I was invited by Connie Dunn to write a column for her new online magazine. After much deliberation, I decided to call my column "Mili Fay's Hoots Of Wisdom". I will connect you all to the magazine as soon as it is live, but for now enjoy the article and let me know what you think.
Cheers!
M
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ILLUSTRATION PROCESS
How Much Should I Pay/Charge For Illustration?
Please allow me to introduce myself: I’m Mili Fay,
the creator of Mili Fay Art, artist, illustrator, animator, writer, and
sometimes singer. My vision is to use the gifts I was given to make the world a
better place one artwork at a time. You can find out more about me by visiting www.artofmili.ca, by Googling my name, or by
direct inquiry via social media. When Connie Dunn approached me about writing a
column for Weeping Cherry International
Review, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity. There is always more
I need to learn. However, working as a freelancer since I was fourteen, I
managed to gather a few seeds of wisdom I’m happy to share. Therefore, in this
column I will share with you completely biased, yet Honest Open Operative Tips (HOOTs) of Wisdom. Feel free to correct me, share your opinions, or to contact me with
questions you would like to have answered in the future.
In my debut column, I will try to answer a question
I have seen repeatedly in LinkedIn Groups regarding illustration. Before I do
so, let me share with you some relevant personal experience.
After deciding that I prefer drawing to animating
on a computer, I attempted to break into the illustration field. As a naïve graduate
I expected prospective employers to treat me as a professional. I was confident,
because I graduated at the top of my class, capable of scaling every barrier. However,
I soon realised that illustration is a vicious money-crunching business like
any other. My skills mattered little, and the only jobs I could find were the
ones offering payment well below minimum wage. I was a young illustrator working
for free or low wages to gain “experience”, only to discover that the
experience I gained was not the “right kind of experience.”
If you are an illustrator, how many times were you
asked to partner up with an unknown author for a chance to illustrate his/her
book for free?
How many times were you approached by non-profit
organizations asking you to volunteer your services?
Once, I was asked to illustrate a “full-colour,
Disney-style” picture book for $500!
What other ridiculous offers have YOU received in
the past?
Upon receiving one of the above
offers, I politely declined them while fuming inside at the other party for
wasting my time. Then one day I stopped fuming, because I suddenly realised
that most of the individuals who were making these offers where not evil
opportunists; they were simply ignorant.
What does an average person know about illustration?
I’m sure that everyone who is not an
artist, or who does not live with an artist, has an image of their grade school
classmate producing a coloured drawing within an hour or two. They may remember
sitting as children and drawing pictures during their spare time; an artistic friend
giving them a drawing of their favourite super-hero; a kid in their class who
created pages and pages of comics during recess. Drawing is fun! Drawing is
easy.
If a child can produce all those
drawings in such a short amount of time, why couldn't an illustrator with years
of professional training create even better pictures faster?
Sadly, the illustration process is
not the same as a child drawing and colouring a picture during play-time.
So, what is this illustration process?
In my experience the illustration
process differs somewhat depending on whether the author and the illustrator
are the same person, partners, or complete strangers. For the purpose of this column
I will tackle the last; I will pretend that I have received a picture book manuscript
and that I’m in charge of getting this book ready for publishing.
*****
Illustration Process: When The Illustrator And The Author Are Complete
Strangers
Step 1: Read The Manuscript And Figure Out The Number Of Illustrations
Needed
As an illustrator, I will first read
the complete manuscript. Then, I will read it again trying to visualise
possible pages. Standard length for a picture book is 24 or 32 pages, because
the signatures
(sections of bound pages that make up the book) tend to come in lengths of 12
or 16 pages. Other than the length of the book, I also need to take into
account the front and back matter of every professionally published book;
i.e. copyright page, blank pages, title page, dedication page... Furthermore, I
know that there are two pages at the beginning and end of the story that will
be single
page illustrations (usually of vertical layout, unless the entire book
is of a landscape format), while the remainder of the book will be made up of two-page
spreads (requiring horizontal layout). For this example, let us say that
our fictitious picture book is 32 pages in length. Let us also assume that the
front matter for the book is a Dedication Page, a Copyright Page, and a Title
Page. The book has no back matter. This means that I am left with 28 pages (32
– 4 = 28). The first and last page are a vertical layout, and the remainder are
two-page spreads. Therefore, I have to create 15 illustrations (2 + (26/2) =
15). I also have to design the cover.
