With UK and international clients spanning publishing, design, advertising & new media, he’s illustrated everything from book covers to advertising campaigns, installations and iPhone apps. He’s also the illustrator behind the bestselling Where’s Stig? books for the BBC’s hit TV show Top Gear.

He’s also Chairman of the UK-based Association of Illustrators. The AOI was established in 1973 to advance and protect illustrator’s rights and encourage professional standards.

Rod regularly lectures on self promotion & the business of illustration in the UK & Internationally for organisations including The Association of Illustrators, ECCA, Own-It and The Illustration Conference (ICON5 New York & ICON6 LA).

I’m a big fan of his intricate work and asked him a few questions to find out more about him and the promotion methods he uses…

How did you get into illustration?

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Comics were my big passion as a kid and the reason I was inspired to draw and choose a career as an illustrator.

After graduating from the Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University I spent 2 years working on my portfolio and starting to get my work seen by clients to gain commission.

I graduated in 1994, which was pre Internet portfolio days, so I sent potential clients sample postcards and visited London to pound the streets with my portfolio.

Once I moved to London in 1996 I used to do two mornings a week every week with my portfolio seeing clients, doing in excess of 120 meetings a year.

Pretty much all my work was for newspapers and magazines to start with, and it built from there. Then everything changed with the advent of affordable digital technology and the Internet, and I decided I had to change with it.

In 2000 I taught myself web design to create my first website, and in 2001 I completely reinvented my work, abandoning paint and mess for a Mac and Adobe Illustrator.

What are some of the ways you currently promote your work?

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The Internet is probably the first port of call for most clients these days when sourcing an illustrator – website portfolios, blogs, inspiration sites, interviews, Twitter, Flickr. I do all of these and more. Sites like Behance and AOI portfolios are also excellent portals for clients to find creative talent too.

I’m still a great believer in the value of quality print promotion targeted direct to a client.

I usually send out a set of A5 postcards twice a year but this year I decided to produce a 28 page full colour brochure – essentially a complete portfolio in a book.

To date I’ve sent out over 2000 copies to clients in the UK & US (via my US rep), and I’m targeting the European advertising agencies next in the autumn. An expensive exercise but it is proving to be fruitful.

I buy a mailing list for the contacts from Bikinilists, and the AOI also produce affordable Client Directories which I’ve used in the past too.

This way I have up to date contacts and don’t have to spend my valuable time researching thousands of names.

What have you learnt about the way people promote themselves as creatives, both working as an illustrator and as chairman of the Association of Illustrators?

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I feel that many illustrators don’t invest enough time and resources in promoting their work, or explore all possible markets and outlets for their work. In the past even I didn’t do enough.

The most important part for me is the art, but to be successful and build a sustainable career you have to put the business first. 

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re selling widgets or illustration; the business principles are the same; have a great product and market it well.

I budget at least 10% of my business turnover on promotion a year, you have to “Speculate to accumulate” as the saying goes.

If you could tell someone new to freelancing, one essential thing about promoting themselves, what would it be?

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You might be the best illustrator in the world, but if clients don’t know about your work you won’t get commissioned. Get out there, be seen and get remembered.

Rod’s Studio in East London, above.

What are some of the things that you cover in your workshop?

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I’ll be looking at how I have successfully promoted myself to gain commissions and grow my business, including what I’ve found works and what doesn’t, the value of building a brand for yourself, raising the profile of you & your work, and successfully exploiting the opportunities to promote your work with the internet.

Plus much more. It’ll be a jam packed 2 hours.

Rod Hunt will be giving his lecture The Art of Self Promotion on Monday 19th September 2011 as part of the Illustrators Guide To Business season of events by the Association of Illustrators.

Scott, who has been focused on working to understand how creatives can best organize themselves and their projects since the start of Behance, provides some fascinating insight into the origins of Behance and shares with us some useful knowledge on self-promotion, organization and relationship-building. He also reveals what he’s currently working on and what’s due to be released through Behance.

What made you decide to get involved in the creative industry?

There are two things that really inspired me:

1. The stuff that makes our lives interesting – the art, the design, and all of the original content – is all created by the creative professional community. But, unfortunately, creatives in particular face unique obstacles when it comes to actually making their ideas happen.

2. There is so much discussion in the creative world about inspiration and creativity, but very little discussion about organization and execution. I found this very frustrating. It seemed that creative professionals would become more effective – and thus benefit society even more – with assistance on execution, efficient self-promotion, and organization.

We created Behance with a very specific mission: To organize the creative world. We are not trying to increase creativity. On the contrary, we are trying to help creative leaders harness their own creativity and actually make ideas happen.

How did you think Behance would benefit creatives on first starting the site?

Our goal with the Behance Network was to maximize exposure and help organize the creative world’s work. When we interview some of the world’s leading recruiters and agencies, they complain about typical “portfolio sites” and how difficult it is to organize and navigate creative talent.

We developed Behance.net to be a neutral, powerful platform that organizes creative work based on location, field, and – to some degree – quality.

Behance.net is not designed to be a “social network”. We don’t use the word “friends” in Behance. Instead, the platform is designed to push careers forward. When you add a new project to your portfolio, it is automatically displayed in any other network you are a part of (such as AIGA or MTV) as well as other galleries, circles, and collections across the web.

You maintain complete control and ownership of your work, you select privacy and copyright settings, and you are always associated with your content.

We have already received incredible success stories from members who report “career-changing opportunities” that resulted from the Behance.net platform. And, we have some incredible new features and partnerships in the pipeline that will bring Behance.net to a new level.

How do sites like Behance allow creatives to promote themselves?

We believe that promotion should be an organic process. It’s not about sending unsolicited emails or self-promoting yourself on twitter. Instead, promotion should be about building respect.

As you build your “inner circle” in Behance.net – and more people and recruiters begin to follow your work – you will start to receive exposure and opportunities every time you publish a new project.

In Behance.net, you are represented by the quality of your work – not your connections or affiliations. We believe that this is a powerful mechanism that I have come to call “creative meritocracy.” You’ll see more on this in the future.

What, in your opinion, do creatives need to prioritze the most when it comes to getting their work seen?

Since I believe that the greatest marketing strategy in the creative world is building respect for your work, I think that all creatives should prioritize building relationships with their peers and potential clients.

This means exchanging feedback with others, taking part in industry conversations, and soliciting advice from others. These are all steps toward building relationships that could result in mutual respect.

What are your current projects?

My latest project – which took years – is my upcoming book Making Ideas Happen. After interviewing hundreds of creative leaders and teams that are especially good at making ideas happen, I have collected a series of insights that are critical.

They relate to organization, execution, marketing, and leadership capability.

I have also been very focused on the next generation of Behance’s products, including the Behance Network and Action Method, our online and offline productivity tools for creative professionals.

Thank you Scott!

I personally think Scott’s focus on harnessing ideas we already have, instead of always searching for new ways of increasing creativity is a very good one. This is one of the main things that make the difference between success and procrastination.

What does everyone think?