#and my mutual just happened to have a blog full of potentially inspirational quotes for a great video game that uses lineless art so...

[oblivious-aro]

Comic of one of @cosmos-dot-semicolon's Dicey Dungeons fanfiction snippets.

(Compiled into single image under cut)

[mazjpeginfo]

14. AOI LECTURE.

Notes from the AOI lecture (a.k.a our shining light, illustration guru) under the read more. 

Illustration – AOI Member – Robert Sea-Heng (look at his website).

-       Freelance Illustrators.

-       Students.

-       Colleges.

-       Agents.

-       Collectives.

-       Commissioners.

 AOI is pushing for the right rights and supporting illustrators.

 Objectives;

-       To be a voice for illustrators and provide support and advice to their members at every stage of their careers.

-       Create awareness, advance and protect illustrator’s rights.

-       Encourage professional and ethical standards within the industry.

-       Promote and improve the standing of illustration as a profession.

 Who’s going to see your artwork and how? Nothing should be holding you back from creating your own website. Use cargo if you don’t have it. Iwantmyname.com. Your website is how you will visually communicate with your clients who you want to be.

Make sure your website works on ipad and tablets; more people in the industry are using these methods.

Nate Kitch (look at his website). Website; show work, show name, show email address. Simple. Don’t put contact forms on your website.

Collectives.

Peepshow is an example.

 Starting a collective is a good way to support each other after uni and helping each other get work. Be a collective to get work together and be employed; not just displaying your work.

Blogs/social media.

Don’t do something if you don’t want to; it’s better to not have something than to do it badly. 

-       Keep updated regularly.

-       Keep creative but professional – separate blog/social medial are separate from work/business.

-       Try not to be too inspired by current trends or by your contemporaries.

 Be doing personal work until the day you die. A good personal project is just as good as commission work. Do them, do them, do them.

Your contemporaries are successful because they’ve been creating their own nice; you need to do this too. Don’t copy.

John Burgerman; toddler project is successful person project.

Emma Block. 

Social media is free advertising and it’s all the advertising you need.

Twitter; personally recommend twitter and Instagram. Twitter is your creative voice. Follow all the art directors you love; follow all the companies you love. You can add your voice and illustrations to trends with hashtags. All the design studios and creators and art directors are on twitter. Follow them and see what they’re talking about; get involved.

 Facebook; have a separate facebook for your illustration than your personal. Not many commissions come through facebook.

 Twitter and Instagram is where commissioners will look at you. Be aware of the content you’re putting out. Don’t go off and spout shit/drag your clients. It’s unprofessional. Be an adult, count to ten. The law is there to protect you and that’s what you should fall back on.

BE ON INSTAGRAM.

-       Illustrator’s instagrams will be more up to date than their websites.

-       Look at how AOI members are using their instagrams.

-       You can curate the way your Instagram works.

-       Look at marcmartinillo.

-       You should be drawing and being creative every day.

-       The photos you upload to your Instagram add to your BRAND. It’s how you communicate yourself to others visually.

 Have your website and social media and try get your work in as many places as possible. There’s loads of agencies and directors on beehance. You have to have a digital presence.

Self-promotion – Mailers.

If you sit and wait, it’s not going to happen. You have to reach out and go places. To get people to contact you, you can contact them first.

 Research your clients and who you want to work for. Drop ‘dear sir, madam, whoever this may concern’. Use the person’s name you want to work with and spell it correctly. Figure out who you want to work for. Select work from your portfolio that is appropriate for them.

 Send things in the post, make them postcards, A5 cards. Send them out.

 If you want to catch a good client, you must have good bait.

 Follow up your emails with another email.

 Everyone loves getting stuff through the post. Your work will get put up on a pinboard.

Accounts.

Half of your business as an illustrator IS business.

An illustrator has to be a book keeper for their own registered business.

-       Register for Income Tax with 3 months of starting.

-       Keep up to date Accounts.

-       Retain all claimable receipts.

-       Keep paperwork involved with every job.

Every little helps as an illustrator.

 Copyright.

Copyright = the right to copy.

-       Property Right that protects any work by a “creator”.

-       It lasts for 70 years after the creator’s death.

-       It does not require registration or a © symbol to exist.

Never give away copyrights be the hour or day.

In America it’s better if you register your illustration with clients. The Copy Right law is still there, but you’ll have more weight behind you if you pay for this thing.

