We recently defined what a digital illustrator is and what they do. If you missed that post, you can read it HERE.
If you’re still with us at this point, you may be thinking that you do actually need a digital illustrator for a project you have. Maybe you need a series of little graphics created for your website. Perhaps you’re designing an indie video game and need someone to create some backgrounds. Or you’re looking for someone to draw some fun characters for a children’s workbook. Bottom line, you need an artist to create something for your project! These are great reasons to hire a digital illustrator, but before your artist puts their pencil to the paper (or stylus to the screen), there’s a few things they’re going to need to know so that they can start your project off on the right foot. You might think that you can just ask them how much an illustration will cost and go from there. That’s not really how it works. They’re going to need some information from you that will allow them to understand your needs in broad detail. WHAT IS THE ILLUSTRATION? The first question is always what is the illustration that is needed. It seems self-explanatory, but there’s a lot that goes into this. Your digital illustrator is going to want as many details as they can get about your vision, so fire away. This includes brand colors, size, perspective, and the works. The more specific you can be about how you want your illustration to look, the better. WHAT IS THE ILLUSTRATION FOR? Your illustrator is going to need to know what this illustration will be used for. Is it going to be for inclusion on a poster or perhaps for a website or blog? Creating an illustration for clothing is different from creating a design for print or for web. The illustrator will need to know this before they get started so that they can provide the appropriate files for the project. This will also help to determine the overall cost of the design. HOW MUCH TIME IS ALLOTTED? This one’s pretty important! Your illustrator has to know the timeline for a project so that they can give you a realistic idea of when they will be able to complete the design. It’s not exactly easy to know how long a design will take to create from sketch to completion. If there isn’t enough time, they may not be able to take on the project, and if they agree to do a rush job, you may be charged more for this. A good rule of thumb to follow is the bigger or more complex the design, the longer time will be needed to illustrate it. WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? I know, I know… the big bad daddy of questions. Talking about money is never an easy thing, especially when you don’t really have any real idea what to expect. Hiring an artist for any task can be a bit daunting because the price you receive may not align with your expectations. We get it! There are a lot of details that go on behind the scenes to bring your vision to fruition, and custom art of any kind is very valuable, especially when that custom art is intended to actually make you money in the long run!
When your illustrator asks about your budget, they are making sure that they can provide you with the service(s) that you need. The illustrator has to take a number of things into consideration, such as their time and talent, the resources that they use, the number of edits required, the scope and scale of the overall project, and communications back and forth with the client. Discussing budget is typically a learning opportunity for both the client and the illustrator, and provides an opportunity for everyone to get on the same page.
At the end of the day, your illustrator wants to work with you to help bring your vision to life! If you can give them lots of details, tell them what the illustration is for, how much time there is, and what your budget looks like, they're going to do their best to create exactly what you have in mind!
Comments