Ben Cox Talk (Central Illustration Agency)

Ben's talk was based around the commercial Illustration Industry and how to break into it. His agency the Central Illustration Agency is a diverse roster of artists all specialising in commercial illustration. 

Some tips about getting into the commercial Illustration industry:

- Make sure your practice is viable, can you work quickly to meet deadlines and still maintain professional quality?
- No room for Divas in the commercial Industry (You are in no position to pick and choose which work you want to do, unless you are very well established already)
- You need a good commercial awareness to understand trends etc. 

What should you have in your successful portfolio?

- Consistent Style
- Fake commercial briefs that you have done - make work for your dream clients and send to them.
- A successful Illustration portfolio should have images containing Scenery, Food,  Typography, Conceptual Ideas, MAPS (Everybody needs maps), everything you can draw
- 30 Sides is ideal portfolio size

Other Tips

- Don't feel like specialising in something will close other doors

- Don't undersell yourself, clients are paying for your skill/talent/mind/experience

- Agents are useful but try to do it by yourself first

- Your work is your intellectual property

- Pricing for jobs - Book Covers £800-900 / Editorial £200 /Advertising £2000+

(Really useful to know as I'd never looked into/thought about how much to charge etc)

Mentioned Artists

Mads Berg

I'd never heard of this artist before but had seen alot of his work around. Mads Berg has worked with alot of huge clients including Coca Cola, Orangina and Lego. I feel his style really lends itself to commercial illustration because of the way it reflects elements of vintage advertising with a modern day twist, which creates a classic and elegant image for a brand. I feel this is a bit of a trend at the moment, with other artists like Owen Gatley also using this technique. 

Jonny Wan

It was this image that caught my eye from Johnny Wan because of its really bold use of colour and harsh shadows. I think the intracity of the shapes and patterns give the image a really powerful punch. Wan's style also has reference to vintage advertising images and that airbrushed effect created using vectors and textures.