No Copyright in an idea or a style.

Copying a “substantial” part of a work infringes Copyright. It is a test of quality not quantity.

Copying one key image from the work, no matter the size could be copyright infringement.

 If you’re copying a photograph, that photograph will have copyright. As fanart and social media fodder, it’s chill – but don’t sell it.

Loads of followers does not equal making loads of money.

Don’t copy images directly, that infringes their copyright.

If you start financially benefiting from copied photographs, you will run into trouble.

You have the skills to create a totally new image.

Copyright can be ASSIGNED by you to a client. We strongly advise you don’t do that.

The reason we say don’t do a copyright assignment is because the client will never have the right money to do it. The fee attach should be in the £1, 000’s mark. You lose control of the image. You can’t include it in your portfolio. They can sell it to anyone. All your rights are going away.

Say “I won’t assign my copyrights; however, I will license my copyright as is the industry standard.”

There is fuck all reason to do that job if your client isn’t going to pay you correctly. 

Moral Rights.

Right of paternity – the right to be identified as the creator of a work.

Right of Integrity – The right for your work to not be subjected to any derogatory treatment. The right to not have works falsely attributed to you.

Moral Rights are automatic but can be waived.

Rights – online.

-       Protect your work online so that you can always be identified as the author.

-       Low resolution files (72dpi) and name as part of file name.

-       Use © symbol on every page/blog/social media.

-       Read Terms and Conditions of Website/Social Media image use/filenames – ‘Orphan Works’ are easily appropriated online.

Once you sign up for some social media, a worldwide, nonexclusive, will have a license to your work forever and ever and ever.

Contracts can be written (formal) or verbal (informal).

No matter the size of the commission or client, accept the commission in writing every time, before you start any work.

As a business yourself, just make your agreement fair. You are two equal parties.

 This doesn’t need to be drawn up by a lawyer or full of legal jargon:

WHO is going to do WHAT by WHEN and for HOW MUCH.

 To…. Is the person you are talking to directly.

When you’re doing a commission, get a nice, clean brief off them. If they don’t know what they want, ask more questions. Give them three roughs maximum, let them choose and offer alterations, and then move forward with that one final design. If they want any other additions, make them pay for extras.

 You need to know who the end user is.

Contracts.

 What they do:

-       Make an agreement binding.

-       Gives clarity and certainity – highlight points not agreed.

-       Demonstrate professionalism and confidence.

-       Evidence for any disputes – avoid arguments later on.

 Look out for:

-       Copyright Assignment, Moral Rights Waiver, Irrevocable Licenses.

 Crucial Clauses:

-       Termination, Cancellation, Rejection, Sub-Licensing.

 Pricing – The Essentials.

DO NOT WORK FOR FREE.

Working for free undermines the industry, your future career and income potential.

Understand your worth to the client; it’s your illustration helping the them; it’s your illustration that is making their thing successful.

QUOTE ACCURATELY.

Accurate pricing and licensing is mutually beneficial to both client and illustrator.

You have the right to ask more questions of your client in order to make the right license.

Illustrators don’t work on a day fee.

Bigger clients may have non-disclosure agreement.

 “I’m very happy to license my illustration, which is industry standard, once I have more information.”

Pricing – Licensing.

 A license is separate to selling an original artwork or a print, no rights transfer and no licence is granted for such a transaction.

 If they want a longer license, they just have to pay a higher fee and you can relicense it.

Approach Client for the information if they have not already provided it. Do not quote without the information, or provide ball-park figures.

Demonstrates professionalism.

Demonstrates accuracy and actual market value.

Makes client consider ACTUAL USES as opposed to POTENTIAL USAGE.

Allows for additional negotiations and fees for additional usages.

Pricing – Advertising.

 Printing digital is too vague; could be a website, a billboard, a leaflet.

 Ask questions – ask specifically what a client wants it for.

 Graduates are open to exploitation; people will take advantage of you.

 Know what fee you should have; when they ask for it, they will pay whatever you say (if they’re a big brand).

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

 Repeat clients are very important to illustrators.

Advertising.

 Above the line advertising –

Publicity material appearing within paid space advertising.

The most amount of money is this one. ‘Out of home’ stuff is where more people see it.

Print – Magazine/Newspaper Adverts, Posters, Billboards etc ‘Out of Home’.

Below the line advertising –

Publicity material that is not paid space advertising. Print – fliers, direct mailing, internal documents.

