Illustration Commissions for Commercial Use
You say you’re in business, and you want some art for commercial use? I can help you there. I’ve been doing illustration work for my design clients for over 15 years now, in fact!
What’s the difference between illustrations and normal commissions?
Licensing rights!
With an illustration, you’re hiring me as a professional illustrator to make art you want to use for business, sell on t-shirts, or otherwise reproduce, to which you will have exclusive rights. I like to retain the right to use work I’ve done in my own portfolio, but no one else will get to use your illustrations for anything. They’re all yours!
With all my other art, commission or otherwise, the buyer gets the original physical work but has no rights to reproduce it. With illustrations, you usually won’t get an original.
This applies to paintings, drawings, digital art, or combinations of the same. Illustration is just the blanket term I use to describe this type of art for hire.
All right, what are the fees?
There is no one answer to this! I have a $100 minimum, but it depends on what you need the work for, what copyrights you want (work for hire or just a single use), and how complex the work is.
I’ll always quote you ahead of time on the cost, so check your budget so we can start the conversation off on the right foot. I include a limited number of revisions, so I try to make sure I know what you want before I even start drawing.
Logos are a separate kettle of fish and start at $399. A logo requires a lot of strategic thinking and revision, and I always include files suitable for both color and black & white printing, as well as various web uses.
What do you get for your money?
Electronic files!
I’ve got years of experience preparing files for print, so you’ll get print-ready files in high resolution, or possibly even vector graphics if that’s what the job warrants. I’ll also prepare at least one web-ready version of your final art to go in the zip file of deliverables.
If you need me to design things containing your illustration and get those ready for your printer, I’m happy to do so at my hourly rate, and I’m always willing to talk to a vendor directly about getting them the file format they need.
How does billing work?
I will estimate the work involved and get a deposit of half down before I begin, and I won’t deliver any high resolution or final files until you’ve paid your final bill. Delivery is all electronic, usually in the form of a download link to keep from choking your mail server on a big zip file.
I’ll send Paypal invoices for your convenience, and if it’s a larger job, I’ll give you a contract with all the legal hooha about copyrights, revisions, and other such details in it. If you need one of those even for a small job, just let me know; I can easily make one for you.
What sort of things do I illustrate?
All kinds of things!
If you like my style, I’m happy to draw pretty much anything you’ve got the legal rights for me to draw for you. That means you won’t get a drawing of a Ford Taurus if you’re not from Ford, but I’m happy to doodle up a cute little cartoon car or paint you an abstract ideal of a car.
Most of my illustration clients are looking for a person or object that’s either a cartoon, a scribbled abstract expressionist drawing or painting, or a simple bit of vector art. I’ve done some really fun childlike crayon art, actual paintings for book covers or website headers, and of course, logos.
How do we get started?
Email me, of course!
I’ll send back some questions tailored to you that will tease out the little details I need to give you a quote and get your project underway with the best clarity of purpose (and least revisions necessary).
