After school you will likely come in contact with people that don't quite understand what it is we do as Graphic Designers/ Illustrators. So here are a few tips, and explanations to help de-mystify the process. For more information, be sure to check out Promote, Negotiate, and Make Money: Essential Business Practices for Today's Creative Professional from the Graphic Artists Guild.
First off, Graphic artists are like superheroes. We have a lot of powers at our disposal. We use our artistic skills to help our clients effectively communicate a message, enhance a product, or promote and sell a product or service (or fight crime). That's a whole lot more than simply drawing a pretty picture.
Our creative process always starts with negotiating the terms with the client. We decide how to price the work based on the parameters determined in the initial negotiation with the buyer. (Usually, there are additional discussions about the terms of the project, which might include such parameters as schedule, credits, and usage.) These terms are always determined prior to signing an agreement and beginning the work.
Superheroes: A big happy family.
No one in the graphic arts business works in total isolation. Most projects that we work on require collaboration with other professionals in addition to clients and their representatives. A book designer, for example, may need to communicate with any of these professionals—an illustrator, photographer, writer, copyeditor, proofreader, printer, and even other graphic designers. A Web designer who is hired to create the aesthetic look of a Web site needs to collaborate with a coder and programmer to make the design functional. Even a self-employed artist who is hired to create the illustrations for a publication or an ad may need to work with an editor, art director, or marketing director.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Spreading knowledge about our profession...
I'm sitting here thinking if this post is actually worth my time – and yours too (yes I'm concerned with not wasting your time... what? You thought I was just trying to suck you into a time-wasting trap? Well... okay, maybe there's a little truth to that). Are blogs going out of style? As far as I know, I'm the only one that reads this one... which I suppose is therapeutic, and perhaps a way to track my rise to fame. Just wait and see, this will be published and sold as one of my memoirs. Yes, don't worry I can feel your eyes rolling in the back of your head... so I'll press on.
So this past week I was very excited to meet with an author about a prospective illustration job. I was thinking YES! Finally a big break. Maybe I was going to meet with publishers who had an extraordinary amount to spend on their illustration budget and they wanted ME! Okay, so maybe I should have realized that big publishers don't post ads on the Capilano IDEA-Xchange forum... but I was hopeful. There I was, face to face with a young, optimistic, first time children's author. Of course there's nothing wrong with that at all. I sort of saw a little bit of myself in her. Optimism. It's a powerful thing.
Here's where these sort of meetings could go one of two ways. It's amazing how people like to avoid talking about money. So in cases where the client's optimism leads to a belief that illustrators don't need to be paid for their concept sketches... there's a bit of a problem. That's when I get that feeling of my stomach falling into a deep pit. You know that feeling of falling? Well, I have to admit, THAT can throw off a meeting. Just try and enjoy an authentic chai tea latte with that feeling – I dare you!
I'm not saying that this meeting went that way, I'm just noticing a bit of a trend. I'm beginning to understand why my past instructors said that we would become ambassadors of our profession; and that's because apparently we (artists, illustrators, fill in the blank) are very mysterious creatures. Not a lot is known about us. Sure... there are stories, myths, and the like. I'm thinking an awareness campaign needs to be launched. Put up signs. Why not? There's signs about how to interact with bears, why not illustrators? :P Good idea?
So this past week I was very excited to meet with an author about a prospective illustration job. I was thinking YES! Finally a big break. Maybe I was going to meet with publishers who had an extraordinary amount to spend on their illustration budget and they wanted ME! Okay, so maybe I should have realized that big publishers don't post ads on the Capilano IDEA-Xchange forum... but I was hopeful. There I was, face to face with a young, optimistic, first time children's author. Of course there's nothing wrong with that at all. I sort of saw a little bit of myself in her. Optimism. It's a powerful thing.
Here's where these sort of meetings could go one of two ways. It's amazing how people like to avoid talking about money. So in cases where the client's optimism leads to a belief that illustrators don't need to be paid for their concept sketches... there's a bit of a problem. That's when I get that feeling of my stomach falling into a deep pit. You know that feeling of falling? Well, I have to admit, THAT can throw off a meeting. Just try and enjoy an authentic chai tea latte with that feeling – I dare you!
I'm not saying that this meeting went that way, I'm just noticing a bit of a trend. I'm beginning to understand why my past instructors said that we would become ambassadors of our profession; and that's because apparently we (artists, illustrators, fill in the blank) are very mysterious creatures. Not a lot is known about us. Sure... there are stories, myths, and the like. I'm thinking an awareness campaign needs to be launched. Put up signs. Why not? There's signs about how to interact with bears, why not illustrators? :P Good idea?
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