ASS5 - Project 2 - Working With A Client
Research Point - Copyright
Find out about copyright laws in your country. What do you need to know?
How much would you charge a client for your time? Think about how you go about working this
out. You may want to research into what other illustrators charge for their work.
If you want to develop as a professional illustrator, at some point you may consider joining the
Association of Illustrators as a student member. In the meantime access their resources (www.
theaoi.com) for further guidance on payment rates, contracts and copyright issues. Summarise
the important things you need to remember in your learning log
As I was a member last year with the AOI I got a lot of information through them in regards to pricing illustration work and also copyright rules.
Copyright In the UK
Check out links below for more info too:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Copyright basically protects your work and stops others from using or copying it without your consent. When you do a piece of work you automatically get copyright protection you don't have to apply for any form or pay a fee.you can if you want Mark your work with the copyright symbol © or not it doesn't matter your work is still covered. If you put the trademark on to your work then it reminds people not to copy your work as some people don't realise that this is an actual thing.
As I was a member last year with the AOI I got a lot of information through them in regards to pricing illustration work and also copyright rules.
Copyright In the UK
Check out links below for more info too:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Copyright basically protects your work and stops others from using or copying it without your consent. When you do a piece of work you automatically get copyright protection you don't have to apply for any form or pay a fee.you can if you want Mark your work with the copyright symbol © or not it doesn't matter your work is still covered. If you put the trademark on to your work then it reminds people not to copy your work as some people don't realise that this is an actual thing.
There isn’t a register of copyright works in the UK. Any form of art is copyrighted automatically and lasts for 70 years after the author’s death
You can check the licence register to see if anyone is in the process of applying for a licence to be able to use and have ownership of your work. If there is you can apply for this to be stopped.
More info on this is in the below link:
Pricing Up Illustration
Pricing up work is very tricky I have found this in my own business. You don't want to sell your work to cheap so it's not enough for you and at the same time you do not want to charge so much that you scare off the client. To price your work you need to consider the following things:
- The type of client - Are they a big company or a small local one? you know the bigger the company the more money they have, I would charge more to them then a smaller company.
- How big the project is? If its for a children's book the illustrations will take you anything from 3-6 months depending on the content. Most illustrators only do 1-2 books a year so the price you charge must be enough to cover the length of the time you think it is going to take and cost of living in your means (or more)
- You also need to make sure you include cost of tools, electricity and rent. As an illustrator working from home you must include bills and rent as that is where you a will be working on a project. When doing the work and using the power such as lights and your computer in order for you to do the work then this must be accountable for.
- If working for a brand and they ask you to post it on your social media as you have a lot of followers then also charge them an additional fee for this.
- Another thing to think of if illustrating books is also to see about royalties. This is money based on how many books they sell. You would start seeing this money when the cost of the whole project is paid back for after that you will see some of the royalties coming your way. Depending how popular the book is. If they say there will be no royalties then add extra on to the cost.
All these above are all things you have to consider when charging clients. Each one comes to you with different project so pricing is very bespoke. You have to be happy with what you are charging and make sure its an amount that seems fair too.
AOI is a good website. They use to have a price list to work from but they took it off last year. They have now launched a price calculator but you can only see this if you are a member. I found the AOI to be very useful to get information from and also they have a helpline number that you can call to answer any questions you may have.
Here below are some other links that help when looking at pricing.
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Research Point - Client Research
Think about yourself as a potential freelance illustrator who is getting ready to undertake clientled work.
Identify an easy client you could work with. Somebody who would benefit from having an
illustrator to do some work for them.
SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats posed by such a venture.
Use your learning log to document and reflect on the experience. What does this tell you about the skills you have and those you might need to develop further?
My part time job is for a company called Countryside Properties, I would pick these as a good client to work for. They are a house building company and have many sites around the UK as well as building houses on sites, they also build community centres and schools on there sites to give their customers a ready made happy community.
They have a magazine every two months that comes out directed at people who are interested in buying property from them. When I was looking through it pretty much was paragraphs of text and photos about their houses and future sites they are going to build on. I think in their magazine they would benefit with a illustrated comic or a small graphic novel showing stories of families living on their sites, showing them enjoying their new home and the great community that comes with it.
Use your learning log to document and reflect on the experience. What does this tell you about the skills you have and those you might need to develop further?
From the SWOT process this tell me I need to :
- Improve on being confident. This is going to happen with time and getting more freelance work.
- I need to possibly have more various styles to make me more versatile to make me attractive to clients that are looking for a particular look to their illustration that they are after. This will open me to more freelance work.
- Make sure I research a company or the subject they are after so if I go in a meeting with them I know what I'm talking about
- I need to gather my best work and build up a portfolio showing what I am capable of.
- I need to research costing to be confident in how to charge them.
- I need to research them a bit more and perhaps go on sites to talk to owners to understand their lifestyle had how they find living there.
