Joining Illustration Directories
Directories you can find me in, directories you can’t, and why…
So what are directories?
A directory is a list of people of a certain criteria, in this case illustration businesses, a bit like the phone book if you’re old enough to remember the yellow pages.
Above, original illustration by Hannah Jay Hollowed
In February I had a look for some directories to contribute work to and was thankful to accept a place in Creative Howl’s directory of illustrators.
Creative Howl is an invite only free directory curated by Jonas Welin, an artist, sculptor, writer, blogger and jack of all creative trades. He began Creative Howl as a way to share his research, knowledge and experiences as a professional creative, and when his platform grew, he took the opportunity to create this directory as a way to give back to the artistic community.
On the site he shares some incredible free resources for other artists like ‘the top art licensing agencies for illustrators and pattern designers’ and ‘7 free AI tools for illustrators’.
Jonas has done an amazing job with Creative Howl and it is the second search result for ‘illustration directories’ on google, above the ‘Workbook Creative’, which is quite an achievement, and one I’m grateful to be a part of.
In addition to this…
I uploaded new artwork to my AOI folio, which acts a bit like a searchable directory on the website of the Association Of Illustration based in London.
Updating my AOI folio is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, so I’m happy to finally have this ticked off! The AOI is a very well known establishment with a widespread network, and it’s obvious why utilising this resource is a no brainer (and apparently I have no brain, because my folio has been sitting empty and filled with nothing but unjustified quaking fear and feelings of ‘imposter syndrome’ for about 6 months).
I’m not 100% happy with the illustrations showcased here or in Creative Howl, but as illustrators we’re rarely completely satisfied with our own work, and neither the AOI nor Jonas have kicked me out, so the only thing to do is put my work out there and boldly assume it is in fact good enough. Which, I’m pretty certain, is what most seemingly confident artists are doing.
The main point is to get your work out there.
So onto the directory you won’t find me in…
In my search I also discovered the ‘Directory of Illustration’ who sell membership in partnership with the ‘Workbook Creative’. The D.O.I. is the top hit for ‘illustration directory’ searches on google, and takes up quite a few search results on the first page (so Jonas is doing a pretty epic job keeping Creative Howl at number 2!).
They aren’t only online directories but publishers of two popular ‘annuals’, a big art book full of illustration work for art directors to use for reference.
Their great search results all make sense when you explore their site a bit and see the ‘marketing packages’ they offer their members. The cheapest option for membership currently stands at $75 a month (about £60) which was a bit steep for me personally but may be worth it to some others.
Since everything I could say about the value of this membership has already been covered by James over at ‘The Illustrators Guide’, if you want to understand the value of the D.O.I. and W.C. in more depth you can watch this great video on it here.
But to keep this post a reasonable length we’ll settle to say I thought the price was a bit steep for me and the value I’d likely get from it at this point in my illustration journey. There are a lot of other things I could invest in to benefit my art at this point, especially for £720 a year minimum. Maybe these directories and printed annuals are something I’ll be interested in investing in later in my career. It’s good to know they’re out there, knowledge is power so they say!
I’ll end this post by saying I’m delighted to be included in the Creative Howl directory and the AOI folios. It’s scary but important to put yourself and your work out there. Be brave and show it to the world.
