Starting Your Career as a Graphic Designer

The ultimate source for beginning professionals, working professionals looking to make a change, and entrepreneurs wanting to go out on their own, this friendly guide details every business aspect of commercial graphic design, including how to:

• Create a portfolio • Make initial contacts • Develop a financial plan • Set up an office • Acquire supplies and equipment • Price your own work • Market on the Web • Nurture a growing freelance business • And much more

In a market-by-market survey, the author devotes entire chapters to selling one’s work within every venue, including magazines, ad agencies, book publishers, greeting card companies, small business, and Web sites. This is the most useful book on the market for honing the business skills of freelance illustrators and graphic designers.

Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Michael Fleishman is a freelance illustrator, graphic artist, and teacher of the commercial arts with over twenty-five years of experience. President of the at-large chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, he is also a contributor to several trade publications for graphic designers and artists. He lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with his wife and two sons.