At last! Here is real practical help for budding freelance illustrators. This book helps you avoid the pitfalls that can ruin a career, with advice on crucial first impressions, how to create a portfolio and approach clients, how to negotiate contracts, and how to handle, deliver and bill the first job. It discusses setting up a studio, maintaining a steady flow of work and managing time and money, and also provides information on successful self-promotion, self-publishing, and the pros and cons of agents. Packed with useful tips gleaned from the author s own career and his work as an agent handling major artists in the US and UK, the book includes interviews with 9 big-name illustrators. The reader benefits from their experience of starting out; what they learnt or noticed during the metamorphosis from student to professional; what their expectations and experiences have been. In addition, art directors and commissioners describe how they like being approached  and what they really dislike.