Step 2: Thumbnail Sketches
Thumbnail sketches are tiny notes we
artists make for ourselves. They are not meant for another's eyes, and
therefore they rarely make sense to anyone other than the artist. As I am
reading the manuscript a third time, I will begin creating possible thumbnail
sketches of each illustration. Sometimes I can see exactly what I want, and
sometimes I need to create dozens of these sketches for a single illustration.
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| Thumbnail Sketches for "Dream, Little Dreamer" |
Step 3: Research and Design
After figuring out the number of
illustrations and drawing the thumbnail sketches, I would probably contact the
author. As an illustrator my job is to take the author’s vision, not mine, and
make it better.
After the conversation with the
author, I will begin my research.
Google is probably the greatest
invention for us artists since cavemen figured out how to create paint. Before
Google, artists had to go to libraries, they had to rifle through dozens upon
dozens of stock photos, books, and maybe even film, before they could find the necessary
visual references. Today, I type what I need into Google’s search engine and in
seconds I have relevant visual information spread out before me.
Most illustrators have their own style,
a commercial look that they are known for in the industry. Since I was trained
as an animator, I do not like to keep myself to a single visual style. I
believe that the style/look of the book should reflect the story. Therefore, I
approach each new project with fresh eyes. If a story is dark, I may choose a
blue/purple palette, more angular lines, and high contrasting shadows… If a
story is meant for young children, characters will have simple shapes and
bright colours… For a romantic story, I may use flowing lines with pinks and
purples…
Let's say that the story I am
illustrating is about a girl who visits her friend's homes and discovers each
friend's unique culture. First of all I will need to “cast” my girl. I will
look through several dozen pictures of girls on Google, sketching until I have
a rough design of my heroine.
While designing, I may ask myself the
following questions:
What will my heroine wear? What
culture is she from? Will she have jewellery? A ribbon in her hair? Will she
wear a dress, pants, shorts, or a school uniform?
Then my designing and research
expands.
How many friends will she visit? What
do they look like? What are their homes like? If one of her friends is an
athlete and she is visiting her friend’s room, what furniture, posters, toys,
etc. will she find there?
What do I need to draw to make the
reader feel immersed in each character’s culture?
Researching and designing continues
until I have all the necessary characters, props, and background designs. The
more characters and different settings a book has, the more time it will take
for me to complete my research and design stage of the illustration process.
In the fast-paced publishing industry
Art Director/Editor matches the manuscript to an illustrator’s particular
style. An illustrator rarely gets to speak with the author, he/she communicates
through the Art Director/Editor.
I prefer to communicate with the
author, because the story is ultimately the author’s vision, and the
illustrations are there to support this vision, not the other way around. Therefore,
while researching and designing, I will always keep the author aware of what
I’m working on, and eventually we will create a look that will make both of us
happy, a look that would probably be better than if we have never met at all.
Step 4: Layout
Taking all of the materials collected
so far, I will reread the story again and make more detailed sketches of each
illustration. I will keep in mind the layout of each scene leaving a blank, or
uncluttered, area for the text. Once this is figured out, I will make cleaner
(sketches with a neater line and/or more detail) sketches of each. Then, I will
send these sketches to the Art Director for approval. However, since in this
case I am my own Art Director, I will stop the project for a few days and then
look at what I have with fresh eyes, or I will send the sketches to the author
and see if he/she has some suggestions. It is only after the layout sketches
have been approved that I can begin to illustrate the book.
Step 5: Illustration
To illustrate this part of the
process, I will use the artwork I have created while illustrating a two-page
spread for my book, “Animals In My Hair”. Please note that I usually pick the
scene I am absolutely sure of and work on that illustration first; I never
illustrate in order.
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| This is the original thumbnail sketch for the illustration. |
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| This is a thumbnail sketch I created when I have decided to make the numbers reflect the habitat. |
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| This is a rough sketch where I'm trying to figure out the composition. |
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| This is the final rough layout sketch. |
Part I: Drawing 1
Once I had the final layout for the
illustration of the owls, I began to draw. I redrew the image in a larger size,
working out placements and adding some details.
