5 Ways to Get the Most out of Your Illustrator
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There’s nothing quite like seeing the vision of your book come to life. But when a book illustrator understands your project and is well suited to your style, it’s an even more magical experience. To get the results you’re looking for, you not only need to pick the right illustrator, but manage that relationship effectively.
If you decide to hire a book illustrator on your own, you’ll be required to coordinate several elements like the scope of the project and services rendered, rates, revisions, file requirements, timeline, and contracts.
We at FriesenPress manage the illustration process for our authors, and as such have some advice to guide you on the right track and avoid unnecessary mistakes that could otherwise hamper you in your publishing journey. We’ve distilled that advice into a list of the top five ways you can ensure you get the most out of your chosen illustrator:
1. Determine (and communicate) your needs
The first thing you should do before you get started with hiring an illustrator is determine all the services you need them to provide, and how you’ll use that artwork. This includes determining the number of illustrations you need, the number of unique characters in your story, technical specifications, where the illustrations will be placed (cover and/or interior), and whether they will be in colour or black & white. When you have a comprehensive understanding of what you’ll need to complete your book, you can more effectively convey your needs to an illustrator.
It’s one thing to develop your vision, and another thing entirely to articulate it to someone and have them fully understand it. When you’re conferring with your illustrator about the visuals you’re looking for, it can be a challenge with even the most precise written statement or language in lengthy discussions, so to best clarify your vision be sure to also include reference images. The more clearly you can communicate your intentions the better off you’ll be. If your illustrator has a core understanding of the tone and style for the illustrations, they can also contribute with adjustments or perspectives that align with your vision — ones you might not have even considered. Allow them to help you find what works best for your project.
Of course, no method of communication is perfect. So, you should anticipate the need for varying degrees of revisions within the scope of your project — it’s something that all authors can expect as a normal part of the process.
At FriesenPress, you’ll work directly with a publishing specialist who will help you clarify your vision and collect your materials into a streamlined package for your illustrator to work from. Should you have additional revision requests, or if the illustrator has questions, your publishing specialist will be your point person to attend to all your needs throughout the creative process.
2. Define timeline and expectations in writing
After you’ve outlined what you need your illustrator to create, be sure to discuss a reasonable timeline for them to finish the artwork based on their scheduled workload. The length of the project is dependent on a number of factors from the designer’s artistic medium, the level of detail, number of illustrations, and whether they are a full- or part-time freelancer.
Some illustrators’ rates will depend on if your timeline requires rush overages or incurs late penalties. The artistic process operates on its own elusive schedule, and by pushing an artist into a too demanding workload you can negatively impact the quality of the work they complete.
We also encourage authors to write up a contract with the illustrator to press for certain expectations to be met. Not only that, but you’ll want to avoid any issues in the future from a lack of documentation as you’ll be reproducing their illustrations in high numbers. Self-published authors are entrepreneurs, and your book is the basis of the business. To protect your product, you’ll want some kind of agreement in writing to lay out the terms. You may wish to hire a lawyer to develop the contract for you.
When establishing the agreement, you should also include the potential for merchandising, expanding the use of the artwork into a larger series of books, whether it can be used for promotions, or shared on social media.
3. Determine and convey the proper book specifications
When you’ve reached the point where you’re happy with your final illustrations, your artist will send you the finished files (which should include full bleed margin and no watermarks) in a format based on the layout software and specifications you requested. Most book designers do their work using a program called Adobe InDesign, which means compatible files like PSD and AI will work best, but it’s also possible to use non-layered files in high-resolution CMYK like TIFF and JPG.
It’s important to recognize that some printers have limits on the levels of colour saturation, and that you’ll need to ensure lighter colours and any textures print clearly, since they can be diffused once the ink hits the paper. Book paper typically has its own texture, which is often a matte finish unless you pay an additional fee for a coated or glossy interior.
Trim size and page orientation should also be carefully noted. If there’s a combination of illustrations — sometimes portrait and other times landscape — the book designer can end up needing to crop necessary parts of the image or leaving large gaps on the page. While this will result in an unprofessional layout, if the source files aren’t set up properly, they may not have the option to create something more uniform and polished.
The sooner you can provide your book’s specifications to the illustrator the easier it is to avoid issues that can result in redraws or colour shifts. Our illustrations process ensures that your illustrator has precisely the information they need at the right time to create artwork that fits perfectly with your book.
4. Determine your preferred model of compensation
As with any professional service you’ll seek out to help complete your book, illustrations are rendered by trained experts, and as such you can expect them to be compensated for their expertise.
The most common forms of compensation for freelance illustrators are either flat rate or a percentage of the profit. A flat rate is a predetermined amount paid upfront that covers the entirety of the project (excluding any changes added on later). In the event that you exceed the original scope, you should have established what overages may be required for additional work.
The percentage-of-profits model simply means that you’ll compensate the illustrator based on an agreed upon fraction of each sale, which could last indefinitely or until a certain amount is reached. Choosing this method brings with it much more risk for both parties than a simple flat rate, as there are ongoing payments you must manage. As a result, you may have to prove your earnings to demonstrate the artist is receiving their correct portion of the sales. If sales are lower or slower than anticipated, the artist may not receive adequate compensation, so this eventuality should be addressed in your agreement.
There are pros and cons to both models, and sometimes a combination can be implemented (like a lower flat rate with additional royalties should sales exceed X profits or X number of copies sold). You’ll need to discuss these preferences with your illustrator, and also consider what works best for your fledgeling business. Would you rather invest a lump sum and close the account, or would you rather manage the divvying up of profits down the road on an ongoing basis?
At FriesenPress, our contract operates on a flat rate. This ensures that with the transfer of economic copyright on the finished files, your investment is completed. While it’s possible for you to purchase additional illustrations, higher levels of detail, or revisions beyond your initial package (especially if you love their work and want more!), we’ll manage the changes in illustrator’s compensation needed so that the full completed artwork is covered under your terms of service.
5. Review their progress at check-in points
While the artwork creation is underway, be sure to arrange for check-in points to review the illustrator’s progress. It’s much easier for your illustrator to make slight adjustments to a design than it is to start all over again with a clean canvas. There is a fine balance between having too many check-ins that impede the artistic flow and too few that leave you out of the process until it’s too late. Our recommendation is to have at least two check-ins: one after the first pencil sketches and another with the colours added.
At FriesenPress, our illustrations process involves a total of four check-in points: pencil sketches, and their revisions, then colour sketches, and their revisions. These stages are provided in a lower resolution PDF bundle (rather than the final file format) to operate quickly and for ease of review. This makes it easier for our authors to give their feedback and for illustrators to implement it so nothing gets missed.
Skilled illustrators have much to offer beyond just the obvious artistic merit, as their professional insights will help fulfill and nurture your vision. The only way they can do that is through clear communication and providing the proper specifications. If you want to make the most out of your partnership with an illustrator, you must ensure that you provide everything they need so that they can give you everything you need to publish a great book.
