An Audience with Frances Moffatt & Nick Holmes

On the 22nd of April 2021 the university held a talk with illustrators Frances Moffatt and Nick Holmes. Both have been involved with education, Moffatt is known for fashion/lifestyle/publishing illustrations and Holmes has done a variety of work such as advertisement/film/editorial/publishing.

Frances Moffatt 

• Opportunities - Reiterate same as Nick, when you start out you just need one/two clients to get work coming in, used Artists & Writers book to find clients to contact through email/telephone/mailed postcards, don’t expect to hear back, had maybe a 2% reply rate, other clients may keep you in mind get back in contact years later.
• Social Media - not fully into it, better to have other media like Twitter/website not just one, don’t expect/wait to be found this way need to email clients to make yourself known that way.
• Self Authorship - some published books started out on Kickstarter, self publishing more accepted/available to do now or a way into publishing, have a level of professionalism and find your creative voice, be defined about what your work is and aimed at, be specific to what work you want to get.
• Client Work - previous contacts can ask you do work for them, accept projects you might have not originally considered can learn from it, but also don’t scatter everywhere, have a niche that you fit into but can branch out to other work as well. Your portfolio is important to showing to clients what you can do, if you don’t have a certain type of illustration in it they will assume you can’t do it when maybe you can, it lets them know what you are capable of doing. 
• Negotiating - at the start was just grateful to get work so said yes, if accepted too low ended up being resentful, has an agent but left after a year not enough money coming in, a day rate helps, don’t be paid under minimum wage. You don’t have to take every job if you can be stable financially, have a part time job/keep outgoings low/multiple incomes so you can say no to poorly paid work, have a five year plan and give yourself time to establish yourself. Editorial is low pay at start, publishing the same, only when you start getting a name for yourself, advertising is better pay.

Nick Holmes

• Opportunities - some out of nowhere, making yourself known to others, right place right time, just be pleasant to work with, people will gravitate towards you, small things can lead to bigger work, work hard at the beginning to hopefully pay off and not have to chase for work.
• Social Media - be aware of mental health, use it in a way that benefits you, Instagram more up to date stuff shows how quickly/effectively you work, don’t apologise for not posting. Twitter good for discussion, not as image based, show your personality, more opportunities for interaction on Twitter.
• Self Authorship - have more self directed work to keep you moving, don’t stagnate, people use Kickstarter to self publish work or passion projects, you have to grow your work organically and build up a brand. Kickstarter- have to plan, know costs/shipping it is hard work, mostly international sales, know what people want from the work/project.
• Client Work - need to be convinced/faith you can do the work and be able to work with you in a professional manner, who you know does help, advertisement biggest payer but takes a lot of work, can be exhausting.
• Negotiating - know your worth, don’t be undercharged, go higher and be confident with it, if they offer too little project not worth your time anyway, AOI again can help with aspects of this.

Take Away Thoughts 

Like with the previous talks getting work is about putting yourself out there and going direct to the clients, they are unlikely to just find you through a website or social media no matter how many followers you have. Also I found it interesting how they spoke about how it just takes a few projects to lead to more work and how it is important to have an income coming in so you can say no to low paying work and to not feel bad about it.