How to Hire an Outstanding Illustrator.

Tips for Hiring an Outstanding Illustrator for your Next Project:

Finding the right illustrator can make the difference between looking good and blowing your competition away. A good illustrator is professional, dependable insightful and will provide you with a creative and innovative solution every time he accepts a job. He cares as deeply about your project and understands your reputation and hard earned money are on the line.
A good illustrator knows that each time he accepts a job he accepts the responsibility to make his client look the best he possibly can. He will treat you with respect and deliver your job on time, within budget and in the proper format. He understands your needs and will do what it takes to provide the best product and service he possibly can.

Poor illustrators are a dime a dozen but a good illustrator is worth his weight in gold.
So how do you tell the difference?
Whether you decide to use Bob Ostrom Studio or someone elses. It pays to know what you’re looking for. If you’ve never had the opportunity to hire a professional, here are a few tips that will help you find the best artist for your project.

Determine a Style:
Before you contact an illustrator take a few minutes to determine what you are looking for.

Who is your target audience and what is the demographic?
Determining who your potential audience is and what appeals to them is a great first step to helping you chose a style.

What is your competition doing? This your chance to really stand out and get noticed. What if instead of using a tired old graph from your last Power Point presentation you found a smart cartoon illustrator who could help you deliver your message in a way that would attract a whole new audience?

Shop around.

Visit an artist’s website. Look at their style and level of presentation. You can tell a lot about an artist by the way he or she presents their work. Take a look around see what type art they are showing. Experience is the name of the game. Just because they say they can handle what you are looking for doesn’t mean you will get what you want.

Most artist’s would love to illustrate a picture book but that doesn’t mean you should hire them. Do a little homework first to make sure you are choosing the right artist. Can they draw cute looking kids or the kind of characters you are looking for consistently? Does their portfolio contain art for your demographic or is it lacking in art for children? Has your artist been published? Try doing a search for them on Google or Amazon to find other published works that might not be in their portfolio if you need more info.

Hiring the wrong artist for the wrong  job can be time consuming and expensive. Your project is no place for on the job training. Always check out who your artist has worked for and examples of  jobs they have done. A good artist will be proud to display their work and answer any questions you might have about past experience.

You get what you pay for.
Without a doubt experience is worth paying for. Artists who have been around a while know what they are doing. They understand the difference between file formats and what will work best for your project. If you’re not sure about the difference between vector or bitmap art and which you need ask your artist. He should be able to explain it in simple terms by giving you the pros and cons of each. Do you need a jpeg, tiff or png? RGB or CMYK? Your artist will know which one to use for your particular project and why. Even if you artist works traditionally the art will still need to be scanned and translated to a digital format. If your artist doesn’t understand what works best you might want to shop for some one else who does. Proper format is crucial and could mean the difference between your project looking great and being a total disaster.

An experienced artist will probably ask you a few of the following questions:

Always start by describing your project in detail. The more information you can provide the more accurate your illustrator can be. Don’t be afraid to include your illustrator in your creative process. A good experienced illustrator will be able to help you with suggestions or find a great new approach to your project.
( Note: Don’t think of the artist as simply a hired hand. Think of him/her instead as a key member of your team who is there to support you with their expertise in achieving  desired goals for your project. )

• What is the artwork being used for?
• How many illustrations will you need?
• What are the sizes and or format?
• What style you are looking for?
• Who your target audience is?
• Are there certain color preferences?
• What type of background do you need if any?
• What do you hope to achieve with the art?

How and Where will the art be used?
Different uses will mean different file requirements. A piece of art that needs to be many different sizes will require a different solution then one that will be printed at one specific size. The demands for web design are completely different then for print. Knowing the different places your art will be used will help the artist determine the best format for your art.

What is your budget?
Most illustrators charge by the project. Not on an hourly basis. One size does not fit all. Most artists will charge you different rates for different types of usage. They may charge less for limited usage then they will for a total buyout because once the copyright is sold the artist no longer has any potential to make money from that image.

Determine which usage works best for you and be sure to negotiate the rights with your artist at the beginning of each project so there no surprises later on.

Additionally, depending on your specific art needs. There are artists that offer specialized expertise or experience that can make them more valuable and will affect pricing accordingly. For example, some have a specialty in direct response marketing, storytelling or sequential art. All quite valuable skills to have if you are producing a comic ad campaign with a custom created character that needs to be drawn and written to improve sales of your product or service.

Can I talk to your Printer/ web designer?
Why on earth would your illustrator want to talk to your printer. Simple, a printer has certain requirements when it comes to artwork depending on what type of equipment he is using. He can tell the artist what type of file will work best for his machinery. Similarly a webdesinger may also have certain requirements for artwork and format needed.

What are your deadlines?
It is very important to spell out your needs and plan out a schedule with your illustrator. Most artists work in stages and will submit artwork to you within a certain time frame. A typical schedule witll start with sketches and proceed from there.

It is important to be realistic about your needs. Be sure to provide an artist enough time to do the best job he can. Some artists may ask for an additional rush fee if your project’s deadlines are unrealistic. Different artists work at different rates, if you’re uncertain how long it takes just ask.

How would you like the art delivered?
An experienced artist should ask you, if you don’t pose the question. Digital artwork is great because it is so easy to work with. Some programs can produce rather large file sizes though. If you have an FTP site or another preferred method of delivery let your artist know. If you don’t chances are your artist will have a way to deliver files that are too large to email. Most artists have experience in this area and have worked out a delivery method that should be easy to use and eliminate headaches.

Make sure to resolve this issue as early as possible so you don’t run into any problems on the due date of your project.

Who or how many people are involved in approval of art stages?
It’s important for the artist to know this going in because usually the more people involved in the approval process from the client side, the higher the potential for miscommunication regarding expectations and direction of the project. Be sure to have anyone that has a right to approve a project, be involved from an early stage so that everyone is on the same page. This will help avoide misunderstandings, extra fees and most importantly wasted time.

Contract
If you do not have a contract or written agreement, ask the artist to provide one for you. Again, an experienced professional illustrator will have a contract to supply you. Do not hire an artist without one. Be sure to spell out all the details of your project including delivery schedule, usage, copyrights, payment schedule and any other important information that might effect the outcome of your project.

You may also want to include a kill fee in your contract spelling out what happens if the project is cancelled for any reason. This will protect both you and the artist by allowing you to understand ahead of time what happens if for any reason the project needs to be terminated.

Enjoy the process
Working with an illustrator should be a fun and rewarding experience. Hiring the right illustrator will not only make you look great but will add great value and marketability to your project. If you have not worked with an illustrator in the past or need a little help organizing your project please feel free to contact me. Whether you plan to hire me for your next project or not I am always happy to answer questions you might have about how to improve your project, hiring an artist or other any other art related questions you might have.