Resources for Arts Professionals

• Art Directors Club (ADC, a professional organization for art directors)
  • ADC Awards and Awards by Category
  • Art Agencies (ranked based on how many ADC Awards they've won)
• International Motion Art Awards
• Art Directors Guild (ADG, a professional organization for motion picture art direction)
  • Find your profession to see who the members are, or limit by location, for example:
  • Directory of illustrator members 
  • Directory of members who have experience working in Boston

Try it! Open Instagram and do an Account search for "art director". Find one that's public. See what kind of content they are posting. See who comments on their posts. Do they reply to comments?  Use the resources above to make a list of art directors you'd want to work with. See if you can find them on Instagram.

Try it! Find the website for one of the Art Agencies and see if they have a Careers/Work With Us section.  Find a job you'd be interested in, and see what the requirements are.

• Illustrators for Hire 
  • Read their requirements for joining and the benefits of finding your niche
• Behance
  • Post your work to get hired, or look through help wanted posts
  • Check out other illustrators and the specific niches they've tagged their accounts with
• Society of Illustrators
  • Awards and showcases for illustration work
• You can also check out sites for design freelance
  • Coroflot
  • Dribbble
• Add yourself to mailing lists to receive "Call for Entries" to get published where art directors scope out new talent
  • 3x3 Illustration Annual mailing list sign-up and sample call for entries
  • Communication Arts submission guidelines
  • PRINT Magazine (visual arts and design) submission platform

Art directors want to see your process: show drafts, process videos, sketchbooks, etc. This also helps combat accusations of using generative AI.

• General skillsets that art directors look for
  • Consider adding this kind of language to your About Me blurbs when pitching yourself to art directors. "Clients say that Micki is a timely and reliable illustrator, while also being open to direction and adapting quickly to change and feedback."
• Lessons From an Art Director to Independent Artists
  • Cold contacting art directors can be productive if it's a hyper-specific pitch tailored to that agency and the kind of work they usually do. Don't sound like AI/robotic as if you're cold calling every art director with the same vague pitch. Be more casual/human in your communications.
  • See the interview video that accompanies this article below
• Advice for freelance illustrators, from an art director
  • Online platforms where art directors look for artists, and other tips like pitching your work for magazines
• Working with Art Directors
  • ​​​​​​​Tom Richmond is an American freelance humorous illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist who has worked with MAD Magazine
  • His recommendations for getting hired back is to be as professional and timely as possible
• Tips for e-mailing art directors
  • ​​​​​​​Includes an e-mail template and instructions for exporting work into a file that is most e-mail-attachment-friendly