Handsome Frank
Jon Cockley and Tom Robinson are co-founders of Handsome Frank, a UK based illustration agency.
Curator’s note: This is a BIG one guys! (Both in stature and in length). So put your feet up and prepare to be hit with some pearls of wisdom from Jon and Tom. They happen to be cousins. They’re also business partners who booted up the incredible illustration agency Handsome Frank, after discussing the idea in a London pub. Today, they represent 35 illustrators, spread across five continents. So it's fair to say that they’ve gone and got their fingers stuck into a fair few continental pies since that first humble meeting. Scroll on to hear their fascinating story…
You are cousins, am I right? When did you first start working together and how did that professional relationship materialise?
Jon: Yes that's right. Obviously we'd know each other basically all our lives (there's an 18 month age gap), but we didn't see much of each other prior to starting the company together. Tom moved to London in the late noughties and was working in Soho (where I also worked) so we started to see more of each other. When I had the idea about starting an agency, I thought Tom would be a good person to talk to because he could design and build websites and I was going to ask him to build me one. Once we started meeting to discuss the concept it became clear we had skill sets and experience that really complimented one another's, so at that point we decided to collaborate.
Jon, you come from a publishing background, having worked for Creative Review and Design Week in the past. What was it like working for these established publications? What did you learn there and was this period integral to you both eventually forming your very own agency 'Handsome Frank'?
Jon: To be honest, despite working for creative titles, my role was essentially just a sales role like any other. I was selling advertising and it was only because I took a keen interest in the subject matter that I began to look at the possibilities in that sector. Some of our big clients at the time were illustration agencies, many of which are still very well established today. I met some of the owners of those companies, talked to them about their businesses and began to think about how I could do things differently if I started my own agency. I think the realisation that I could make a living from working in an industry that I was fascinated by, was the main thing that I took from that time.
Work by Bruno Mangyoku. Bruno, along with all the other artists pictured within this article, are represented by Handsome Frank.
Tom, for the majority of your career prior to founding yours and Jon's illustration agency, you worked predominantly as a 'Digital Designer' in some form or another. Was this a conscious career decision or an area you fell into?
Tom: Rather boringly, it was entirely a conscious decision. At school I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was older but loved art and design, so after A-Level's I did a one year Art Foundation course at the University of Hertfordshire. That course was without doubt the best educational year of my life where I met so may like-minded people. It was on that course I found my love for design, Photoshop and Adobe Flash (which at the time was such an amazing tool). I then went on to study Multimedia Design at Southampton Institute where I got a 1st class honours and came third in the D&AD Student Design Awards. That opened the door to my first job at Ogilvy and the glorious world of advertising.
Speaking as a Digital Designer myself, I'd be interested to get your take on the perceived role of a Digital Designer in today's modern world, when so much of the visual noise is broadcast digitally. It's everywhere you look. Would you say that increasingly, the label 'Digital Designer' could easily be swapped out for 'creative generalist'?
Tom: Back in 2003 when I graduated I used to describe my job to friends and family as 'the same thing a graphic designer does, but for screens'. Digital back then wasn't as prevalent as it is today - now it's everywhere and totally accepted as the norm by all generations of our society, which has opened up the platform to all creative types - and of course animators. The roles of 'digital' continue to expand too, usually driven by the notions of making our lives easier and more efficient. Personally I don't think it's always necessary to conform to a specific label or job title, what's important is to keep up with this ever evolving industry and utilise the best methods or platforms to reach your audience. Please don't forget about print though - it's still (and always will be) such a lovely medium, which summons a much stronger emotional response than seeing something on a screen.
Work by Quentin Monge.
On that topic, do you have any thoughts on the value of a truly specialised artist? Many of the illustrators you represent will be masters of their craft. Is that the difference between a freelancer who offers a particular service and a designer operating within a larger corporate structure, that might have to develop wider skills but to an arguably lesser level?
Tom: Some of the best illustrators we represent started their careers as in-house designers and then over time focussed their careers to become independent illustrators. Personally I think this is a great way to get into the industry and the two areas of design obviously complement each other (colour theory, composition etc), plus you learn about how the design industry 'works' from the inside. I've known many freelance designers who also transition to photography and other creative sectors too. The important thing here is to promote your chosen specialism in a clear and concise way through your website and social media channels - don't be that person who tries to sell themselves as a designer, photographer, artist and illustrator all on the same website. It's far better to create a separate website and/or social media accounts and promote them separately. In the beginning days of Handsome Frank I had one website for my design portfolio, another site for my photography portfolio (yep, I used to work as a travel photographer too) and of course the HF website.
