We caught up with some top illustrators to discover how submitting you art to an anthology can help your career.
Illustrator Annie Stegg shares her experiences from both sides of the publishing process...
What are the creative benefits of collected publications?
Looking through these collections can be incredibly motivating. It's amazing to see new work and the wealth of talent on each page, especially fresh talent exposed for the first time. It's a very appealing challenge for artists to put their work out there and see what the response is.
You were one of the authors behind Ballistic's d'artiste: Fashion Design – how did it go?
It was very inspiring to collaborate with the other authors. With writing, I was able to improve my artistic development through examination of my own methods. Being involved in the submission process first-hand was eye-opening as well. The level of talent from artist submissions was incredible.
It's a sad fact that not all submissions can be showcased, but that's no excuse not to try! The more often you submit work, the better chance you have.
Annie Stegg believes submitting to an anthology can be motivating and challenging
Any words of wisdom for the all-important first submission?
Print out your submissions to help envision how your work might appear in a printed book. It's also a good way to examine your portfolio. Only use your strongest work – each piece should fully reflect you as an artist, and should showcase the type of work you want to do. Most importantly, don't be discouraged if your work isn't selected.
Use the process as a learning experience, and focus on tackling your next goal. Fear of rejection is the worst thing for your growth as an artist, and dwelling on disappointment is just a waste of valuable painting time!
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 94.
