Monthly Member Meetups


IFH Members are welcome to join us and other IFH Members once a month for a meetup on Zoom. Invitations are sent a few days before each meetup. Members can also watch a year’s worth of videos of previous Meetups which serve to build connections and share knowledge within this illustration community. Each recording is approximately 60 minutes.

JULY 2026


Topics: Conferences, portfolios, pricing, late payments, social media marketing, and swag.

Key Takeaways:
  • Pricing digital art licenses for personal home use was discussed, with a general consensus around $100–$150 for existing artwork requiring no new creation.
  • Portfolio advice from Marci highlighted the importance of having at least five pieces per genre, editing ruthlessly, and only including work you want to be hired for.
  • Instagram's anti-bot detection can temporarily lock accounts (up to ~12 days) if posting patterns suddenly change; varying captions and pacing is essential.
  • Reddit is generally not recommended for finding illustration work, but can be useful for Q&A and is heavily cited by AI tools.
  • LinkedIn was identified as a more viable platform for reaching art directors and creative buyers compared to Reddit.
  • A 50% upfront deposit policy was strongly endorsed as protection against non-payment.
  • Member Maja Anderson's delayed payment from a library client prompted discussion on follow-up strategies and the importance of contracts.
  • Upcoming conferences mentioned: ICON (Baltimore, next week), NACIS annual conference (Milwaukee, October), and SCBWI.
  • Stickers were recommended over business cards as conference swag, as people tend to keep and display them.
  • Portfolio reviewer Jennifer Nelson was highly recommended by Stephanie for actionable, market-informed feedback.

Here is the link list:

WATCH THE VIDEO


———


JUNE 2026


Topic: Online shops. The two big takeaways from this meetup are:

1. Move from big platforms → owned ecosystems. Several members are shifting away from Etsy, Faire, and similar marketplaces and building their own shops (Shopify, Squarespace, etc.). The main reason: more control, better margins, and less dependence on algorithms and fees.

2. Niche clarity matters more than platform choice. Success isn’t really about on which platform you sell — it’s about who you’re selling to. The strongest examples were artists who focused on a very specific audience (subject-based, location-based, cultural, or identity-driven niches) and built their shop around that.

Everything else — wholesale, markets, commissions, POD, Etsy — tended to work best when anchored in a clear niche and used as part of a broader ecosystem rather than a primary strategy. 

Here is the link list:


WATCH THE VIDEO


———


MAY 2026


Topic: Thao Nguyen, shows us how she harnessed the power of social media—Instagram Reels specifically—to attract attention from local media and bolster her business. We love Thao’s self-proclaimed mission: My mission is to help bring other people’s visions to life with my art and design.


WATCH THE VIDEO



Here’s the link list:


———


APRIL 2026


Topic: Increasing your visibility in AI search results. We used this article (which is pretty dense) as a conversational prompt: How to Optimize for AI Search Results in 2026. We learned from two IFH Members—Jude Buffum and Greg Franco—who have successfully deployed content strategies (i.e. written articles) that have increased their exposure in AI searches.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:


———

MARCH 2026


Topics: new promotional initiatives for IFH Members, the value of kindness, SEO and online visibility, AI indexing and search visibility, the importance of consistent branding, choosing and refining niches.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:
———

FEBRUARY 2026

Topic: special guest Jennifer Orkin Lewis shares the many facets of her creative practice. 

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———

JANUARY 2026


Topics: charting holiday sales, activating a Google Business profile, telling stories about your art, and more.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———

DECEMBER 2025


Topics: making connections and focusing on local opportunities.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Nate Padavick kicked off the convo by drawing attention to LinkedIn as an under-utilized source for networking and credibility building.
Takeaways: 1) create a LinkedIn account and 2) join the private IFH-only community group.

Jude Buffum showed us how his recently crafted content specific articles help drive traffic to his site.
Takeaway: write a How-To or Top Ten article about your niche, like Jude did here or like Nate did here.

Karen Kemp told us how her hyper-local postcard/poster business has grown from an idea to 3000+ orders in just a few months. Takeaway: create opportunities in your own back yard.

Carrie Cantwell explained how she and Toni Federico use PaddyPost to seed—in one fell swoop—all the social media posts for their Cranky Creatives podcast.
Takeaways: check out PaddyPost and Cranky Creatives.

Jennifer Skopp told us how she uses local Facebook community groups to advertise her house/business portrait niche.
Takeaway: local businesses want to hire local illustrators

Salli Swindell told us how fellow IFHer Thao Nguyen focuses on developing business opportunities in Cleveland, her hometown. 
Takeaway: celebrate what you love about where you live.

Jude Buffum encouraged us to create a Google Business Profile to attract local clients. 
Takeaway: leave Jude a 5-star review (here) and follow these easy steps to create your own Google Business Profile.

———

NOVEMBER 2025


Topics: watercolor recommendations, embroidered hats, online shops, in-person markets, and most importantly: mock-ups.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———


OCTOBER 2025


Topic: special guest Sarah Walsh lovingly shares her thoughts, insights, and personal perspective.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———


SEPTEMBER 2025


Topic: special guest illustration agent Jennifer Nelson talks about all-things-greeting-cards.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:
  • A glossary of terms that are important to know when talking about greeting card design with your clients
  • A PDF that shows all the different ways you can engage with Jennifer and her creative cosmos.

———


AUGUST 2025


Topics: Substack, newsletters, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:
  • Lori Burt highly recommends this Skillshare class. She says it gives clarity to the usage of many of the aforementioned platforms.

———


JULY 2025


Topic: special guest Kirk Wallace provides real world insights into the topic of collaboration. 

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———

JUNE 2025


Topic: special guest Jen Hewett discusses her surface design business and gives us a studio tour. 

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list, and a couple takeaways:
  • Proof of Concept. For every design that Jen puts out into the world she creates a proof of concept first. This demonstrates to a potential buyer that the idea actually works, in terms of design, material, and technique. Jen takes her ideas to the next level!
  • Longevity and Perseverance. Jen discusses the importance of staying in the game—for the long run. This means…Working hard. Making good work. Showing up. Producing lots. Executing ideas. Sharing creativity. In a world with so many freelancers, the ones who stick around the longest will be rewarded for their perseverance. 
  • Jen mentioned Chuck Cordes. Chuck is Jen’s lawyer. He represents artists like Jen, reviewing contracts and assisting with negotiations. Visit his site and feel free to contact him. We’ve known him personally for over a decade.

———


MAY 2025


Topic: special guest Adam Lee, co-founder of Mysterious Alchemy, gives incredible insight into the gaming industry, Even if (especially if!) this industry is not one you’ve ever considered working within, this hour-long talk will inspire you to open a few doors to see what opportunities are lurking.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:

———


APRIL 2025


Topic: IFH Members share their insights in this open forum

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:
  • a link the website speed tester Pingdom

———


MARCH 2025


Topic: special guest Kyle Janson, the founder of blanc space, discusses how creators, like us, can turn our illustration practices into a well-oiled growing machines.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Here’s the link list:


RETURN TO TOP
BY USING THIS SITE, YOU ACCEPT OUR TERMS OF USE.