Realistic Vector ≠ Best Selling

Your Illustrator's skill is very good. You want to illustrated a "photo-reallistic" master piece...

You spend 2 weeks, 4 hours a day (after work), finally your nice fresh shinning beautiful apple vector illustration is done. You start to upload to istockphoto (cos istockphoto can get better pay for vector download).
Few days later, the vector got approved and listed in your gallery. After few weeks you maybe manage to get 1 or 2 downloads but many reviews and very high rating... You start to wonder, why so many people like my work but not much download? What's wrong with my work? It look so real and the gradient was so perfectly done...

Actually there's nothing wrong with your artwork, it's fine, but if the buyer want to buy a realistic apple, they call always look for a real apple photo image rather than a "photo-reallistic" vector apple.
If the buyer is looking for vector, they'll only buy/download the vector that match their campaign/project's concept and not because of how nice the gradient was make.

Here's some sample vector taken from istockphoto...

(picture taken from istockphoto)

Of course many "photo-reallistic" vectors also are selling well.
Please click on link to view
istockphoto's "Photo-realistic Vectors" lightbox.

Tips to avoid rejection

Why they reject my works? What's wrong with my photo? I think it's very nice... #@$&%#$... i speed 3 days + 2 nights to illustrate this and they just...

To avoid your submition being reject, here's some tips taken from those RF site, plus some of my own experiences :)

1. Photo MUST be taken by YOU, or artwork created by you personally! You must be the legal owner of copyright to the uploaded file. This is very important.

2. All photos containing recognizable people MUST be accompanied by SIGNED Model Release form

2. Meet the minimum resolution requrement. Some RF site they need 2MB, 3MB, 4MB... To save time(acceptable for ALL RF site), ready your image in 4MB or more.

3. No fully exposed buttocks, genitals, fully exposed female breasts or fully exposed female nipples.

5. NO visible/recognizable logo (copyright infringement).

6. Limited use subject, but you think is nice...

to be continue... will updated regularly.
(part of the text was taken from bigstockphoto, shutterstock, dreamstime, 123rf, snapvillage and istockphoto)

Also read: Tips to increase your RF sales

Tips to increase your RF sales

Why my RF sales are not improving? Why there's so little download this month? Why nobody want to download my works? Here's some tips taken from those RF site + my own experiences :)

1. Quantity (quality as well). The more stocks you have, the bigger chances buyer will discover your gallery.

2. Photos of PEOPLE are VERY popular. Get your friends and family involved.

3. Submit to FREE DOWNLOAD section. Can attract more people to your gallery. Read related post How to submit image for FREE download?

4. Think like a buyer (art director, designer...1). What type of picture you're looking/searching for your project.

5. Any photo that looks like a postcard or magazine cover is FANTASTIC!

6. Meet the season needs. Read related post Holidays, Events and Observances

to be continue... will update regularly.
(part of the text was taken from bigstockphoto, shutterstock, dreamstime, 123rf, fotolia, snapvillage and istockphoto)

How i submit Vector illustration

I start to submit vector illustration after many months. Here's a recap of me submitting vector illustration to all the 5 RF stock site.

Preparations

1. After finish checking and conform no more open path/open shape (read related post), converted ALL stroke path to outline, save it to EPS (ai8 version).
2. Save one more svg format for fotolia.
3. Export the same file (as big as you can, for Dreamstime) to a JPEG format for preview purpose.
4. From this JPEG file, save it into 3 sizes; 400x500(for Shutterstock), 1600x1600(for 123RF) and 1900x2800(for istockphoto).

Submit to Shutterstock

1. Upload 2 files for each vector illustration, 1 EPS file and 1 JPEG file (400x500).
2. Both the file MUST be SAME name, except for the extension. (eg. giraffe.eps and giraffe.jpg)

Submit to 123RF.com

1. After log-in, click on "Upload" link on top.
2. Choose upload "Illustrations (EPS). Each file must not exceed 5MB.
3. Attach a RGB JPEG preview of your image at 1600 x 1600 pixels or larger.

Submit to Dreamstime.com

1. Submit the original size JPEG format file first.
2. As soon as they are accepted or right from the first submission you can also upload an additional format (ai or eps format)

Submit to fotolia

1. Upload the svg format but make sure not larger than 1.2MB.

Submit to istockphoto

1. Upload the EPS file and the JPEG preview(1900x2800), your preview can be larger if you wish.
2. Upload one more EXTRA file, you skatch (lo-res JPEG will do) at step-4, to prove you are the original creator.

Related post:
Open Shapes in Illustrator

Holidays, Events and Observances

There are so many Holidays, Events and Observances in a year. Work ahead plan it out and submit 2 month before the date.

Those company like advertising agency, design house and printing company will desperately need all those image stock for their project. For your reference, here's some major events of the year:-

• New Year celebration (31 Dec)
  
• Chinese/Lunar New Year (mostly Jan or Feb of the year)
  
• Valentine's Day (14 Feb)
  
• Mother's Day (11 May)
  
• Father's Day (15 June)
  
• Halloween (31 Oct)
  
• Thanksgiving (27 Nov)
  
• Christmas (25 Dec)
  

Don't forget to prepare image stock for birthday too. There's a new born baby every day in this world, so every day is a birthday for someone out there.

Btw, my Chinese New Year image stock (illustrations) is sell like a hot cake last month/year :)

No idea what to submit?

You have your DSLR camera ready and don't know what to shot? Don't know what type of picture people wants?
If you already join Shutterstock, then you can always click on the "Most Popular Images" link & check out what type of image people like. For the member of istockphoto, you can check out the "Most popular Files" link at the side banner.
But you don't need to be a member to view the top selling images at fotolia.com.

Keyword Tips

(part of the text was taken from iStockphoto.com)

Keywords are the most important information you can provide to help buyers find your images. While people often know the specific subject they are looking for, concept keywords may help to inspire the end-user to choose your images.

Describe the subject of your image. You can have 20~50 words to describe all the pertinent details, and the more specific you are, the more likely your image is to be found by the right searches. Those are what you can describe:-

• the subject (tree, car, butterfly, man, women, children...)
  
• physical appearance (muscular, powerful, fit, strong...)
  
• what they're doing (walking, reading, talking...)
  
• where is the place (garden, home, school, beach, ocean, sea...)
  
• how they feel (healthy, powerful, happy...)
  
• the kind of picture (cartoon, caricature...)
  
• technical aspects of the image (vector, illustration, vertical...)
  

What is Model Releases and Property Releases?

A model/property release is a written agreement between the model/property owner and the photographer whereby the model/owner gives his/her permission to the photographer to use the photographs commercially in perpetuity (meaning for all time). Releases can permit the use of the image(s) for all purposes, or may contain exceptions for certain usages. (text taken from 123rf.com)

Each RF site have their own release form. Download only when you need it.

What is First name? what is Second name?

For chinese name, always remember "first name" is your surname. ex. Chin king kong, first name is "Chin" & the second name is "King Kong". In this way, when they issue you the cheque your name will come up correctly.

Use Paypal

If you want to get your money faster, register a paypal account and change your payment method to paypal. Some of the RF site they take to 2 weeks to process your cheque. After that it take 2 weeks for the cheque to reach your door step (depending on your location). Finally you get the cheque & bank-in to your local bank. Your bank then will take 4 weeks (1 month) to process a foreign cheque (also depending on your bank).