Make Art That Sells
LILLA’S TOP TIPS
GETTING AN AGENT
Getting an Why get an agent?
Getting an agent can be an incredibly huge
Agent step for your career. An agent can focus on
the business aspects so you can focus on
your brilliant art. An agent can bring you
opportunities you may never have known
existed. Ideally, they have a huge roster of
clients that they work with regularly.
An agency can provide community. Below, our
artists in Lilla’s garden at her retreat, which
is an annual opportunity for many of our
artists to get together with us and each other.
There are many different kinds of
agents and some are clearly better than
others. Since it’s a marriage of sorts, you
want to be sure you are getting into a
relationship you trust and respect.
Lilla’s artists, Katie Vernon and Marenthe,
in the garden at her annual retreat.
www.makeartthatsells.com
How do you know if it’s the right fit?
You look at the website and see if you
think your work will fit in. The website is
the first thing your future clients will see;
will you be proud of it? Do you like the
brand? Is the vibe of the site consistent with
your work? Do you like the artists that are
represented? What kinds of jobs does the
agent get? Is it very commercial, indie, or
somewhere in between? Which are you?
Our Artists’ Page on our website. If you get
to the stage where the agent has indicated an
interest in representing you, email a couple of
their artists to see how they like their agent.
What does an agent do?
They primarily get you work. They
handle negotiations, contracts, rights,
billing, and more. They promote your
work in any number of ways.
My agency, Lilla Rogers Studio, has an annual
retreat for our artists alongside top art
directors and other industry professionals,
and has a massive e-newsletter promotional
schedule. We also have a robust direct mail
campaign (large postcards to 15,000+ art
directors). We are very active on social media.
We provide Lilla’s trend boards to our artists
to keep them inspired and growing and
commercially relevant. This in turn increases
their likelihood for getting new work.
Top Tips Getting an Agent :: 1
 How does an agent select an artist? • Is their email warm, approachable, and
I can tell you how we do it. It’s not an appealing? Is this someone we’d like to
exact science. But there are some key work very closely with? Is it professional?
points we look for. Primarily, we look to • Does their website exude joy
see how many markets the artist can work or beauty of some kind?
in. These are the same exact markets as • Do they mention why they’d
are in our Make Art That Sells courses! like an agent? Why us?
Note: No need to describe your art.
While no artist has everything, here
(“My art is colorful and innovative.”)
are some of the things we look for:
Your art speaks for itself.
• Does the artist have a recognizable,
Please never send a zip file or a pdf. Only 72 dpi
unique style that we can brand?
images. Links to Dropbox, etc., are fine as well.
• Is the artist on trend, or ahead of trend?
(We often look for artists ahead of trend, Who is NOT right for an agent?
but sometimes we like a classic look.) If you like doing all aspects of your career
• Are the art foundations there? Are they and don’t like to hand that over to someone
strong in design, color, and drawing? else, then you are a good candidate for
• How is their taste level? Do we not having an agent. That’s totally fine!
sense they are in tune with the
How hard is it to get an agent?
commercial art market?
Agents are always looking for great new
• Do they have a fairly robust amount
talent. That being said, we get thousands of
of work? The more pieces that
submissions per year and take on very few
they come to us with, the more
artists. Our Global Talent Search is a great
quickly we can get them work.
way to find new talent, and we always keep
• Would lots of our clients love this
an eye on the students in our online courses!
work AND license or commission it?
• Which of the following markets can
we envision getting their work into?
»» Bolt Fabric
»» Home Décor
»» Children’s Books
If you are serious »» Wall Art & Décor
about making »» Gift Market
art that sells »» Paper/Stationery
and thriving in »» Baby Apparel
your creative »» Scrapbooking
career, then »» Editorial/Advertising (Magazines)
don’t miss our »» Party Paper
wildly popular • Do they have a variety of imagery, such as
online courses! the following in their portfolio of work? Lilla’s artist, Sarah Walsh, at Lilla’s annual retreat
»» Animal characters and icons
»» People and children for editorial,
advertising and children’s book work
»» Lettering
• Is the artist a newbie, undiscovered,
and ripe for an agent? Or do they have
so little experience that they are not
ready to work with big clients?
• Is the artist involved in too many
projects other than illustration?

www.makeartthatsells.com Top Tips Getting an Agent :: 2