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You live / work in New York City, and so are many other illustrators. Do you think I should move to New York to start / boost my career?
New York has more publishers, design studios, advertising agencies, etc than any other city in the US, and probably more than any other cities in the world.
Located in NY would probably give you more chances to meet with your possible future clients, easy access to portfolio drop offs, go to meetings, picking up and dropping off reference materials or scripts. My studio is 5 minutes walk away from the NY Times and Conde Nast buildings, among other clients. Very easy access.
When I started out not so long ago, when FTP upload was not common and e-mail only sent up to 2MB files, I used to go visit my clients a lot, to drop off CDs with final images or to pick up dummy layouts. Now, my clients seldom even call me. Everything is on internet.
Cool thing about this job is that all you need are: your art supply, internet access and a cell phone. I have friends who live in New York but spend a lot of their time in Hawaii. Clients just think they are early risers sending e-mails 5 in the morning.
Yes it may help you to be here especially when you are starting out, but again, you can work from anywhere and there is really no need for you to live here.
So, would you move to this city where you are considered lucky if you found a shoe-box size studio apartment under $1,800, everybody is moving in the speed of light too busy to be friendly to you, dirty and smelly, summer is boiling hot, winter is severe, and upper-middle class income will make you feel like you are on the verge of poverty?
Well, I personally won’t exchange my small Manhattan apartment and studio for any mansion in any other city.
New York is a city for people who have ambitions and the work ethic to try for what they want to achieve. They come from all over the world with their hopes and dreams. Almost every day, I meet interesting people who stimulate me and inspire me, and make me want to work harder and try out new things. This energy is here like nowhere else.
If that is what you are looking for and ready for, New York City is for you.
https://yukoart.com/?p=556