How to Get Brand Deals as an Artist (Real Email Included)

Brand deals look like luck from the outside. A creator you follow suddenly has a tablet company sponsoring their video, and the assumption is that the brand found them.

Sometimes it works that way. More often somebody sent a good email. LP Lucas, who teaches Social Media for Artists on Twotap, has worked with Wacom, Clip Studio Paint and the traditional art brand OHUHU, and in his module on reaching out to brands he shows the actual email structure he used to start those relationships, paragraph by paragraph. This post walks through his method: what to have ready before you write, where to find the right inboxes, and what goes in the message.

First, the uncomfortable question

Before any outreach, Lucas asks you to answer honestly: do you have something to show? A distinct art style, good videos, tutorials people found useful, anything that works in your favor. If the answer is no, he says to work on that first, because you are asking a stranger to bet on you, and the bet needs evidence. There is no trick in this module that substitutes for the work.

He pairs this with a piece of encouragement that reframes the whole exercise: brands like the ones he has worked with are actively looking for content creators. Sponsoring creators is a form of advertising they already budget for. You are not begging for a favor. You are answering a standing request.

The first rule: don't give them more work

Lucas's core principle covers most outreach mistakes at once. Picture the person receiving your message: an employee at a busy company, juggling projects, opening an email from an artist they have never heard of. If that email says some version of "do you have an opportunity for me?", it hands them a task. Now they have to imagine a project for you on top of everything else. They will not. They will ignore it.

Don't do that. You are giving them work. Your job is to make their life easier.

LP Lucas, "REACHING OUT to BRANDS," Social Media for Artists

Every element of his email template exists to serve that rule: arrive with a specific idea, make it instantly clear why you are the person for it, and make replying as light as possible.

Where to find the right people

Two channels, in his experience. The first is LinkedIn, which he calls a great and underused source: when you connect with someone there, their email address is usually visible to you, which means the inboxes of people at large companies are a connection request away. That is how he got his own start.

The second is Instagram DMs. Big brands increasingly run automated responses on their DMs, so Lucas suggests matching the size of the brand to the size of your audience. Around 10,000 followers, write to smaller brands; with a big audience, aim higher. He also passes on a mechanical detail worth knowing: accounts with more followers get their DMs sorted into the recipient's priority requests, so a larger following literally moves your message up the pile. And lately he finds DMs sometimes beat email for a first contact anyway, since people have grown wary of downloading attachments from strangers.

The email, line by line

Here is the structure Lucas teaches, with his reasoning for each part. He is explicit that it is a model to adapt, not a script to paste.

• Greeting with a name. "Hi John Doe" if you know who you are writing to. If not, address the team ("Hello Nike team"), which still beats a bare "hello."
• Who you are, plus one differentiator. His version: "My name is Lucas and I'm an illustrator and creator. I have a YouTube channel about art with half a million subscribers." You will have a different credential, and it does not need to be a subscriber count. Years in a role, a prize, a standout project. One achievement that makes the reader pay attention to the next paragraph.
• The idea, and the reason you are writing. In his example: he recently made a video comparing digital and traditional art that people loved, he believes the concept would work with the brand's upcoming product, and he would love to create something similar for them. Link the referenced work. Name their product. This is the paragraph that obeys the first rule, because the reader now has a concrete proposal instead of a chore.
• A question. "Are you open for collaboration? I would love to know." A direct question gives the reader something specific to answer.
• Let them off the hook. His closing line: "I understand if you are too busy to respond, even a 1 or 2 line reply will make my day." Lucas says this line changes behavior. It removes the pressure of composing a proper response, so busy people fire back a quick "liked your idea, will be in touch" instead of filing your email under later, meaning never.

One more piece of insider context makes the idea paragraph sharper. Lucas describes the actual rhythm of his brand work: companies contact creators months before a product launches, ship them the product early, and have the videos ready for launch day. Brands are continuously hunting for creators to slot into that cycle. If your pitch references a product they are about to launch, you are proposing exactly the arrangement they already run.

How to behave once they answer

The module folds into Lucas's broader professional-conduct advice, and two points matter most for deals. Do not let ChatGPT write your messages. He says AI-written emails are easy to spot now, well written and generic at the same time, and the effect is cold. Warm, human, competent writing is part of what you are selling. And once a collaboration starts, include the client in the process: send the sketch, the colors, the draft, rather than disappearing and delivering a finished piece nobody signed off on. Surprises at the end are how relationships die.

He also names a posture problem he sees constantly, especially among artists from outside the big markets: the underdog syndrome. Messages that plead ("please give me an opportunity, I love your brand, I watched all your videos") undermine you before the work is even seen. Be confident about your worth without being cocky. If what you make is good, say so plainly and show it.

The myth to skip

Lucas closes the module by puncturing a common fantasy: collaborating with a huge creator will not make you famous. Even if a giant account said yes, he argues it would make almost no difference, because big creators cannot transfer success. The only thing that compounds is the craft itself. If the work is good and resonates with people, the outreach above opens doors. If it is not, no template will.

This module is one of fourteen in Social Media for Artists on twotap.art, where LP Lucas also covers choosing your platform, posting frequency, recording process videos, analytics, and selling your own products. If the email structure here is useful, the course is that level of specificity throughout.