Lesson 1: Introduction

Hello! I earned a BFA in painting years ago and spend most of my time working in an art museum and parenting, but I wake up at least an hour early every day to draw in a studio I set up for myself and am very dedicated to a path forward in illustration. I have a decent sized body of work and a fairly consistent style and quality, but I have not yet worked with a professional client. I think I am in between the growth and bloom stage. Here is my website: https://kristin-taylor-illustrates.com/ and an example of a recent illustration from a series of recipe cards I am making right now.

Lesson 2: How to identify your market and niche

I am a B2C artist - I have made several custom drawings and enjoy having creative freedom. My dream is to illustrate childrens books, book covers, and to create illustrations for editorials in magazines (like the little doodles in NY Times and the New Yorker). 

Lesson 3: Pricing

1. 3 small portrait illustrations for a mid-size regional magazine: It depends on how elaborate they wan tthe illustrations and how large the print run is of the magazine, but I would propose $600 - $800 [with a base fee of 8 billable hours at $75 - $100 per hour). I would propose $800 and have room for negotiation. 

Lesson 4: Building Your Portfolio

I have a website and this lesson helped me look at it from the perspective of someone who might hire me. I added my email address to the contact page and at the bottom of every page.

Lesson 6: Cold Pitch

Gail Bichler, Design Director, New York Times Magazine

bichler@nytimes.com

Dear Gail,

I am a freelance illustrator. Because I read every issue of the New York Times Magazine and love the illustrations incorporated into the articles, I decided to reach out and express my interest in working with you should you think I could be a good fit for a future project. I have attached a few examples of my work and the rest of my portfolio can be seen here: https://kristin-taylor-illustrates.com/.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Kristin Taylor

 

Lesson 8:

Lesson 8

Assignment: Reflection Exercise 

-Imagine your ideal client project. Who are you working with? What are you making? What is the assignment?

My ideal client is a magazine who has hired me to make creative illustrations to support the articles, but not realistically illustrate them. For example, the projects Liliana Fink does for the New Yorker. I am hired because of my drawing style, humor, and whimsy. 

-Now, imagine that you are the client. What are your goals? Why have you chosen you as an artist? Biggest concerns? How can the artist proactively address these concerns?

I am looking for something original and eye catching. I am not looking for full color illustration of real life objects or people, but instead for simple line drawings that convey that person, place, or thing creatively. My biggest concern is working with someone who has not yet had a big client. The artist can proactively address these concerns by setting early deadlines and hitting each deadline on or before that date. The artist can communicate clearly and efficiently without sending a lot of questions that could be answered by them doing their own research or with more experience (i.e. how to resize a file to their standards, how they would like to be invoiced, etc). 

-Share your thoughts and reflections in your class project.

This is an interesting challenge! It helps me think ahead as to why someone might be nervous to hire someone with no experience working with clients.

Assignment 9: Create a Contract

I made a contract using the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines templates in the back of the book.

Assignment 10: Create an Invoice