Tallulah Fontaine is an illustrator and artist from Edmonton, Alberta. She is currently based between Los Angeles and Montreal.

Tell us a little about yourself and your experience.

I'm a 29 year old illustrator originally from Alberta, Canada. I currently split my time living in Los Angeles and Montreal where I freelance for several magazines, newspapers and a variety of other fun projects.

What drove you to choose your career path?

I feel like this career path chose me. I was working as a barista and in restaurants after high school but would spend all my free time drawing and making little zines. Eventually friends took notice and really encouraged me to pursue illustration as a career path. 

I still feel really lucky that I found this job and that people continue to respond to my work in such a positive way.

How did you go about getting your job? What kind of education and experience did you need? 

A lot of people study illustration in school but that wasn't my path. In my early 20's I worked for an illustrator friend of mine Olivia Mew and her company Stay Home Club.

I learned a lot from her and she even gave me my first drawing tablet. I was always drawing in my spare time and started out doing a lot of free jobs for friends around town and positing my work on social media. When I decided I wanted to pursue more editorial work, I would go to the bookstore and look at every magazine that featured illustration work and copy down the names of the art directors.

I e-mailed and sent out postcards to everyone and eventually started to get some responses and job assignments. I continued to work and build up my client list for a year or so before making the jump to freelance full time. That was 5 years ago. These days I have a pretty solid roster of clients and I am lucky to have long term relationships with them. For the last year now, I've been represented by Richard Solomon and they will bring me work as well.

What do you actually spend the majority of your time doing?

I like to keep the sketch and painting phase fun and loose and I actually spend most of my time on the coloring and editing of the piece which I do digitally in Photoshop.

What misconceptions do people often have about your job?

Sometimes people will underestimate the amount of work that goes into each illustration. That I just make a drawing in a few hours and that's the extent of it. In reality there is so much back and forth with the client, round of sketches and edits to follow. 

I like this part of the job too but there are aspects to running my own business that takes over the creative side of the project.

What are your average work hours?

Like many people who freelance and work from home, I struggle to keep regular hours. I actually really prefer to work at night and to be out running errands, seeing friends in the day time. I'm more focused when it's dark out so typically I do the bulk of my painting and editing between 4pm to midnight. It really varies from week to week though, depending on how many projects I have and when the deadlines are set

What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?

As I get more familiar with the programs I use, my job has become easier. Also little things like painting on a nice quality paper and finding what mediums really work for me make a huge difference.

What do you do differently from your coworkers or peers in the same profession?

I probably do everything in my own backwards way because I'm self taught but I honestly have no idea. I've never worked side by side with another illustrator but I'm sure we all have our own different methods!

Do you have any advice for people who need to enlist your services?

I love working with all kinds of clients sometimes especially ones who have never commissioned illustration work before. I find they can be the most open to new ideas.

So maybe my advice is to come at it with a little bit of trust and excitement! If the client is stoked I will be too and the work is typically better than when its forced or restrained.

What's the worst part of the job and how do you deal with it?

I really don't love the business side of things but I hired an amazing accountant and she's my angel.

What's the most enjoyable part of the job?

When I can put on a great record, sip my coffee and just draw and paint for a few hours.

What kind of money can one expect to make at your job?

I think it really depends on the projects you take on and what you expect. I have really focused on editorial work the last few years which I realize isn't as well paid as if I worked on say an ad campaign or something more cooperate.

Magazines and newspapers don't have the budget they used to but I love working with art directors that push me to explore new subjects I may not have found on my own. It's a lot of work to freelance and pay all the bills but every year my business grows and that feels very rewarding.

How do you move up in your field?

Growing your client list, working on different types of projects, social media helps too.

What advice would you give to those aspiring to join your profession? 

Ask from people you know! I'm so grateful for the support I still receive from illustrator friends. We're better as a community then as a bunch of individuals looking out for just their own careers.