How is a Retoucher Hired by a Retouching Agency?

Another post by Alex Southcombe, this one answers How is a Retoucher Hired by a Retouching Agencey?

A: With all the beautiful imagery being produced by retouching agencies the idea of applying to work for them as a retoucher can be a daunting process. In this article we give you an idea of how you can get hired based on our past experience.

As with any creative pitch the key to piquing the interest of the studio is having a portfolio of your imagery. Our best advise here would be to wait until you have developed a portfolio that you believe is was up to a certain level.

To ascertain whether you have reached that level will take time, patience and practice. You will need to develop your technical abilities in Photoshop by being selective with certain tutorials online and networking with like-minded people. You may find the  training we supply for free on our website useful, particularly on how to structure your files as this is important to the workflow of retouchers working in agencies. Developing your eye for imagery by always checking out the latest work of the studios you want to work for and other artists’ are going to help you to develop a stronger portfolio.

In our experience, once you feel that you can see your artistic input in your imagery so that you can show the agencies what you can bring to the table working in their studio it is the best time to start approaching the studios.

The hiring process will vary depending on the studio but can involve a test retouching an automotive image and a portrait multi-composite image. Therefore, being familiar with various areas of retouching can be very useful. After this stage it would be normal to expect a more traditional face-to-face interview for the agency to determine if you are the right kind of person for that particular studio.

If you are a retoucher that has or is currently working in an agency it would be great if you could share how you were hired below for the budding retouchers out there.