matches yours, You can take the initiative to contribute.

4) Magazine submission (heart painting, etc.)

5) Recruitment information submission

There are also many recruitment illustrators or part-time illustrators on major recruitment websites. Especially picture books.

6) Major vertical painting websites

Illustration Home, Graffiti Kingdom and other illustration-related websites often have a lot of demand for illustrations.

5. Teacher/Teaching Assistant

Teaching Assistant: Not only can it bring some income, but it can also bring huge network resources and accelerate growth together with the teacher.

Teacher: You need to accumulate your own painting level and flow in the early stage. When you have accumulated it to a certain level, you can start to consider starting classes. Common ones include live courses (high income), recorded courses (continuous income), and check-in activities. Common platforms include cctalk, Qianliao, NetEase Cloud Classroom, Huke.com, Blue Pencil, etc.

6. Participate in competitions

Zokuo, UI China, Visual China, Graffiti Kingdom, these websites often publish many illustration-related competitions. Illustrators reveal their industry income. What are the employment prospects in this industry?

I don’t know if you have ever heard of the profession of illustrator? Recently, I have seen a lot of advertisements for illustrators training institutions on various software. This kind of advertising slogan marketing method makes even a layman like me tempted, such as: "It is easier to find a job if you have money and less work", "Basic entry level 0", and even saying that this aspect is equivalent to "never be laid off".

But are illustrators in reality as happy as shown in advertisements? Is it really a new option that everyone can try? If you have to ask, can illustrators make money? ?The answer is of course, but there are conditions, such as solid professional ability and excellent writings. Like the famous illustrator Ni Chuanjing, the price of a painting can reach six figures, and she can make millions a year just by painting. I think many illustrators take her as a role model.

But what we need to understand is that the income status of the top employees in an industry cannot completely indicate the overall wage level of the industry. First of all, since illustrator is a profession that relies on professional skills, it must have certain thresholds, such as professional ability. Speaking of which, many art professionals in this field will inevitably cause competition and substitution, so what is the role of ordinary people with no basic skills? According to the information currently compiled, ordinary people with no basic skills, If you want to get started in this industry with a few days and no foundation at all, the passing rate is not very high.

What about people who have a foundation in painting? What is the future of this industry? For art professionals who want to have a place in this industry, it is not That's simple and easy. I may need to continue to improve my knowledge and aesthetics to ensure that my paintings can comply with today's ever-changing sales market. No matter what kind of professional skills you have, if you want to make money as a profession, in the final analysis, you must meet the needs of the market. Only when the market determines that your work has value can it generate certain economic benefits. That is to say, the paintings you draw must satisfy people's aesthetic taste. People like to see it and are moved by it. Only in this way can it be sold.

Otherwise, no matter how satisfying the painted work itself is, if the market does not accept it, there will be no economic benefits, and people's aesthetic appreciation of such things is difficult to control. Even the paintings of the famous painter Van Gogh were never recognized in any period he was in. He had thousands of works and only sold one painting before his death. After his death, his works became popular all over the world and were once sold for over 10 million US dollars.

It is not difficult to see that no matter what the income of an illustrator is, the whole process of becoming an illustrator is far from as easy as it seems in the advertisement. This profession not only has certain thresholds, but also requires continuous improvement of one's own aesthetics to match the current market demand. And these are not things that can be mastered in just three or four days of study.

Therefore, most of the three- or four-day 0-basic beginner illustrator courses that are widely available on different platforms can be judged to be scams. Many of these courses actually just want to use the topic of "illustrator" to attract traffic to themselves. Here I will clear the mines for everyone. Don't spend such stupid money and end up letting yourself go. Left the bend.

Is it really impossible for a novice to become an illustrator with zero foundation? I think we cannot generalize, after all, there are some completed examples. It must be considered on a case-by-case basis and analyzed in depth.

Talking about the popular illustrators on the market today, most of them are actually CG illustrators. CG illustrator refers to a way of using some computer technology or hand-drawn tablets to complete creation. Therefore, many of these fashion bloggers who claim to have "zero foundation" actually have a background in arts and crafts, and only have zero foundation in panel painting. Under such circumstances, if you spend a few days learning and mastering the use of board drawing software, it is indeed guaranteed to make money once you become proficient.

However, this is completely different from the zero foundation that most ordinary people imagine. If I hear you here, you are a layman with zero foundation, and you are interested in this industry. If you want to enter this industry, my suggestion is that you should first learn some basic painting skills. Then polish your basic painting skills, and then consider the financial benefits of your work.

In addition, because of the different types of requirements, the threshold for illustrators has indeed been reduced a lot. Many requirements no longer require illustrators to have professional drawing skills such as color, space, perspective, etc. They only need to be able to present the information that the bidding party wants to express. This has also given many beginners who want to enter this industry a lot of confidence.

Indeed, many illustration styles today do not necessarily rely on arts and crafts methods. For example, in the flat design illustration style, an illustration can be produced by simply matching colors and graphics. This is also the course content and direction recommended by many speed learning courses.

It is indeed very easy to learn, but when you start to make money, it is a different scene.

Speaking of this, what needs to be guarded against is a false advertising method often used by many illustrated English training courses. They use the salary levels of industry experts and the teaching content that matches the difficulty level of the novice to conduct publicity to seduce you. Enroll in a tutoring class for training, but after spending a lot of exam fees and adding in the purchase of some special equipment, the profits earned in the end may not even cover the cost.

These illustrators, who can make tens of thousands of dollars per order, draw business service orders that must be extremely professional, and novices who have just started can't afford it. This kind of design style that novices can get started with after a few days of training, because more and more people are learning illustration now, the difficulty level is low and the supply is large.

The novices worked tirelessly for a day to draw the sketches. This kind of work consumes a lot of time and effort. In the end, they only received ten yuan in royalties, and some only received a few yuan. . As the market is huge and there is no professional monitoring and management methods, there will continue to be cases of being deceived, which makes people angry and helpless. I have a few good friends who are trying to get started in illustration. After doing business for a period of time, they jokingly told me that picking up Aquarius can make money faster than painting.

In the final analysis, this is that there is no positive correlation between our investment in learning and training and our returns. Among the responses on Zhihu about the income of illustrators, there is a story about a novice who drew tens of thousands of yuan to learn illustration courses. After studying at several training institutions, he did not find a job and took over the job at home. In the process of placing the order, I kept being deceived and the owner ran away. In the end, I had to find a new employee to join a small company as an art editor. Moreover, during the recruitment interview, I was reduced by HR to become a trainee. In the end, I only received The monthly salary reached 3,000 yuan.

Although this is not enough to be neutral, the lowest status of any second profession at present is this. The influx of new employees has intensified competition in the industry. Therefore, it is difficult for a novice like my good friend who has no basic skills and no experience to compete with other painters for high-priced business orders.

In today's post-COVID-19 era, people who work to make money have become more and more aware of the instability of their jobs. The number of people developing second jobs is gradually increasing, which has led to the second job industry. The market competition has become more and more fierce, and the stratification of income has become more obvious.

Illustrators are one of these very common examples. The big names in the industry can earn millions of dollars. Art candidates are constantly improving their aesthetics to meet the changes in the market. At the same time, There are also waves of new additions. After we have a clear understanding of the current situation of this industry, let’s review the advertising slogans that “It is easier to find a job if you have money and less work” mentioned in today’s program. Are they? It's becoming more and more objective.