Where Do Illustrators Get Gigs?

Through networking and by submitting through cold emails with jpegs to institutions that hire illustrators and to agencies who represent them. It's not an easy path.

I know that there are some picture book agents who will take on illustrators, if that's something you're interested in.

My personal experience and observation is wiser, more experienced artists shun bidding sites. You may still find folk who use sites such as Freelancer, but it's simply not worth it for the artist. They can make more per hour doing mundane flatting work.

Your best bet, in my opinion, is to venture out into the art community. Explore forums and sites and use Google to locate artists you like. Check their websites. See if they work in a style you like, if they're taking work, what their terms are (no spec, contact my agent, etc), and if you can afford them.

Price, meanwhile, varies a lot. That's probably a frustratingly vague answer, but it depends on factors including but not limited to: complexity or style and rights the client is purchasing. If you're wondering what a fair price to suggest rather than the cheapest you can find, think of it this way:

(Disclaimer: I'm pulling some numbers out of mah behind to illustrate a point.) US federal minimum wage is $7.25. My friend estimated she can rush out an illustration from rough pencils to finished colored or toned picture in about one workday, 8 hours. That's $58 of labor. This doesn't, however, include time taken to do concept sketches and back and forth approval between the artist and client, so this number is skewed in favor of the client. Can you offer less? Sure. Just be prepared for potential sticker shock if an artist gives you their rate. Can you find someone who'll accept less? Honestly, yes. It frustrates me when someone young with talent accepts a ridiculously low page rate, but it happens. Will they be reliable? Hmm...

For more tips I recommend browsing the Comic Books and Graphic Novels subforum. It's not very busy, but there's some good advice on finding artists.

Being an independent artist is tough (whatever the medium is). Going by my past experience, DeviantArt is actually a pretty good place to start. I've hired a few people from there over the past several years for some of my projects, and the rates is reasonable (on hi resolution paintings and illustrations).

I think I covered this before.... but rehashing.

You can try to network with other artists on websites such as Concept Art and places where writers and other artists hang out such as Deviant Art.

Some warnings up front:
- Do not use bidding website: You'll get burned.
- Writers have no idea what goes into making a piece of art most of the time and because they think it's faster, they also think it's easier. They will whine and complain about your rates, but don't give in just because. When you do, you undercut your fellow artist, making it difficult for the rest of us.
- Sometimes when starting out, it's better to start cheaper.
- Always ask for a percentage up front. And do it by pay scale. For example, someone wanted me to do an animation for 10 bucks in Flash with no materials or reference. Ummm... NO. (Rhubix must be laughing reading this.)
- Build up a professional portfolio. Put your best foot forward.
- There is a graphic design guide for pay scale out there. (I need to find that link again--I've linked it before.).

And some off-hand tops from my professor:
- Expect clients to not be that bright when it comes to graphics. They'll most likely choose what you hate most. Haha. Also they don't tend to be that *cough* articulate.
- Never, ever do anything on spec/for free.
- Never put yourself in the contract as anything else than "The artist" and the person who hires you as your "client". People are more sympathetic to artists.
- You LICENSE your art for a time period. Make them pay the big bucks to own the art and the copyright. 20,000 is a usual minimum. Ideas are not taken by copyright. You create it, you own it.
- The best way to spread your word is to do good art for clients who recommend you.

Pay rate is usually by what media you use, fame, the detail you put in, the time you put in, the license they want it for, education level, difficulty level and whether or not there is color. You can jack prices if you know some typography as well.

Some people also say to develop a style, but I've also seen artists say to develop a range of what you can do. (But writers are the same)

BTW, Artists, in general, don't get paid well. Illustrators get paid crap money from what I've heard. One illustrator said they did worse than when they were writing.

You can also submit your art to magazines, and other small publications to see if you can get hired.

Bookmama said:

I'm actually asking because I have friends who are self-publishing children's books on Kindle (as I've done) and people are looking for something where the quality is above a $5 sketch from Fiverr, but below the work-of-art that goes into a printed children's picture book.

Click to expand...

I know this thread is dated, but for reference purposes (if no one has heard of it) there is a site called 99designs that offers a unique way of getting designs.

In their case you commission a work, at $299, $499 or $799. (The price doesn't necessarily affect the quality, but they will provide more services to help you through the design process.)

Once you commission a work and provide all the details and specs, designers then craft designs and submit them for perusal. You might get 80 designs from 20-30 designers. You then can whittle them down to a shortlist and/or request modifications. At the very end, once you have a design you like, that is the one that is chosen and the designer gets paid. If the design is not chosen, then the designer gets nothing. In a way it's almost a contest for designers since they need to deliver their absolute best work if they want to be the design chosen. As can be expected, at the higher price points, since designers get more money, you'll likely get more submissions.

You can see more at their website here.

Savant99 said:

Once you commission a work and provide all the details and specs, designers then craft designs and submit them for perusal. You might get 80 designs from 20-30 designers.

Click to expand...

This site has come up before many a time and not in a positive way. I generally discourage others to participate in crowd sourcing models that take advantage of market saturation in this way.

From your figure, maybe 30 artists submit designs and only one gets paid. That's a crappy slant for those who participate creatively and submit completed designs for no compensation.

But whatever. It looks like these options will be sticking around. It's a personal choice whether to take advantage of them.

I occasionally get illustrations from the deviantart job board. But you have to be willing to ignore begging emails and people ignoring your instructions and trying to guilt you into paying them by doing it on spec.

Savant99 said:

I know this thread is dated, but for reference purposes (if no one has heard of it) there is a site called 99designs that offers a unique way of getting designs.

Click to expand...

So, are you affiliated with this site?

veinglory said:

So, are you affiliated with this site?

Click to expand...

I was thinking either that or a super fan. lolol