Why hire an illustrator?
and should that illustrator be me?
So, why should I hire an Illustrator?
Whether you’re looking to work with an illustrator for a personal project for the very first time, or you’re a seasoned art director with years of experience under your belt, hiring a new illustrator is INTIMIDATING. I’ve written this post to outline some of the benefits of working with an illustrator in a more general sense, and what you would gain by working with me specifically (that’s a bit further down, if you’re not here for the waffle, feel free to skip ahead - I don’t mind).
I get it, Working with an Illustrator is an investment - not only financially, you’re investing your valuable time in forging a new working relationship, you’re investing your trust that they’ll deliver your materials on schedule, you’re entrusting your past efforts and your future hopes into someone else’s care. It’s scary stuff.
But with all this being said, hiring an illustrator to work with you on your project can be such a joy. Illustrations can add such immense value to your project - they can tell the parts of the story that words won’t reach, or they might be the main selling point on your product or maybe they’re the eye catching hook you need to draw people into your event, sealing the deal on booked tickets. Illustrations might help your readers understand the complex themes you’re trying to get across, or improve their experience on your platform. When you work with an illustrator you’ll be comissioning their expertise, their skill and their unique way of seeing.
Illustrators have a whole bunch of tools and knowledge at their disposal that can help elevate your project - knowledge of composition, colour theory and elements of colour psychology, textural knowledge, know-how of lots of printing techniques, effective use of different media, semiotics and symbolism, creative thinking - the list goes on.
There are a multitude of reasons to work with an illustrator, but should that illustrator be me?
‘How To: Befriend a Bug’ - Cover Design Concept for children’s non-fiction
Well If i’m being honest, I think that depends!
My goal with client work is to make illustrations that add value to your project, that fit the context of what you need them for and that are practical and useful for you. This might look as big as helping you to bring a story to life with full character designs and intelligently composed storybook pages, or as small as illustrating you a sticker design for your event.
Each project is different, which is why I like to give you the opportunity to have a free, informal chat to gauge if I would be a good fit for you - this can either be a zoom call, or over the phone, it can even be via email if you like. We’ll establish the unique needs of your project, and talk about the different types of illustrations you might need - we’ll chat about your budget, what rights you need, how many revisions you might want and what your timeframe for the project is.
If we feel like we’d be a good fit, and want to move forward together, we’ll go on to forming a contract that outlines the needs and responsibilities of both parties - both of us will have input in this bit, and once we’re happy and everything is signed off by both parties, I can get to work!
Arctic Hare Spot Illustration draft from ‘Landscapes of Change’ Exhibition (Manchester Poetry Library - 2024)
During our time working together there’ll be a really clear timeframe that we’ll have established before hand, and there will be lots of opportunities for voicing your opinion. Every one of my projects are based on the following stages:
The sketch stage - Here is where you’ll see some initial ideas start to take shape, these rough sketches will give you an indication of the different directions the illustration could take and the different compositions that might work for you.
The colour rough stage - Once you’ve chosen which sketch you like, I’ll start working on a colour rough to give you an idea of how the final piece might look in colour. You’ll be able to let me know what you think and make tweaks.
The final illustration - Once we have the colour rough approved, I’ll move on to refining and polishing the final illustration.
So, I hope this has given you a brief overview of the value of illustrations and given you a feel for if I might be the right fit for your project, and a general idea of how it might look to work with me. If you have any questions, concerns or queries about how working with me will look for you - please do get in touch with me, I’d love to talk to you about it.
As always, thanks for reading this latest post and let me know if there’s anything you’d like to hear me talk about.
Wishing you all the good things!
Ysabel