So I have never truly freelanced. I have been randomly approached to do things and usually do them for free or have the "client" give money to charity in lieue of a payment. I even have a standard form I use for this purpose to ensure I don't get myself wrangled into some weird legal IP, spoken contract bullshit. I really enjoy illustration far more than classic graphic design.
I am genuinely interested in fishing a bit for more work in this regard, but not free as in the past. Soooooo...do I start looking for jobs on particular boards or do I submit a portfolio somewhere for a fee, or?
I have reached out to some folks but gotten fairly cold response, but more due to the lack of funds on their part, not a lack of need of assets.
Also what does a typical modern illustration portfolio look like? Is there such a thing? Am I being silly?
And I know people work their asses off and I dont' intend to insult with a half-ass approach to this and smear the good name of hard working designer/illustrators. So if you don't like that I see this as a side thing, then that's fine too. I will hear all opinions.
I don't know much but this guy is an illustrator I really like that seems to do really well and has a strong following on facebook as well: http://www.tartelin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/tartelin - notice this is an artist page, you should definitely see about getting yourself one of these
This was the one thing I liked about Myspace, that place was great for finding artists and musicians because once you found one you liked you could usually find more off of their top friends.
If you're willing to do smaller illustration projects I see a lot on Craigslist in my searches and have heard about iFreelance before but have never used it for anything.
Most of what I see a need for in the Chicago market is textbook/scientific illustration, medical illustration... there is a limited editorial market, but the pay is crap.
Ari would be a good resource here. Honestly, while we are deluged with Photographer mailings and portfolios, I don't think in 12+ years of advertising and marketing art direction, that I've ever seen an illustration porfolio. Just hasn't come up.
Ray Frenden and Dustin Hostetler have the best illustrator sites, IMO.
http://frenden.com/ http://upso.org/
How to sell? Well, pick a category. Editorial illustration? Stock? Book covers? Garment?
Best place to start is contacting the places that buy and see what they look for. Most places are very straight up in their submissions process - you contact them, show them some stuff, and they'll get back to you if they like it.
You should also check out the http://styl.us/ forum - really, the ONLY illustrator's forum worth a damn: http://styl.us/forum/people.php?PageAction=SignOutNow&ReturnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fstyl.us%2Fforum%2F
Oh, and to be sure, for most illustrators the pay is DEFINITELY crap. Craigslist is essentially a scam farm. You get paid less as a senior illustrator than as a junior backend dev guy. It's very satisfying to see your stuff in magazines or whatever, though.
Anyway, like I said, check out stylus - you will definitely get a better idea of what's out there and how to go about it.
Hey another thing you could look into is your local Tattoo shop, maybe work out a deal where you can do some illustrations for them to then use as tattoos or they might know of where to get freelance opportunities in your area.
Any tattooist worth a shit can already draw. Also, drawing tattoos is a very specialized thing. Not to be a bummer or anything.
Originally posted by arigato
Any tattooist worth a shit can already draw. Also, drawing tattoos is a very specialized thing. Not to be a bummer or anything.
Yeah but that doesn't mean it hurts to ask
I'd still pay you for prints of some of the stuff you've posted on this board.
/nag
Have you looked at conceptart at all? http://www.conceptart.org/forums/ They have a job section at the bottom. As well as a lot of other great forums.
Oh this was a greater response than I expected. Thanks guys. I will pursue all noodly tentacles.
and yeah I know, I don't know why prints scare the shit out of me. When I did some illustration work for a fairly well known electronica band, their designer freaked out that I hadn't put proper color profiles in. I don't know if he was being a dick or I genuinely fucked up the files and caused him hours of work. I just don't know if I fuck them up.
No, he was being a dick.
You know the difference between RGB and CMYK? Yeah, anything else is just someone getting prissy.
That said if you want giclée prints done, there's a very solid place here in town I use - you can always put the files on my ftp server and I can have it done for you. No handling fee 
Hey Persist, I showed this thread to Steph and she pointed out that you should also check out agencies. Many of them will actually let you come in and ask questions if you are a newbie. It might also be worth your while to take an illustration course or two at a local design school (I hear Chicago has some more-or-less reputable ones ) where they will not only teach you some of the more specific technical aspects of illustration as opposed to fine art but also how to build a portfolio, hustle work, etc. The teachers of these courses are a very good resource.
Here's one of Steph's favourite independent illustrators, who is very successful and has been independent for quite some time. He has a nice site, too.
Then there's this guy, Pete Ferguson, who is a friend of mine. His work is staggeringly awesome but his site kind of sucks. His best friend made it for him so there's not much I can say.
http://www.uberpete.jitterjames.com/
Anyway, you can go on facebook or hustle the local tattoo parlours if you want but I'm pretty sure talking to agencies and illustration profs will help you out a bit more.