Illustration Info

Passive Income and Microstock Earnings for August 2010

Cory — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:09:46 +0000

Well, it was better than last month, but still pretty slow. I’m just not getting an increase in sales from the growth in my portfolio. Hopefully, all the hard work pays off down the road with more sales. On a positive note, congrats to ClipArtOf for jumping past Fotolia and Dreamstime.

Here’s the breakdown:

Company	Portfolio Size	% Income	EL	Earnings
iStockphoto	2306	30%	0	$680.70
Shutterstock	6185	27%	2	$622.99
ClipArtOf	1954	10%	0	$240.00
Fotolia	2960	10%	0	$235.53
Dreamstime	3014	9%	1	$218.65
Affiliates	-	3%	-	$73.50
Big Stock Photo	2185	3%	0	$63.50
VectorStock	1190	2.5%	0	$60.90
Can Stock Photo	1551	2.5%	0	$57.50
123RF	1511	1.5%	0	$34.61
Veer	1105	1%	-	$21.00
Zazzle	274	0.5%	0	$7.26
Crestock	104	0.00%	0	$1.25
Graphic Leftovers	644	0.00%	0	$0.00
				Total: $2317.39

I hit 3000 images at a few agencies. That was supposed to be the mark for making it to $3000 a month, but my royalty per image has been dropping like a rock. I’ve been mulling over changing up the kind of images I’m uploading at the agencies this year, and my slump has convinced me that that is a good idea. I’m hoping things pick up in September too.

As usual, feel free to post a link to your results in the comments.

Illustration Friday Topic: Caged

Cory — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:18:06 +0000

I’ve been pretty busy with freelance work lately, so I haven’t done an Illustration Friday in a while. That all changes this week.This week’s topic was caged. I drew a big caged gorilla in Illustrator. Enjoy!

Passive Income and Microstock Earnings for July 2010

Cory — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:05:46 +0000

This month was way down. It was my worst month since Februaury. Both iStock and Shutterstock were slumping which pretty much killed my numbers. I did have a record month at a couple agencies though.

Here’s the breakdown:

Company	Portfolio Size	% Income	EL	Earnings
iStockphoto	2210	29%	1	$638.25
Shutterstock	5922	24.5%	1	$539.93
Dreamstime	2896	13%	0	$280.64
ClipArtOf	1505	11%	0	$240.00
Fotolia	2828	9%	0	$200.10
Affiliates	-	3%	-	$65.59
Big Stock Photo	2185	3%	0	$65.00
VectorStock	1190	2.5%	0	$54.90
Can Stock Photo	1153	2.5%	1	$50.75
123RF	1511	1%	0	$23.42
Graphic Leftovers	644	0.5%	-	$10.40
Veer	505	0.5%	0	$7.00
Zazzle	274	0.25%	0	$5.84
Crestock	104	0.25%	0	$3.75
				Total: $2185.57

Hopefully the summer slump ends a little early and things pick up in August. iStock did rally a bit at the end of the month, but not enough to recover from the beginning.

As usual, feel free to post a link to your results in the comments.

Mail Me Art an Illustration Mailer Book

Cory — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:38:37 +0000

I’m always interested to see how other artists promote their work. Half the battle to getting freelance jobs is the marketing. So, how do other illustrators promote their art? Well, Darren Di Lieto and the folks at HAI! have put together a book of mailer pieces. If you are interested check it out at Mail Me Art. Here’s a little more info and how to help out:

“Mail Me Art: Medium Without a Message is the follow-up to the successful 2008 Mail Me Art: Going Postal. We are proud to announce we have over 700 new pieces of mail art. Medium Without a Message is be an amazing collection of envelopes and boxes from around the world decorated by some of today’s most talented illustrators and artists. What makes the work special is that every single piece of art was sent through the postal system, exposed and on view as regular mail. At the end of this month all of the work will be on display at the London Mail Me Art exhibition.

How can you help support the project and become part of it? Well… The running costs for the project are currently at around £6000 ($9120). We’re hoping to recoup most of that by selling the new book and we’re also hoping to make the artists lots of money by selling their work at the exhibition! We’ve just finished the book and we got as many of the mail artists into the book as possible in some way or another! So please help us recoup some of the costs by making a pledge and supporting the project! In return for a pledge we’re sending people copies of the new book. We’ve also got some really cool artwork up for grabs from the likes of Dan May & Jon Burgerman! Please check out the site for more details - Mail Me Art “.

There you have it, so check it out if you have a few moments.

Passive Income and Microstock Earnings for June 2010

Cory — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:18:55 +0000

It wasn’t a record month, but is there a prize for second place? I guess everyone talks about their best month ever, but never their second best. So, I guess I’ll show some respect to my number 2… umm… #2 month, that is. Regardless, I seem to be making progress with my lesser performing agencies, but my top two still seem to be lagging a little. Hopefully, that just means I’m setting myself up for a monster month.