Part II: Scan 1 and Size 1
I scanned the drawing, and made sure
that it fit the printing ratio (For example, if the printed image is to be 4” x
6”, I can choose to draw it at 8” x 12”, or any multiple of the 2:3 ratio. The
more details that the drawing has, the larger my image has to be. If I was
working digitally, I would keep the size slightly bigger than the print
size and at least 600 ppi. I will never draw the image smaller than the
print size, because to fit the print size I would digitally have to upscale the
image, resulting in thicker, messier lines. It is better to draw your images
bigger than the print size if you can, because scaling down will make your
lines look neater and finer.). For “Animals In My Hair” the print size of a
two-page spread is 18” x 12”. To this I added the extra ¼” bleed on the outside,
making the actual image to be printed 18.5” x 12.5”. However, at this stage I
sized the image to fit the 14” x 17” layout paper I used for drawing then
printed the image.
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| Part I and Part II has been completed. |
Part III: Drawing 2
Using a light table, I traced the
image onto a clean sheet of layout paper, making improvements and adding more
details as I drew. (For this step I usually use a blue col-erase pencil.)
Part IV: Clean-Up
Once I was satisfied with the blue-pencil
drawing I traced over the lines I need with a pen, continually improving and
adding details to the image. (I usually use a black pen.)
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| Part III and Part IV. In this case I have used the purple col-erase pencil and have cleaned-up with a blue pen. |
Part V: Scan 2 and Size 2
I scanned the pen-traced drawing and
then sized it to fit my painting medium (in this case an 11” x 14” rag drawing
paper), maintaining the printing ratio. If I had a larger light table and scanner,
I would create final paintings to fit the scanner's size. However in my case
the 18.5” x 12.5” two-page spread had to be divided in two, so that in the end
I ended up with two printouts of approximately 10” x 13.3” (the combined two-page
spread now being 20” x 13.3”, slightly bigger than print size, which is how I
like to work).
Part VI: Tracing, Clean-up 2, Final
Tracing
On another layout paper, I carefully
traced every line of the print, so that the divided illustration matched as
closely as possible at the dividing edge. Then I cleaned-up the drawing
again, before placing it under a blank rag drawing paper and tracing the final
image with a crow-quill dip pen and acrylic ink.
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| Part V and Part VI. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the clean ink line. |
Part VII: Painting
I took my final traced drawing, stuck
it to the board with painter’s tape (dark green), and then began to paint. As
you can see, I have used watercolour. Painting a full-colour illustration such
as the owls took about a week.
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| I paint in thin layers, allowing the pigment to settle to the bottom of the tray and painting with the coloured water that is left on top. You can see some of the clean ink line in this image. |
Part VIII: Clean-up 3
Because the paint covered the
original ink line, I had to go back and re-ink the entire illustration. At the
very end I added highlights with opaque white paint.
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| Finished Painting |
Part IX: Scan 3
Once the painting was dry, I scanned
it at 300 ppi (600 ppi is better, but my computer was too old to process that
many MBs).
Part X: Image Editing
For "Animals In My Hair" I
had access to Photoshop CS5. I opened the two image scans in the program and
attached them together. It did not matter how careful I was while tracing and painting,
the two divided images of any illustration never lined up perfectly. I
therefore used the Clone-Stamp Tool to fix the illustration.
Part XI: Add text and Size 3
Once the image was perfect, I used
the Type Tool to add text. I sized the image, making sure to leave room for the
outside bleed and the inner seam, so after the text was added the image was
ready to be printed. I saved the image in RGB Mode for digital purposes (sans outside
bleed), and also in CMYK Mode which I then sent to my printer in PDF format.
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| Final Illustration in RGB Mode |
Step 6: Repeat Step 5 until every illustration is done, including the
Cover.
*****
I have never had a job where the work
went according to plan. I had clients making changes resulting in delays. I had
equipment dying and having to rework from a certain saved point. I had a glob
of ink fall onto my illustration after I have spent hours painting it. I got
sick. I had family emergencies... Life happens causing delays and deadlines to
be pushed back.
As you can see, illustrating a book
is far different than being a child drawing pictures in your spare time. It is
a real job that requires more than artistic skills.
So, what do you think an illustrator
should be paid to illustrate a picture book?
How can an employer figure out a fair wage before they approach an
illustrator for a job?
There are two main factors that
determine the price of an illustration job (or any creative job): Time and
Quality.
I was shown a great diagram a while
back that illustrates this concept, and it went something like this:
An employer can pick any of the two
sets. Picking all three sets is usually impossible, because anyone who produces
quality work quickly will not be cheap. If someone agrees, an employer can be
sure that their work will be of only acceptable, not competitive quality, or that
this person is too naïve to know any better. In the last case, the employer
managed to take unscrupulous advantage of the employee. Congratulations!