The concept behind 'Handsome Frank' is pretty interesting. What inspired you to create this agency that represents multiple artists all over the world?
Jon: The international aspect, if we're honest, came as a bit of a surprise to us. Initially I thought we would be predominantly working with UK based illustrators with UK based clients. It turns out that was very short sighted and we were delighted when work started to come in from overseas. Our first big advertising commission was from an agency in LA and we've never looked back, we now work with clients all over the world every single day. As for the illustrators, as a profession it's allows for a very transient existence and many of the guys we met and signed when they lived in London, took advantage of this freedom and moved all over the world. Having artists in Sydney, Tokyo and across Europe never caused any issues, so we started to look more widely for talent and it's now a really international mix.
Work by Joël Penkman.
What's it like operating within a business partnership so to speak and what are the benefits and negatives (if there are any) of this?
Jon: In the very early days, when you're struggling to make enough money to survive, it's very easy to think "I could do this all on my own", but the more we've grown the more we value each other's input. Myself and Tom have quite different approaches and we bounce ideas off of each other, I think it's a really healthy balancing system. Above anything else, it's just really good to have someone to be able to talk to and share the responsibility with. It's also great to know you can step away from the business for holidays or to spend time with your families and things are in safe hands. I don't really see any negatives. We've never disagreed on anything major in nine years of working together.
It seems superbly convenient to have a ready made creative partner within your extended family. Was your upbringings a factor in steering you into the creative industry? Similarly, was there ever any chance you'd pursue anything else?
Jon: I don't know, personally not really for me. I mean I always enjoyed drawing and creativity and I was encouraged to try things, but there was nothing particularly in my childhood that led to me wanting to work in this industry. I watched a lot of TV and I always loved the adverts, so maybe that?
Tom: I recently found my old school reports and reading those it seems pretty clear 'art' was definitely the subject I was mostly drawn to. Neither of my parents worked in a creative career but Frank was a very keen painter in his day, so perhaps there's something there.
Work by Jordan Metcalf.
Are you both currently working in London? If not, are you ever forced to communicate remotely and if so, how do you find that?
Jon: No, I'm based in Cambridge these days whilst Tom is in South London. We decided pretty early on we didn't want to go down the route of having a central office that we'd both have to commute to. Commuting was one of the reasons we weren't enjoying the jobs we'd left. I guess 10 years ago the model wouldn't have worked so well, but these days with Gmail, Hangouts, Dropbox etc, it works very nicely. We've had to change the way we divide the work as we've grown as a company, we have two employees now too (who also work remotely). I do miss some aspects about working in an office with colleagues, but for us the benefits far out weigh the negatives. Especially as it means we see more of our children.
At the very least, I presume you’ll have to often communicate with the illustrators within your agency from behind a screen or over a phone, how do you go about this? It seems particularly relevant in an age where more and more freelancers are able to work from home.
Jon: Yeah we are in constant touch with our artists, especially when a project is live. To be honest there's no one size fits all solution to communicating with the artists. Some prefer email, others like to talk the phone and it's important to meet in person as often as geographically possible. I think freelancers (and anyone who works from home) need to be really mindful of the potential mental health pitfalls. It's very easy to go an entire day with out leaving the house or even speaking to a human being and that's not good for anyone, we're social animals. For that reason talking on the phone or video calls are great and I also force myself to get out and work from more social spaces and try and take exercise during the work day where possible.
Work by Malika Favre.
How did you both find the transition from working for someone else to working for yourselves? What are the biggest or most unforeseen challenges you've faced since going it alone and have you had to develop any particular characteristics, fast?
Jon: I think the biggest challenge is the business side of running a business. If you set something up and it succeeds, that's great, but you're suddenly required to have knowledge of all sorts of legal, taxation and accounting aspects of being a company owner. We're still learning and constantly tweaking the way we run the business behind the scenes to make it more efficient. The biggest individual change is probably when you become an employer. Suddenly you're responsible for other people and making sure they're happy, content and paid on time. The responsibility of that feels very big and it's something we take seriously. Thankfully, so far we're managed to retain our staff long term and they seem to enjoy working for us.
Your agency's Instagram account has a pretty healthy following, as do many of the illustrators which you work with. What would you say is the importance of social media within the creative industry, especially in terms of self-promotion? Any comments from both of you on the impact it's had on our field?
Jon: We have a little bit of a love hate relationship with Instagram. On the one hand it's the perfect platform for what we do. Obviously it's all about images rather than words, so it's a great fit for us and a fantastic way to promote our illustrators and our agency. It's also an interesting place to start a conversation, because we've built quite a big audience in a relatively niche it's also become a good place to start a conversation and have a dialog with illustrators about the industry and the way it's changing.
