Get very, very good

Once you’re on the radar of art directors and producing covers, carry on honing your style, take ownership of it, put your soul into it. “Get very, very good,” says Irene Gallo. “The better the work is, the easier marketing it becomes and suddenly it’s being accepted into annuals, being linked to on social media, art directors are telling art-director friends about it. A big part of that is having a distinctive voice. When I hire people like Victo Ngai, Sam Weber, Allen Williams, or Anna and Elena Balbusso, it’s because they have a point of view that no one else does. I often want artists who can bring themselves into the painting, show us the world in a way no one else can.”