There is another factor that
determines the price, and that is fame. The more famous an artist is, the more
expensive his/her time will be. To get the best price for the best work, a
truly visionary employer will find these talented artists before they have
managed to make a name for themselves and use them until they become famous, or
have been drained of all creativity.
For those employers who do not support
slavery, here is a way they can calculate a fair wage for an illustrator. Illustrators
when you are accepting a wage, please be aware of these factors.
According to livingin-canada.com the
average wage for someone working as an illustrator in Toronto, Ontario is CND$26.25.
An employee of greater skill will cost more, and employee of lesser skill may
accept less.
As an employer, will you offer your
employee benefits? Freelancers have to pay for their own benefits, so if you
are planning to offer the position to a freelancer, make sure you add the
adequate amount to the hourly wage.
Will your employee be working at a
set work schedule, or will he/she have to work overtime? Add on the cost.
Is your deadline flexible? Can the
employee work on your project in his/her spare time? You may be able to
negotiate for less money.
Once you have an hourly rate you feel
is acceptable, you can calculate the set fee for a particular project. Consider
the illustration process I have shared with you, determine how many hours it will
take to complete the said project, and multiply. However, always have an extra
third of the calculated fee available in case of delays and unexpected changes.
This will give you the budget with which you can approach your prospective
illustrator.
Using our 32 page picture book as an
example, let’s say that each illustration takes a week to illustrate. We have
15 illustrations plus the cover; 16 illustrations in total. Therefore, the
project will take 16 weeks to illustrate. In my animation studies I have read that
the time it takes for designers to design the movie, equals the production of
the movie. Following this logic we will add on 16 more weeks, making the total
time of the project equal 32 weeks. An average work week is about 40 hours.
Therefore, the project will be 1280 hours long. Let’s say our fair wage is
$30/h. This particular book will therefore cost $38 400. Add on a third for
unforeseen expenses, and you should have an available budget of $51 200 for
this one book.
HOOTs of Wisdom
As an employer, what can you do to make your illustrator’s job easier,
which will result in you saving more money?
Research. There is no need for the illustrator to do all the research. Search
Google Images yourself until you have a complete vision for your illustrations.
Early in my illustration career I have illustrated for a non-profit French
language school. The employer did not have much of a budget, but we negotiated
free lessons, and he had pages and pages of printouts of what he envisioned for
each illustration. As a result I knew exactly what he wanted, and was able to
produce each illustration faster.
Trust. Trust your illustrator. You have hired him/her to illustrate for you
because you admire his/her skills. Therefore, do not try to micro-manage every
illustration. Do not allow an illustration to progress beyond the sketching
stage and then ask for revisions.
Details? How detailed do the illustrations have to be? Do they need to be in
colour? Do you need a scene involving many characters? Do you need the
background? The more an illustrator has to draw, the more time it will take
him/her to do so. In animation, we were taught early on about line
mileage; the more lines your character has, the more time it will take
for an animator to animate the character, resulting in greater expense. Also
the more colours a character has, the longer it takes for the painter to colour
the character. The same principles apply to illustration. Consider the job. Do
you really need those “Disney-style, full-colour” illustrations, or can your
story be told with simple appealing designs such as Ruth Ohi creates?
Be honest. Do not try to trick your illustrator. If you have a low budget, ask
your illustrator what he/she can do with the illustrations to make the work fit
the budget.
*****
There you have it; my first HOOTs of
Wisdom. I hope that you have enjoyed reading this column. If you have any
questions, suggestions, or complements, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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Mili Fay, a Toronto-based artist, classical animator, illustrator, writer, and singer, is an award winning graduate of Sheridan College and Art Instruction Schools. In November of 2011 she created Mili Fay Art determined to support the world one artwork at a time.
Her latest published work is Animals In My Hair; a story about a boy who goes for his first haircut only to find endangered animals falling out of his hair. Presented at INSPIRE! Toronto International Book Fair (November 14, 2014) out of 700+ submissions, Animals In My Hair, is the world’s first ever Artwork Book; a new type of picture book that seamlessly combines the best features of fine art, picture books, activity books, and educational books.
In accordance with Mili Fay Art’s vision, 30% of all profits from Animals In My Hair book and merchandise will be donated to wildlife conservation.
Join Mili Fay Art Fan Club to stay in touch with Mili Fay and to be the first to find out of her upcoming books and artworks.
Mili Fay Art: “Together we support the world one artwork at a time.”