On the negative side, I don't like the way many artists feel like their failing just because they're not building a big audience on the platform. Some styles work better than others on Instagram, but it shouldn't be treated as a barometer of the quality of the work. Being an illustrator is not about getting the most followers and the most likes for a post. It's about communicating with a specific message with a particular audience. If artists start chasing likes and chasing their work or the subject matter they draw, just to get more likes, I think we move into dangerous territory.
Work by Tom Haugomat.
Your agency has collaborated with some corporate giants, including The New York Times, Nike and Sky, amongst many others. What type of work do you tend to work on with these clients and how do you tend to go about going after it?
Jon: In some regards the size of the client doesn't really change things a huge amount. Obviously it's very flattering to work with big clients and we like reaching big audiences, which those clients facilitate. Most of our bigger projects fall into one of two categories, it's either for an advertising campaign, where the client wanted to promote a new or existing offering, or it falls more into the realms of general design / branding assignments. We do a lot of packaging work, create bespoke content for printed or online marketing materials, large scale stuff like hoardings and murals, it's a real mix. That's what I love about the medium, the applications are so varied and numerous.
Amongst other things, your agency produces really insightful, short documentary type films that aim to tell the stories behind the work, much like the aim of our site! I believe this willingness to share and cooperate is so beautifully unique to our industry and understanding the process can be as interesting as the work itself. Why do you guys create these films? And can you talk a little bit about your process when producing and directing them?
Jon: The films started out as as attempt to tell the human story behind the work. We felt that there was sometimes a bit of a disconnect with clients, thinking of the work they commissioned as just a commodity and not understanding where it came from. The idea of the films was to show the artist in their surroundings, their process, their influences and inspirations and use these as a sales tool when working with a client. We'd send a link to the film along with the quote, to explain who was behind the images and who they'd be working with. The films have kind of grown from that initial premise though, as we've built an audience within the illustration and design community. It turns out peers and fellow artists are just as interested in seeing behind the scenes and learning more about the artists.
In terms of production and directing, we're pretty hands off. We've worked with 3 or 4 different film making teams. We set an initial brief, then leave it to team to come up with concepts and ideas, most of which we've been happy to run with. Myself and Tom attend shoots when we can, but our input is minimal until it comes to the final edit / tweaks. Giving creative freedom on the films has been hugely rewarding so far.
A film about Brighton based illustrator Paul Thurlby.
How do you go about selecting what type of artists to work with? Evidently, location isn't a barrier for you but are there any challenges with operating on such a global scale?
Jon: Finding new artists has become increasingly difficult as we've grown in size, as our criteria has always been not to represent artists who are too similar to each other in style. What we look for, in the broadest sense, is a distinct and consistent signature style with commercial appeal. Beyond this though we need to make sure the artist is a good fit for the agency. Beyond the work though, perhaps the most important qualities are work ethic and attitude. It's so important for us to work with reliable, professional people, it really doesn't matter how talented someone is, if they can't produce great work under pressure and hit deadlines it doesn't work for anyone.
As you point out though, location is not a barrier at all. As long as everyone is aware of the time differences and we can create a schedule which makes it work to our benefit, location is not a barrier. We love working with people all over the world and I love the fact our illustrators have the freedom to live and work where ever they want. I think moving and experiencing different cultures is hugely condussive to creativity.
This is a recurring question we like to ask but I personally always think our failings and how we learn from them shape our future work. Did you ever have any doubts? Was there a notable tough moment and if so, how did you learn from it?
I absolutely agree. It's a well worn idea, but it's true, success and achievement teach you nothing. We've learned a lot more from getting things wrong than from getting things right. I guess the biggest learning curve has been which artists to sign. Sadly, it's not worked out with every artist we've signed.
Work by Anna Kövecses.
Who or what inspires you? Anyone's story that you would particularly like to hear from? (We might be able to help with that!)
Jon: The thing I find most inspiring is people who overcome adversity to succeed. You'll never know if you would have succeeded without the privileges you've enjoyed in your life. Seeing people have a great success despite having overcome huge adversity which is very inspiring.
Finally, what's your aim for the future?
Jon: We want to keep growing as an agency, I think it's very important that we stay contemporary and relevant. That's the big challenge for an illustration agency, to stay fresh whilst continuing to work with artists long term. We're very keen to maintain an interesting blend of established talent, but mixed with exciting new artists. Helping to guide and grow the careers of young artists is one of the most rewarding things about this job and it's something we want to continue to do.
Work by Guillaume Kurkdjian.