- Find out what style they are after and what content they are looking for in the comic strip.
- Who and what age they want to aim it towards.
Exercise: Presenting Yourself
Reflect on the work you have produced so far on this course. Pick out a range of pieces
that best express who you are as an illustrator and which show off your image-making
strengths. These could be finished assignments, exercises or ideas that have developed
out of your sketchbooks. Find a suitable way
to present this body of work as a portfolio.
Think about how you’ll describe these pieces of
work. What would you say about them if asked?
Here below is a portfolio website that I have created to showcase my top work for this exercise. I Have looked through this course and picked out what I feel showcases my talent and my voice.
https://gemma512023.wixsite.com/gemmaleesillust
I think this is a great clean cut way to showcase my work. I decided to do an online website because it is easy then to share it around to potential clients to see what I can do. It is also great to see high camera shot of the work too.
Also I could have added videos too to show creating some of the work, but this is a basic website on wix and I would have to pay monthly to add the videos on so I left them off.
I have picked out a few of my top favourite illustrations below and written underneath a description about each one to describe the work and also why it is one of my top favourite pieces of work.
Diorama - Love From Paris
This illustration was for a Magazine article about romance in Paris. I created a Diorama and built the illustration idea into a simple shoebox. The illustration had to show a romantic french scene so I decided to have a couple celebrating their relationship with the iconic view of paris in the background. I stuck to the colours of the france flag only red white and blue. I also created clouds that were raining hearts on to the couple.
I liked this idea as I had so much fun creating it and you can see that reflecting in my work. I like the use of working with three colours but with hints of yellow to highlight the place they were in. I loved using string to make hearts dangle too I think this create a great effect.
Pop up book - Ugly Duckling
This Ugly Duckling Pop up childrens book is my own short version of the story. As well as the illustrations I also wrote the story. I used the wording to make sure each page had the perfect illustration to go with it. The book is black and white, creating a fresh and dynamic look through the book. It is a unique style and on each paper something pops out at you. It is also very interactive and is designed for children age 5-8.
I loved making this book it was my first chance to have ago at a full pop up book. It was a lot of fun to make and a lot of people said if it was for sale they would buy it! I loved using two simple colours. It helped me to work out the contrast and composition out of each illustration. I also had fun working out how to make things pop out in a certain way.
Mixed - Character Design
A character concept idea for a children's book. The idea was to create the illustrations out of paper. These images above show my character understanding of making sure they are recognisable at different angles throughout the story. I have also included illustrations of a woman and a sheep, showcasing my understanding of facial expressions too (below).
When creating characters I really have so much fun working out their facial features and body language, for different emotions. I think character designing is one of my favourite things to do in illustration. I have found it very interesting to to try and make them from paper too.
Dodo bites - Biscuit Packaging Design
The brief was to create an illustration for cookies aimed towards children using an extinct animal. I decided to choose a Dodo bird and created a fun illustration that entices children to pick up a box of cookies. I designed the typography which has a silly style to it, this was showcase what a Dodo bird is known for (being stupid) . I also created a metaphor with the name of the biscuits 'Dodo Bites' and then having the Dodo birds bodies as the actual cookies. To reflect their stupidness I illustrated one of them eating himself at the same time this helps to make the viewer hungry too. I used a pallet of colours that are of the same colour as the cookies so it has a theme throughout.
This is an example of how using paper can create a great illustration that works well, vibrant and clear, telling the viewer what it is about. I liked working on a flat surface then building up the layers to bring the illustration to life.
Theatre - Illustration to Showcase My Home Town
The brief was to create an illustration to showcase my home, Wolverhampton. This illustration is of the Grand Theatre, which is one of Wolverhampton's most iconic buildings. On the stage I created a play scene showcasing an average day in wolverhampton town centre. I originally had four scenes I designed and picked one to use. I decided on the cathedral as it is the oldest building in Wolverhampton and it is a very relaxing place to sit and watch the world go by (one of my best stops). I created this model using cardboard and paper with added details using pens and paints. I finished it off by using some lamps to create a lighting effect. I took a photo, then imported the image in to photoshop to add the audience and the darkness around the stage. This makes the theatre the main focal point, telling the story of wolverhampton.
This ideas was clever in that I used the theatre which is in Wolverhampton to showcase an inner illustration into it of the city it is based in. I liked working out and building the model The fountain was quite tricky but used tissue paper for the water effect. It was a great project to work on and created an effective end result.
Ceramic plate - Bringing an Old pattern To a Modern Product
I really surprised myself with this task, I wanted to give it my all to see if making objects out of clay was something I would be interested in. When I was a young girl I use to create a lot of things out of plasticine and really enjoyed it. This task made me excited and once I started I could not put it down. I loved making it and learning along the way. It was a great experience and I shall be playing with clay again soon.
Reflection
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