Digital – Client’s website/Social Media, Newsletters

Pricing – Editorial. Clients: Consumer Magazines, Trade Magazines, Newspapers, Blogs Size of Client is based on circulation – abc.ork.uk

Usage: Print, Print & Digital, Digital Only - cover, spread, full page, half page, spot.

Territory: can vary, UK generally

Duration: Length of Issue – 1 Month, single usage.

Free Newspaper – Large Circulation UK Licence, Single Usage for Interior Article: 350-400 per illustration

 Pricing – Packaging.

These are high risk clients. Make sure you are charging the right fee and have everything firmly in place so you don’t get screwed over.

Packaging licensing are one year for special addition and three/five years for standard.

Large UK Supermarket; £400-£450 per illustration (spot coverage) Large drinks brand: £2750-£30000

Pricing – Buyouts.

 Generally good for illustrators.

 Clients can mean copyright assignments by the term ‘buyout’.

 Always confirm it is a time specific ‘licence’ not an assignment:

 Duration of Licence.

1 year – 300 is the original fee.

2 years – 60-70% of the original fee.

3 years – 2x original fee

5 years – 3x original fee

10 years – 5x original fee

Re-licensing: Extending exactly same licence – 60-70% of original fee for 1 year later.

 When fees start to look mental – usually past the 3x – this is when you should be looking at fee you’d accept and not necessarily go by this formula. Think of what the client can afford on their budget.

Additional fees.

 Creation (origination) fees:

client speculative work (presentation licence) visualisation (presentation licence)

 All illustration should be licensed, day rates only apply to the following: Day rate for live drawing/visualisation - £400 - £700 depending on client.

Additional Fees: Additional amends (more than 3 rounds) - your fee includes up to three minor revisions.

Murals; murals should have a license and set fee. If they want you to come and paint the illustration, that should be an additional day fee.

AOI Affiliated Student Membership.

-       Access to the members only section Pricing Survey, Articles, Interviews, Advice and Information

-       Dedicated Support led email and phone – pricing, ethics, contracts and professional practice.

 Student membership.

 Discounts on Publications and Events.

Portfolio Consultations with Fig Taylor.

Member News – Profiles Member’s commissions, exhibitions and projects to £50, 000 + followers.

Just £55 – same benefits as £160 membership.

Receive the all new Varoom Magazine twice a year.

Your membership pays for itself.

@theaoi

 Know your worth as an illustrator.

 Research the companies that are championing freelance illustrators right now.

 AFTER Q&A.

A1; If work published on a client’s website can be viewed worldwide, it is a worldwide licence.

A2; Promotion should never be in lew of payment.

A3; You do not have to pay for copyright, you can use the © free of charge.

A4; Copy right on collage; even if you just use someone’s eye out of a newspaper, is it copyright infringement. Copyright ends – if it’s been 70 years after the person has died. Look at copyright free images. You can create your own collage images; take photos and create your own photostock. Use as much of your own work as possible. Or use older photographs.

Nine times out of ten no one will say anything to you, just be aware – like the Obama ‘Hope’ poster. More people are aware of their rights.

A5;If someone features your work as means of promotion, they won’t pay you. Unless it’s your feature on the cover, then they should pay you.

A6; Agents; 15-20% of AOI members have agents. Agents can and will exploit students. An agent should have a contract – if they don’t, run away. 15% literary agent. 35% for bigger (?). You don’t need an agent to be a successful illustrator. Most illustrators who benefit from agents were already successful before getting one. Be very cautious.

There a low brow agents who screw over illustrators taking up to 70% of illustrator’s pay.

You should have a relationship with your agent; be talking all the time. Nothing should be agreed before you understand something.

Self-promotion books should always be seen as HIGH RISK.

Q7; Someone should never offer you a part of their business; it should always be up front pay for your commission. Have all your bases covered.

Q8; Murals; licence the illustration to a client – they are either temporary or permanent licences. Usually they are permanent. The fee is based on it being interior or exterior and the size of it. Painting the mural would be a day fee on top of that original payment.

Q9; For price of your prints; take into consideration your time, the material costs, and the value the illustration has to you. It’s totally up to you. Don’t ever sell a big print for less than £50.

Newsletters; bikini lists, mail chimp are ones you can use. Pick and choose who you want to send these newsletters to.

Anyone who has contacted you, build up your own client list.