Anastasiia Ku

Last month I was accepted as a contributor to iStockphoto.
So, in this post I will share my experience in passing the exam with those who also want to become Istocks contributors.

First of all, let me say that Istock is the oldest photobank having loads of images to sell, and thus the criteria of accepting illustrations here are very strict. Your images shouldn’t just be technically well done, but also to be conceptual, unique and unusual.

To register, follow the link (or click on the image below), and click red button “Sign Up Now”. Then you will be asked to write down your email, country, password and tick “I agree to Membership Afreement”:

Then, after uploading your ID, you will have to read the tutorial about technical requirements to vectors and pass the test, based on the tutorial, after which you will be asked to pass the exam.

For the exam you will have to upload 3 different illustrations, preferrably of different concepts and styles, so inspectors can see that you can work in the variety of styles. To send the exam files, you will have to upload 250 px (max side) .JPG thumbnail and a zipped .EPS file. You will also be asked to write down an image title and a short description of your file.

I passed the exam with these files:

(After the exam you will still have to upload these files to Istock. But keep in mind that if your image passed the exam, it doen’t mean it would get accepted to the bank.

My cartoon map of the UK wasn’t accepted after the exam for the reason of “having artefacts in the .jpg preview”. I couldn’t find any of them though, even looking at the .jpg file in full size, and comparing this image to the identical maps of Africa and Europe that got accepted. Anyway, I reexported the preview and uploaded the image one more time; we shall see if this one is alright.)

Ok, so here you are, stuck up in front of your computer trying to figure out what you could surprise the inspectors with. Here are some advices from me about how to get started, what to do or what NOT to do, including my own experience and mistakes:

1. First of all, get the clear idea of what you draw in your mind. And then you can start sketching it or drawing it on the computer. There is the list of images that Istock needs, and these are:

Families

Professions

Lifestyle

Hand drawing

Holiday and Seasonal Concepts

Original concepts

The files they don’t need will include Simple Icon Sets, Silhouettes, Floral Ornaments, Swirly Lines, Basic Patterns, Backgrounds and Borders, and Simple Text Effects – all those which sell quite nice on other stocks, as well as on Istock itself, but because Istock have an awful lots of them, they wouldn’t accept these anymore.

2. After getting an idea of what to draw, chose a proper vector editing software, like Illustrator or CorelDRAW. You will have to save the file as an Adobe Illustrator 8-compatible EPS file, so your vectors are fully editable: the shapes can be easily moved and colours changed.

In an outline view of the editable file you will see the paths, whereas a raster image won’t have them:

3. Do not leave open paths in your image, avoid transparancy effects, shadows, etc. If you are drawing in CorelDRAW you won’t be able to use gradients either, unless you export the file into .ai and then save .eps from Illsutrator. The image below was not approved in the beginning because of the transparancy below the envelope:

4. Do not include text as a main part of the composition. In this image I was asked to remove the text and resubmit:

5. Do not trace. Neither autotrace, nor hand trace is acceptable here. They don’t like traced images at all, esp for the exam!

This cartoon map of New Zeland was rejected because it “was derived from a map, or similar source, using distinctive elements that are recognizable from the original. Since the map is the predominant aspect of the file, it may be a prohibited derivative work”. To resubmit I will have to make the rougher shape of the map, so the inspector wouldn’t see it as hand traced from the map.

So, these are my main advices to those who want to join Istock:)

If you want to know more about other stocks or Shutterstock more in detail , please visit these articles: How to Sell Microstock and How to Upload Vectors to ShutterStock.

Best of luck to everybody! And happy holidays!