How I make money as a student illustrator
28 July 2026
My name is Amelie, and I'm an Illustration BA(Hons) student going into my final year at Falmouth University. In this blog, I'll be running through how I've made money from creative endeavours outside of my studies, from the very first favour I did for a friend right up to paid client work.
Throughout the second year of my Illustration degree, I made a conscious effort to get involved in as many projects as I could, with the goal of building my portfolio and gaining hands-on experience before entering the working world. I started small by offering free work to close friends and family. This included designing party invitations, illustrating posters for upcoming events and creating personal pieces that I gifted to friends as birthday presents.
It wasn't glamorous, and it definitely wasn't paid, but it was invaluable. Working to a brief, even an informal one from my mum or a friend of a friend, meant I had to think about a real audience and a real occasion, rather than just meeting the expectations of my tutors. It pushed me to try illustration styles and techniques I hadn't explored before, because each project called for something different. Some posters needed bold, playful lettering, while others needed something more delicate and considered. Saying yes to all of it, even when it pushed me outside my comfort zone, meant I produced a variety of work in a short space of time.
This turned out to be one of the most useful things about this period. Not only did it sharpen my skills in digital tools like Procreate, InDesign and Photoshop, but it also gave me a real reason to gather everything I'd made in one place. Up to that point, my work was scattered across my camera roll and various sketchbooks. I wanted something I could send to a potential client or collaborator without having to explain who I was or what I did first, so I built my portfolio website, which now acts as a running record of everything I've made over the past three years.
Alongside the website, I set up a LinkedIn profile and a professional Instagram account dedicated entirely to my illustration work. Separating my work from my personal account meant I could be more intentional about what I posted without worrying about it getting lost among everyday posts. It also meant that when I did start reaching out to people, or when people found me, there was a consistent, professional version of "me" waiting for them across every platform.
Once that foundation was in place, I started keeping a much closer eye on open calls on Instagram. There are always opportunities out there, such as magazines looking for one-off illustrations, brands wanting merchandise designs, and exhibitions and illustration fairs across the country searching for new talent. I started treating my Instagram Explore page like an informal job board, setting aside time each week just to scroll and see what was out there.
Alongside that, I spent a lot of time cold emailing designers whose work I admired. As you might expect, this resulted in a lot of rejections. But even the "no's" weren't wasted. Through that process, I ended up building real relationships with respected figures in the field, people whose work continues to inspire my own practice, regardless of whether that first email ever turned into paid work.
In spite of the rejections, I managed to score three projects that felt like genuine turning points. The first was with the Amsterdam Student Film Festival, where I redesigned their branding for the 2026 run, reworking their logo, colour palette and visual language, and helping the marketing team with merchandise. The second was a cassette redesign for the Welsh punk band Lacross Club's cassette release of their single, Blesh, which challenged me to think about illustration in a different format, working out how a design would translate to something small and tactile rather than a screen or a poster. The third was a dream commission: designing a T-shirt for one of my favourite bands, SWMRS, for the special edition 10-year anniversary release of their album, Drive North.
Each project pushed me in different directions. The festival work was about building a cohesive visual identity that other people would need to apply consistently across multiple formats, which taught me to think less like an illustrator producing a single image and more like a designer building a system. The Lacross Club cassette pushed me to think about packaging design and how illustration holds up at a completely different scale. The SWMRS T-shirt, on the other hand, was a reminder of why I fell in love with illustration in the first place, getting to make something for a band whose music I'd grown up with.
Most recently, I landed a position as an Adobe Next// Campus Leader, which I'll be starting in September. It's a paid role, and one that comes with some brilliant perks: free professional certifications in two Adobe applications and free access to the full Adobe suite. As an ambassador for digital design, I'll be building my own skills at the same time as helping other students build theirs, which feels like a really natural next step after spending the last year figuring so much of this out for myself.
Working throughout my degree has given me so much more confidence in my field. I honestly think it's so important to build your portfolio and start establishing connections while you're still surrounded by the supportive, diverse creative environment Falmouth University offers. It makes the inevitable rejections easier to handle, and the wins feel even more worth celebrating.
As I head into my final year, I'm excited to see what's yet to come. There's a real thrill in not knowing which open call, cold email or chance connection might turn into the next big project and I can't wait to keep expanding my portfolio through both paid opportunities and the personal projects that started all of this in the first place.
You might also like
Day in the life of a Musical Theatre student
My experience of collaboration at Falmouth
Finding my creative voice through collaboration
What I learned from collaborating at Falmouth
