Basic Knowledge for Illustrators 03: Understanding the Workflow from Receiving a Commission to Delivering the Final Work

（I am writing based on the circumstances of the Japanese illustrator industry. )

■ Receiving Inquiries for Illustration Work

In today’s illustration industry, most work inquiries arrive by email.

For that reason, make sure to check your email every day.

Even if you rarely receive work inquiries, once you have presented yourself as a professional, you should check your email daily.

I believe this is one of the most basic responsibilities of a professional.

Ideally, you should also set things up so that you can receive emails sent to the same address on your smartphone.

This greatly reduces the chance that you will miss an email.

If you use separate email addresses for work and private messages, it becomes easier to distinguish business emails from personal ones.

It is not uncommon for work inquiry emails to be sorted into the spam folder, so be sure to check your spam folder every day as well.

If you write something like “For commissions, please contact me by DM” on social media, inquiries may come through direct messages.

If you have already worked with a client several times and are connected through LINE, Chatwork, Slack, or similar tools, they may contact you there instead.

In very rare cases, it seems that work inquiries are still made by phone.

■ Checking the Terms and Conditions

When you receive an inquiry, the first thing to do is confirm the terms and conditions.

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