By Martha Spelman, Martha Productions, Artist Representatives

Does this speech sound familiar? “I see from your portfolio that you can illustrate a can of corn, but can you render a can of beans?”

This might seem unbelievable, but clients often seem to have a difficulty making the leap from what you show them to what you can do. The solution: create samples.

Why create samples?

• You are (finally!) the client. You can create what YOU want to create (you are not limited by a client-provided layout, art direction or deadline).


• Fresh content in ads, online portfolios, and on blogs - keeps visitors interested and coming back to see “what’s new.”


• Your style evolves with each sample.


• You can influence the look of a project and selection of the artist. Instead of clients shopping style based on a preconceived visual, they’ll see your work and fashion their concept and layout around it, which in turn gives you better odds on getting the project.


• You’re in the business of creating art: drawing, painting, designing, shooting is your job and your passion.


• Creating a sample is a chance to have fun on a project and build your business at the same time.

What have you done for me lately?

Anyone who’s been illustrating for any length of time knows that the best way to get the job is to show a client’s possible project (or as close to it as possible) already done and in your portfolio. Creating new pieces increases your odds. Easy access to online portfolio sites and sourcebooks means fresh work is more important than ever.

Why don’t artists create more samples?

I’m sure there are many reasons (excuses?) but some may say:

• I’m not getting paid.


• It’s expensive to buy materials, buy new software, and spend hours working for free.


• I don’t have enough time.


• I’m worried that people might not like what I create.


• I don’t know what to paint, draw, or design.


• I’m used to having an “assignment” and not used to self-assigning.

I’m often surprised that artists have chosen to work in a creative business, yet when they actually have the chance to create, they’ll find any number of reasons not to.

Yes, creating samples can take time and cost money, but it’s the price of doing business. If you don’t invest in your business and in yourself, you may find that no one else will either.

How to concept and create new work:

Look at the existing work in your portfolio. Be honest about any pieces that should be cycled out. From the work remaining, see if you have a good cross-section of samples:  for example, some with people, some food, some animals, lifestyle and conceptual images, lettering, etc. Look at your portfolio from a project standpoint:  do I show images that could work in an ad, a book cover, packaging, a poster, a brochure? Do I show a “campaign” of work: a series of pieces that could apply to various applications? If you specialize more- say medical illustration or maps- do your samples show a diversity of subject matter and variations on your style?

Once you’ve decided what “holes need to be filled,” you need concepts and reference.

Here are some ideas to try:

• Visit the bookstore look at books and magazines for covers and interior pieces.  Given the “manuscript,” decide how you would have solved the problem.


• Visit company websites to see the visuals that have been created conveying a company’s brand, reputation or services. How would you have solved the problem?


• Sourcebooks and online portfolio sites can be great sources of inspiration, but instead of looking at styles, concentrate on the projects that are presented: that poster, that ad, that brochure. How would you have solved the problem?


• Go back and review project inquiries that you didn’t get. What type of work could you have shown that may have clinched the job?

Okay, I’ve got some ideas, now what?

• Once you’ve got some direction- start sketching. Do small, quick thumbnails; you’re looking to create a library of possible self-assignments, not to start working on one “masterpiece.”


• Select several of the sketches and start working. Focus on creating more than one piece at a time. Working on a series of pieces allows more freedom—you are not as invested if the “one piece” doesn’t come together.


• If you work digitally, and in layers, explore what variations on an image you can create- get some mileage out of one piece.


• Once you’ve created some new work, try to get feedback. See what images different people respond to.

Promote your new work: get the pieces into your online portfolio, on your Facebook or Google+ page and on blogs. Tweet about them. Include one in your email signature. Send an email promotion with several small jpegs embedded in the body of the email. Try the subject line: New Work from _______ and include a call to action: “See more work on my website at ______.

• Enter new pieces in a contest.

Stop making excuses and start making art. Getting new projects often involves creating momentum. I’m not quite sure how it works, but I know that creators, who are creating, get asked to create more.  Sitting by the phone or waiting for an email just isn’t as productive.







A series of three pieces by artist Allen Garns show his evolution from illustrating in chalk pastel to painting with oils to working digitally. Martha Productions clients have embraced the evolution of Allen’s work – and appreciate the fact that the new pieces still maintain a stylistic connection to previous work.





Steve Vance – To satisfy his desire to emulate vintage illustrations styles, Steve Vance created new work with a retro feel and subject matter. This new direction, featured in RetroReps, created a whole new avenue of work for Steve.

By Martha Spelman

I’ve been repping for a long time. When I started, I’d solicit photographers and illustrators whose work I saw in ads, in magazines, on book covers or on album covers. Sometimes, after I got going, artists would send me postcards, posters or little books of their work. They’d bring over their portfolio and leave behind a “promo piece.”

