11. Getting my illustration business started and slow January

Setting up... slowly

Hi, I’m Libby. I’m trying to find my feet in the world of illustration. I’ve done a load of research and I’m sharing it here, along with my progress on how my illustration journey is going. I’m so glad you could join me on this bumpy ride!

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Hi Hi!

I’m in Earlsfield, London for a few days looking after Ross the cat between 2 longer sits.

As Ross’ face suggests, things have been slow in January. More on that below…

Aims for the year

After spending 2024 developing my practice as an illustrator, I decided 2025 would be about monetising my illustrations.

I completed 2 illustration business courses¹ last year and was trying to figure out where I fit.

I decided I liked the idea of illustration (or art) licensing.

This takes different forms, but for me, it will be creating designs for greetings² cards and gifts and selling my illustrations to licensees (as opposed to seeking commissions.)

This will be my primary focus in 2025.

To test out my designs with my target market, I’d also like to open a small online shop.

A shop feels like a rite of passage for an illustrator and will be good for gathering data on what’s popular.

Defining my business

After leaving my corporate job (in manufacturing management) I’ve run 2 product businesses and currently run an Engineering services business with my husband.

I’ve learned from some fun successes and many mistakes across these 3 ventures.

2 business planning bits have been key in each one:

• defining the product and how it adds value to the customer.

• creating a roadmap that links goals, a strategy and a plan to achieve them.

I don’t pretend to be a business expert or to have succeeded in business.

In all of my ventures, life has gotten in the way of plans, but having a framework to circle back to has been essential to keep moving forward.

My second product business went from us making things in our living room to running a manufacturing facility with contract staff, shipping pallets across the globe and being featured in Cosmopolitan.

We couldn’t have done it without starting with these fundamentals.

So I’ve begun to use some familiar tools to keep me on track this year, Namely;

• The Business Model Canvas

• The Value Proposition Canvas

• The Customer Persona Canvas

All of these tools and more can be explored here on Design a Better Business.

I’d really recommend trying them out to test out your business model.

I had the chance to do this with other small business owners in workshops when I started my first business. There are also helpful videos and examples online.

I’ve created versions for my illustration business and I’ll go back to revise it as things progress.

I’ve also begun using The Maker’s Yearbook by Nicola Taylor as a review tool and planner.

I met up with some other illustrators in January who are using it too and this was helpful to bounce business ideas around.

Defining my goals, strategy and plan

So I’ve come up with some goals to keep me on track in 2025 around some rough categories:

Sales Goals

• Monetise my illustrations to achieve an initial target of £1000 income/month.

• Achieve my first licensing deal by the end of the year.

Strategy:

• Client outreach: 5/week (~250/year) using email, LinkedIn etc.

• Launch a product/design test shop by Spring 2025.

I will assess non-licensing focused illustration opportunities and accept them depending on my workload.

Portfolio Development Goals

• Become a sought-after licensable illustrator through the breadth of my portfolio covering seasonal, occasion, evergreen trends and topics that interest me, by the end of the year.

Strategy:

• Regularly create new portfolio collections (6-18 illustrations and patterns on a theme): 1/month (~12/year)

• Launch a full range of cards x5, prints x5 and stickers x5 in an Etsy shop in the first half of 2025.

Communication Goals

• Record my journey and share it with potential clients and other new illustrators for accountability and feedback

Strategy:

• Keep a Substack blog - how it’s going 1/month and an educational post 1/month

The educational portion will act as accountability for me to develop new skills

• Post my collections on Behance 1/month

• Post my collections and progress posts on LinkedIn 1/week

• Supplement the above with Instagram posts related to my new work and blog - I’m reluctant to put a target against this but ideally, post 3/week.

The Plan

I’ve used a weekly planner template to put the above into action, defining a focus area for each day of the week.

It looks roughly like this:

• Monday - Planning and Learning

• Tuesday - Collections and process recording

• Wednesday - Outreach and learning

• Thursday - Collections and process recording

• Friday - Writing

The plan is subject to change as, bearing in mind I am still a pet-sitting digital nomad moving every two weeks…

I’m really grateful for this lifestyle but aim to be in a fixed home and place of work by the end of the year.

Slow January

After all of the above planning, I have to admit January has been a slow start.

I’ve been taking time out for some self-care after a very eventful 2024.

January Progress

Sales

• Outreach 9/20

• Shop launch:

  • Dormant Etsy shop rebranding complete.

  • Sample products ordered: 3 greetings card designs. Colours need reworking and new samples to be ordered.

• Commissions: 1 enquiry received

• Other: 1 ‘collaboration’ enquiry received

Portfolio Development

• Collections: 1 Birthday mini collection created: 3 cards and 3 patterns

Communication

• How it’s going blog - complete

• Illustration Industry/skills blog - not achieved

• Minimal social media posts in January

Now my weekly framework is in place to guide me going forward.

I’m hoping to move onto a slightly faster-paced February and make some headway and will let you know how I get on!

What I’m excited about for the next month

• My next post will be all about illustration courses. I’m on a new one specific to illustration licensing so I’m looking forward to sharing more about it.

• Getting stuck into my weekly schedule

How’s January been for you so far? And how are you feeling about the year ahead?

Libby

1. Getting Paid to Draw and Make Your Mark Bootcamp

2. Greetings card: Do Americans detest this spelling of greeting card? It annoys me immensely that we have two different, very similar terms between British and American English.