Become A Member – Join Illustratörcentrum

Illustratörcentrum widens the job market for illustrators, graphic designers, animators, comic artist and works to mediate commissions for our members. Read more about the association of Illustratörcentrum here.

About the membership

You may apply for membership if you are a professional in visual communication taking on (or starting to take on) commissions on a freelance basis, and aren’t currently occupied by a full time job or full time studies. To be eligible for a membership you must also be a resident in Sweden. A membership costs SEK 600 per calendar year. If you are a member of Svenska Tecknare, your annual fee is SEK 400. The membership gives you access to:

• A portfolio page via illustratorcentrum.se (around 70 000 unique visitors every year)

• The opportunity to contribute to the catalogue Swedish Illustrators & Graphic Designers (distibuted to thousands of clients every year)

• Courses, seminars and workshops

• Industry events and fairs

Assessment of applications

To apply you must prove that you are a professional in the field of visual communication (illustration, graphic design, animation and/or comics). Do this by uploading either compiled examples of your freelance commissions or a degree certificate to your application form.

Applications are reviewed during our admission months (February, May, and September) and are assessed individually by our committee of admissions. The committee consists of board members of Illustratörcentrum who are experienced freelancers in the field.

How to apply on the basis of your professional experience

Submit a PDF compiling five freelance jobs you’ve been commissioned to do. For each commission you must present one or more pictures showing the result of your work, as well as an invoice or a contract. The invoice or contract must specify the client, the fee and the date of the invoice (or the date of the work).

Your application must meet these criteria:

• Five commissioned jobs from at least three different clients (no private commissions or sale of your own products)
• The commissions are no older 36 months at the time you submit your application.
• The commissions have been paid fairly (the compensation for your work must be acceptable by market standards, and not too low).

How to apply with a degree

You can use a degree certificate (or similar document) to apply. Examples of degrees that qualify for membership are Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Konstfack, Digital image production from BTH, 3D Artist from Future Games. Some degrees from 2-year programmes at polytechnic schools may also qualify if the applicant can provide examples of professional freelance commissions. Contact us for more information if wish to apply with a degree like this.

When applying with a degree you must include a portfolio. The purpose of the portfolio is to show that you are prepared to present yourself as a professional freelancer. The portfolio can be a website, a social media account focused on demonstrating your work, or a short PDF.

Your application must meet these criteria:

• The degree must be approved by Arbetsförmedlingen Kultur Media. See their list here. If you have a degree from a school abroad, it must be comparable to the degrees on the list.
• The degree must not be older than 36 months at the time you submit your application.

• Include a portfolio (link or PDF) in your application.

After your application is submitted

Your application will be checked to see that it meets our criteria. If it doesn’t, we’ll contact you by email to give you a chance to complete your application. We only review applications that are complete and after reviewing your application we’ll contact you by email to let you know if it’s approved or denied. If your application is approved we’ll send you an invoice for your membership fee and access to your portfolio.

Applications can be submitted at any time. We administer and assess applications during our admission months (February, May, and September). To administer your application during an admission month, it has to be submitted no later than the last day of the same month. If the application is submitted later it will be processed during the next admission month.

You are welcome to submit your application.