LECTURE- Jon Higham

Jon Higham is a professional Illustrator and Artist with a prolific amount of work done. He has covered books, packaging, animation and greeting cards.

Starting out as a student in the 1980s, he was in a module for Graphic design.

The Compleat Staple was his first big project he made ending off his education at uni, which in turn got him his first commission from Jeremy Nicholas. He had seen his work at the publisher; Hutchison and wanted Jon to illustrate his book.

Jon did a mock up first, with lettering he designed himself. Ironically he didn’t need to do anymore at that point as Jeremy already seemed happy with it, it had become the final cover of the product.After a success like that, Jon realised…he needed to get an agent. And in no time at all was getting several commissions for children’s books such as Nursery Cats and An Aardvarks Picnic. The agency was Walker Books.

However things did not go as smoothly with his agent as he would have liked. He did not have a proper contract with Walker and did not hold rights to the money being made off the books he worked on. So he left with only £250.

His next project as a freelancer was illustrating a book called Nose-Picking for Pleasure, this time at a flat fee. He was not anticipating how popular the book would be though, costing him a loss of royalties which he could only get with an agent he didn’t have.

He has suggested from his experience with agents, good and bad that we as students should only try to get an agent if we are new to the game but still knowledgable.

So rule 1 is to find an agent and get a solid contract. Rule 2 is to not be taken advantage of, the agency is a business, not a charity.

Digital Illustration took a rise in the 1990’s so it made sense at that point for Jon to get a Mac. He digitally coloured his handmade illustrations, which was only made difficult from mass production and pressure from agencies that came with the technology boom.

He did get to try some more diverse forms of illustration when he tried adobe illustrator, a program he had been hesitant to try for ages.

A good point Jon has made is to work with your peers on if you have a lot of commissions, this will make the job easier if you have a colleague sorting out your work and adding extra creative input. Collaboration and networking with other illustrators is a good thing.

Another is to be adaptable, be varied in your illustration techniques and research other illustrators. Jon learned that when he was working on an Encyclopaedia he had to follow the style in line with the previous illustrator before.

He did packaging for a Kinder Egg, which was interesting regarding how the foil had to be wrapped around the egg itself. I am assuming you would have to lengthen the width to allow for space with tarnishing the illustration.

A really successful commission which earned him exposure was over 50 products worth of Sainsbury’s Christmas Range in 2005.Granted it didn’t all get produced, but the majority of it did.

But it’s not just about getting money, it’s also about giving money as well to secure a deal. You have to pay a yearly fee of £800 to be featured in CONTACT, an illustration directory.

He has switched between a couple of card companies to which he got better opportunities, ranging up to 60 cards. A good website he got to use was Thortful which gives lots of royalties to the original creators as well as more attention.

Even after all that work, Jon had to submit to the boredom that weighed upon him. He wanted to try out a new style and decided to take up print making for a bit.

This transitioned him in the occupation of illustrator to artist as well. This allowed him to sell his work in local galleries, which was a nice change of pace from the large clients he previously worked for.

IMPORTANT RULE: Don’t lean on the internet for inspiration, make it an expedition, a search for things that interest you on a simple stroll. Or a meeting with a friend in town, or even some open houses and exhibitions.

It’s good to discover stuff for yourself as opposed to the same sources that only a search engine can provide. So don’t depend on google.

Try out competitions if you want to stand out and get noticed. The climate of illustration changes frequently and it’s good to either adapt or be unexpected, which is a good way to approach new clients.

If you are struggling to give exposure to new creations it’s a safe bet to go with postcards for advertising, and leaflets about yourself to let future clients in on the details.