Here’s the breakdown:

Company	Portfolio Size	% Income	EL	Earnings
iStockphoto	2118	31%	0	$730.79
Shutterstock	5771	25%	2	$587.05
Fotolia	2753	12%	1	$277.45
Dreamstime	2817	12%	2	$275.42
ClipArtOf	1005	6.5%	0	$155.00
Big Stock Photo	1985	2.75%	1	$66.00
Veer Marketplace	405	2.5%	1	$61.00
VectorStock	990	2.5%	0	$59.40
Affiliates	-	2.5%	-	$58.82
123RF	1511	1.5%	0	$35.05
Zazzle	274	0.5%	-	$12.55
Can Stock Photo	539	0.5%	0	$12.50
Graphic Leftovers	494	0.5%	0	$10.40
Crestock	104	0.25%	0	$6.50
				Total: $2347.93

I uploaded a lot of images for the Veer "Dash for Cash". I should make a decent amount from it. I guess when the payout finally comes in, it will probably cheat me across my $3000 goal. Hopefully, I can make $3000 in a month without it this year because the point of it was more of a sustained income.

As usual, feel free to post a link to your results in the comments.

Faux Watercolor Vector Style

Cory — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:03:06 +0000

I haven’t done an "around the web" in a while, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff happening on the internet. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to work on a faux watercolor style in Illustrator, and I finally got off my butt to do it recently. After searching the net, I found this tutorial. It had a good way to make a faux look, so go check it out!

Here is my first experiment. I used one of my doodle style illustrations and recolored it.

I’ve Been Watermarked!

Cory — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:24:05 +0000

Well, the Wild West of the internet finally got to me. I decided to go through and watermark all my images. I was tired of people just taking my illustrations from this site and using them for their own purposes. Hopefully, this will help avoid any confusion about the copyright holder of these images (That’s me, by the way.). It’s strange because what if these weren’t my images, but a client’s or another artist’s image that I purchased as stock. Would people still use them without permission?

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I am still in the business of selling illustrations, so feel free to inquire about any of the illustrations you see. I sell most of them as stock, so they are fairly inexpensive to purchase. I’m also available for custom freelance work. I’m just trying to make a decent living like everyone else. It takes me time to create these illustrations, so please respect my copyrights.

Here are a few links to my portfolio on some of the stock sites I am at if you are interested:

These sites have a lot of the images you see here and much more. I appreciate your business and your interest in my work. Thank you.

Illustration Friday Topic: Slither

Cory — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:40:47 +0000

This week’s Illustration Friday topic was slither. So of course, I drew a slug? I’m not sure if slugs slither. They probably inch more like a caterpillar, but I figured everyone would draw snakes. So, I went with the slug.

Passive Income and Microstock Earnings for May 2010

Cory — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:14:34 +0000

Another month in the books. It wasn’t a record month, but I can’t say I’m enitrely dissapointed by the results. I was working on uploading to some of the smaller agencies this month and they all performed really well. Unfortunately, the big boys didn’t pull their wieght very well. In their defense, there were 5 weekends this month and it ended on a holiday.

Here’s the breakdown:

Company	Portfolio Size	% Income	EL	Earnings
iStockphoto	2043	34%	1	$778.84
Shutterstock	5641	28%	0	$639.84
Dreamstime	2728	11%	0	$238.54
Fotolia	2683	10%	0	$215.64
Big Stock Photo	1424	4%	0	$87.60
ClipArtOf	1005	3%	0	$67.50
Affiliates	-	2%	-	$46.66
VectorStock	491	2%	0	$43.50
Thinkstock	1216	1.5%	0	$37.25
123RF	1059	1.5%	0	$36.50
Can Stock Photo	506	1%	0	$26.00
Zazzle	274	1%	0	$19.08
Graphic Leftovers	294	0.5%	0	$10.40
Veer Marketplace	205	0.25%	0	$7.00
Crestock	104	0.25%	0	$3.75
				Total: $2258.10

My StockXpert account still trickled in a little more money from Thinkstock, but that was the last of it. It looks like there is decent money to be made there, so I guess I’ll have to keep that in mind.

Next month begins the summer. Many contributors talk about a summer slump, but last June kicked off a 5 month best month ever streak for me. So, I guess I’ll see how this summer goes.

As usual, feel free to post a link to your results in the comments.

Illustration Friday Topic: Fearless

Cory — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:02:47 +0000

This week’s Illustration Friday topic was fearless. When I think of fearless, I think of a daredevil like Evel Knievel. Besides, I had a sketch for this guy on my desk that I’d been meaning to work on. I probably should have done a more action pose, but I guess this will have to do for this week. Enjoy!