The capital difficulty of the free-lance is to get sufficient work. Mainly this is because, although competent enough at drawing, which is only one part of the work, the knowledge of lay-out, copywriting, and blockmaking requirements is lacking. Someone else must do this part of the job; and those clients who have neither the time nor the technical knowledge required, prefer to give the work to a studio to entrusting it to an artist who may fail them.

The intending free-lance should therefore make herself conversant with this side of advertising work. Chapters V and VII deal with the subject in some detail.

There are many different ways in which a free-lance may obtain commissions. For instance, she may be acquainted with someone who gives out work, an advertising manager or a newspaper fashion editress. Or it may be that a client of the artist's former studio will continue to commission her work, particularly if she has a distinctive style which has become a feature of his advertisements. There is, of course, a proper etiquette to be observed. One cannot leave a studio and then start to rob them of their clients. The approach should come from the advertiser, not the artist.

But principally, for the free-lance, getting work is a matter of going out to find it. Obviously, address and personal appearance are important considerations. What was said of a beginner seeking a studio post applies with added force to the free-lance interviewing clients on her own behalf. Much, too, depends on getting through to the right person who gives out work, and on finding him in the right mood for business. Any salesman will tell you that there are right and wrong times to make business calls, certain people to ask for, and different methods of approach according to the individual to be seen. Without going into the niceties of modern salesmanship, the free-lance should realize that since in a sense she is a salesman, selling her services instead of goods, certain rules should be observed.

In the first place there are different seasons for different kinds of work. Each special seasonal demand should be catered for as it comes along. As a rule drawings are required from one to three months before the time when the articles illustrated are to be advertised. The actual period depends on whether the drawing is for wholesale or retail use, and whether it is for a press advertisement, for catalogue illustration, or for some other purpose. Fur drawings are wanted about July, or even as early as June. White sale stuff is in demand before Christmas, and spring catalogue work

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is wanted by the wholesaler in January, and by the retail house up to the end of February.

The summer months have always been a partial close season for fashion, and except for fur work, there is little doing between the spring showings and the commencement of the autumn season, which for the artist means about the end of July. From then until October fashion work is in great demand. The modern popularity of sport and sports wear, and the growing craze for summer cruises, are to some extent filling the gap between the spring and summer demands for fashion drawings. But the early summer still remains a quiet period which may be usefully employed on editorial colour sketches and magazine designs for Christmas and the New Year, and on ideas for autumn catalogue covers.

Editorial drawings in colour, with a Christmas season note, are bought by the periodicals about October or earlier. Printers and publishers buy similar work for menu cards and annuals as early as February and March. Incidentally, no year or date should appear on drawings offered to printers; they may want to keep the drawings for stock.

Secondly, time and trouble may be saved by calling at the proper hour, and in the right place. A call made just before lunch-time is not only likely to be wasted, but, by earning a refusal to be seen, or being accorded a very brief interview, the artist may be put off a potential client altogether. Calls are received best between ten and twelve in the morning, and three and five in the afternoon.

Most big stores have an advertising manager who is responsible for all the firm's publicity, though not all work is given out by him in person. A common arrangement is for the several departmental buyers (millinery, gowns, shoes, and so on) to be allotted so much space in forthcoming catalogues and advertising announcements, and within limits each buyer may decide what illustrations shall go into the given space. An artist calling for work goes to the advertising department, armed with specimens, sketch-book, and pencil, and, of course, her business cards. The specimens

should be chosen with regard to seasonal requirements, and with some thought for the style of advertising favoured by the particular store in question. But it should not be forgotten that houses sometimes like a change of style; and something original, or "different," may be welcome.

Fashion Drawing Sections

Part-1 Part-2 Part-3 Part-4 Part-5 Part-6