Some of the images I saw had been done as commissions but the majority was done as sample pieces. It was the way to get started in the business, to get seen and to get known for the type of work that the artist wanted to do, and was best suited for. The work was some of the most creative and memorable work I’ve seen in my entire career. And because there were so few avenues to promote oneself, the artist really had to hustle. Show the portfolio and mail, mail, mail.  But even with all the time spent hustling, the successful artists still worked their craft – setting up photo shoots or airbrushing a new painting.

If I had suggestions for an artist about what was selling or what my clients were looking for, some of them would be back with new pieces. They were fired up; and that got me fired up about repping them.

Today, there are tons of places where an artist can show their work: in-person, source books, internet portfolio sites, personal websites, blogs, email, direct mail – it’s overwhelming. You’d think that would mean no one would ever see the same work (by you). Not true. People (clients) tend to revisit the same places for their information (they are website people or source book people or blog people). So one better make sure they see new work when they come back to visit.

Creators love to create – right? Isn’t that why they got into this business in the first place? Then why do so many balk at doing samples? They get frustrated that previous samples haven’t garnered work, they can’t seem to come up with a good idea, it’s too time-consuming or expensive or …. There are innumerable excuses.  Pablo Picasso, arguably one of the most prolific artists of all time, worked (and evolved) constantly. He said, “Inspiration exists but it has to find us working.”

Working on a new piece let’s you do whatever you want to do – there’s no client, no one dictating what has to be in the image. It’s a great way for you to try a new style, a new medium, a new technique; to get an idea and make it visual. No one evolves by standing still. And not too many get more work by waiting for the email to arrive.

Martha Spelman's Workbook Portfolio

Martha Productions

Also, check out Martha's previous feature, "Working Digitally - and Getting Skewed?"

By Martha Spelman

The ability to create images digitally has almost unimaginably altered the artistic process. In many ways, digital has been a boon to the commercial art business; in other ways, it has proven a curse.  It has forced many artists and designers, whose styles or personas couldn’t adapt, into other lines of work. For those that could adapt, or began their careers within the last 15 – 20 years, working digitally can provide a myriad of creative options but can also adversely affect the creator. The almost universal ability of anyone to manipulate any image can produce dire consequences for their initial creator.

Recently, I’ve noticed more and more demands being put on creators working in the digital medium. In these trying economic times, artists are frequently asked to do the job of the designer that was let go: drop in the logo, create the lettering, provide the project in any number of sizes, specs and file formats so that we (the client) can skip the production step.  And the artist is being asked to do these things as part of the project and for no additional remuneration.

And heard more and more frequently lately: “Oh, yeah, and we need layered files.”

Providing layered files, as opposed to providing a flattened file, can have many serious ramifications. Artists need to be aware of the possible consequences of this and clients need to respect the creative process and the integrity of the creator’s work.

1.  Providing layered files adds considerably more work for the artist: now he or she must provide all of the underlying art that would previously have been “covered up” by an item in the foreground.  For example, in a landscape including a distant mountain range behind a mid-ground house shaded by a large oak tree, everything that exists behind the oak tree must be illustrated in its entirety. Complex images can have 200 layers or more, which translates into a huge increase in time and effort on the part of the artist.

2.  Providing layered files gives the client the ability (and frequently the inclination) to make changes: change the sky color, move the house, adjust the tree. Not only can such manipulation affect copyright issues (the new image is not one image initially agreed to and provided) but can create a monster of Frankenstein proportions – the image can have little resemblance to the original. The artists’ stylistic reputation is on the line here – the new incarnation might look nothing like their intention. The client might be happy but the artist, whose work has been drastically changed, may not want to claim ownership or include the piece in their portfolio, thereby limiting the potential for new work.

3.  Clients who know they will ultimately be provided with layered files may be lackadaisical about reviewing initial sketches. Figuring they’ll be able to make all sorts of color and compositional changes later, they’re not too worried about the initial pass. And that lack of attention can mean hours of changes later (sometimes paid for; sometimes not) and loads of wasted time.

What to do?

Artists need to be very clear, in setting out the initial estimate or assignment confirmation, exactly what he or she will provide in the project. How many sketches, rounds of refinements, whether or not there will be a color step before going to final.  How many revisions will be provided at the sketch stage? How large (or small) will the final file size be (bitmap art for a poster can be far more complex to create and render than a postcard-sized vector image). And, most importantly, will layered files be required? If layered files, extensive file formats or any design or production is indicated, it should be priced in addition to creating the initial image.

On the flip side, clients must provide all project information up front. In-house creatives and clients should be encouraged to carefully review any materials or information given to the creator as well as any sketches or color comps provided prior to the final. And if design work, multiple file formats or layered files are requested, the client should be prepared to compensate the creator.

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Images by David Moore

Martha Spelman is President of Martha Productions Inc., an artist representation firm.  Divisions include RetroReps, Artinforms and IconArtReps.  Visit her website at:  www.marthaproductions.com.