About Advocate Art.
Advocate Art was founded in 1992, with a group of illustrators who liked the idea of having an agent but not the other things that often came with that. We call our ethos four “F.A.C.T.s”: Fairness, Ability, Creativity and Trust. It’s about doing the right thing and being with the right people. We think our principles set us apart from conventional agencies, sticking to them has meant we have attracted the most creative illustrators and artists who in turn attract (with a little help) the best clients.
The people we represent are perfectly able to conduct their own affairs but like working with Advocate Art because we offer value to them in the services we provide. Clients are assured that we represent artists that are like-minded professionals, pre-vetted and able not only to get the job done without fuss, but also to surpass expectations.
It’s their choice to be with us, we have a high retention rate - with the most popular artists in our group being with us from the start!
We were one of the first Agencies to give direct client contact with our illustrators, allowing creativity to flow without being diluted in translation. We were one of the first to offer re-sales as an important secondary income to artists. Now we have gone beyond that too, with the development of an on-line portal - ARTicle which enables artists to have transparency into the back office functions of the business, such as royalty management and credit control, amongst other things.
Business is all about relationships, which is why we have a very high artist to agent ratio, clients often use us as artistic advisors, project managers as well a trend forward resource for pre- qualified talent.
It is for these reasons that Advocate Art has become the largest illustration agency around and I’d like to think one of the most respected but- we understand we didn’t get that way by acting like the biggest. Come and find out for yourself...
Meet the Agents
The internship programme
We run an active internship program here at Advocate that we hope many students or career seekers will find very beneficial. We attract students in art history, design, illustration and related courses. We also employ bilingual agents so we attract language students as well.
We forge close links with many colleges and also invite students in for Q&A sessions where they can get advice on their portfolios. We were sponsors of the illustration exam question for the D&AD board and offered competition prizes including cash of £5000!
If you would like to see the inner workings of the leading artist representation agency, then the best way is to spend some time with us as an intern. You will share in our daily tasks such as folio management, site maintenance, project managing etc etc but no tea making I promise! You will learn how artists are briefed, what’s hot and what you have to do as an illustrator to get work in the real world. We will give you a reference that will make a future employer cry, for the right reasons of course. Finally as a souvenir you get a sought after Advocate courier bag and we will pick up lunch and travel expenses if you complete the term. Minimum term is 10 working days - Maximum 30.
There is no mistaking that interns have become essential to the running of this busy agency. We get to spread the Advocate message around tomorrow’s art and design professionals - internationally. We are also a recruiting platform (10 of our current staff were recruited from internships) and we get help, not cheap labour.
We also welcome international interns. If you have basic spoken and written English, we would love to hear from you. We would accommodate you in a local hotel and provide a meal and travel allowance. Interns must be EU citizens or have a valid work permit to work in the UK.
