Aileen Holmes

Here’s more notes from ICON 6, the illustration conference. I took notes from the most information-packed talks. It was harder to take notes from the more experiential talks by Melinda Beck, Gary Taxali, Wayne White and Todd Oldham. I apologize I don’t have much to say about their talks but I highly recommend you check out their work! Their personalities, talent and star quality are very inspirational.

“It Can Be Done: BDM, United Airlines, and a Campaign the Took Wing” Barrie D’Rozario Murphy

• Connect to brands through storytelling
• To do great work, you need a great client
• Great work is made by cutting through the clutter and cliches
• Illustrators are found through reps, promo snail mail, email marketing, annuals, children’s books, personal blogs, and through illustrators recommending their friends
• When contacting through promotional material, add a personal note to engage
• The process of creating work:
• artists will first be contacted via email with a list of concepts to interpret
• artists create 6, 8 or 10 line sketches
• they pay a sketch fee
• doesn’t matter if the sketches are rough or finished-looking, they’re looking for ideas
• once the sketches are narrowed down, they put headlines to ‘em
• they put together illustrator sheets that combine sketches with examples of illustrator’s previous work that’s finished to give the clients the gist of what the finished product will be

“Au Currant: Two with Passion for Fashion” Bil Donovan

• studied illustration, graphics, digital arts, color, and composition. went back to school to further his studies
• in fashion illustration, you work with an elongated figure and focus on the fluidity of line
• there’s further opportunities in licensing, animation, and package design
• fashion illustration expands to become fashion lifestyle illustration: travel, entertainment and leisure
• started out with collage and pastels. worked in Italy: Italian Vogue, Marie Claire, Lancome
• in fashion illustration background defines the figure and creates the narrative
• not only does the figure have to chic, so does the background
• use diagonals for movement
• the luxury market values excellence in every nuance of experience
• the beauty industry values movement and use of the flare line
• the character always has to be going somewhere
• elegance is portrayed with the use of perspective: bird’s eye, view from beneath of the perfume bottle: heroic
• use photoshop minimally
• in dining selectivity is important. don’t draw every detail. less is more.
• reportage (drawing on site) is fun
• you can use fashion illustration in department store signage. also music and publishing
• it’s helpful to know textiles. work with scale, contrast sharply, exaggerate
• use selectivity to get in touch with the essence
• you can draw on set, for special events, do portraits
• use fashion illustration for branding, do in house notecards and invitations
• passion, versatility, evolve

John Jay Cabuay

• illustrated for CosmoGirl, Paper Mag Screaming Mimis ads, Japan Vogue
• first focused on the figure and situations
• then focused on the environment and got more work based environments
• did the WWD Nautica for Obama illustration
• in France erotic comic books are huge

“Cracking the Code: Making Sense of Contracts” Kathryn Adams

• write your own contracts and keep them simple and straightforward
• clients might not be educated
• first rights: right to be the first user for one time
• never use the phrase “all rights”
• you can control rights to your work
• once you create the work you own the copyright inherently and maintain authorship, ownership and control the rights + usage
• when selling usage specify the time and place
• full buyout: transfer of all usage rights (ownership to buyer)
• make sure you retain authorship so it’s OK to put works on your site for promotional purposes
• it’s OK to have a repeating motif in the context of a larger image. but clients might have a problem with you using a character they paid for usage for in other works
• limited buyout: when the client doesn’t want or can’t afford a full buyout. it’s for a specific industry
• residual rights: rights the client hasn’t paid for remain yours
• if you see your work ending up somewhere the client hasn’t paid for, you say “here’s what you owe me for the additional usage”
• work for hire (wfh): transfer of ownership and authorship to buyer. intended for in-house. grants transfer rights and derivatives are OK
• in perpetuity: means forever
• moral rights: to make sure you maintain the integrity of the creation and it isn’t changed into something you don’t morally agree with
• waive: give up
• derivative rights: image based on already existing piece. don’t give ‘em away. give them a fixed image
• sublicensing rights: right of buyer to sell to 3rd parties
• non-exclusive rights or use authorizes right to license residual rights (caution: client can relicense too!)

“Because You’re Worth It: Price Negotiation” Maria Piscipo

1. what do you charge? when you hear this question, the thing to do is change the client’s perception of value

• you’ll be tempted to answer too quickly. say you will get back to them
• change the question from “what do you charge?” to “what does it cost?” don’t ever personalize price
• it’s not “I charge” or “I want” it’s “it costs…”

2. what is the project budget?

• they might not want to say but there’s always a budget
• if you ask the project budget there might be money available but it might be called something else
• if you do not ask, the answer is no

3. what will be the deciding hiring criteria? who else is giving a proposal?

• finding out who else is giving a proposal will determine if the client is looking for price or value. if it’s a comparative or competitive bid. also if the grandson in school or a famous person is proposing, that gives you an idea of the mindset of the client
• if they come in with a low bid, you can ask how can the project be done for less money?
• what will the client get when they pay less?
• cost has different aspects: time, energy, attention, prestige, etc
• what will it cost to pay less? do they want to know now or be surprised later? (not recommended)
• it’s not always about money. time, energy and attention to fix a lower cost work will make the project higher in cost later

4. get and give information: get a complete and thorough job description

• never agree to less money without negotiation of some consideration (change to the job description)
• “from what you described, it would cost $$$. how does that fit your budget?”
• be careful not to ask closed questions
• clients will respond to what you say and how you behave, not how you feel

5. negotiations

• if it fits go to #7 and put it in writing
• if not a fit, walk away or negotiate
• “let’s see how it can be done for that price”
• so, why not drop your price? because you’ll never get paid what you’re worth, they’ll tell others

6. considerations

• what does the client value?
• to pay less they can pay for less usage
• what do you value? to pay less, the client can give more time, credit, better payment terms, prints/samples

7. put it in value

• prove your value. package your proposal to help sell it to your client
• include an estimate confirmation, cover letter discussing benefits of working with you, samples of work done related to the project
• this tells the client “yes, this is what it costa but LOOK at what you get!”

Magnet Reps:

• random fact: they get 6-10 inquiries a day and only took on 4 new illustrators last year

“Euro Smash: Illustration Across the Pond” Rod Hunt

• does a huge amount of self-promotion
• to build a brand you need to create a visual identity
• build your profile by being an expert in interviews
• invest in your career: time, money, and resources
• direct marketing: target clients, sends 1000+ cards every 6 months
• use double sided cards with two illustrations
• have a branded envelope
• get a portfolio on behance and other commercial portfolio sites
• post on design blogs, portals, and inspirational sites
• have an email newsletter and press releases
• for editorial work in europe, they mostly use local people because of cultural differences
• book publishing: usually there’s co-editions so the initial publishing company hires
• ad and design: open to worldwide hiring
• there’s many countries in Europe but the UK is the easiest to break into
• find directories: theaoi.com, bikinilists (UK agency access), aoiportfolios.com, hireanillustrator.com, contactacreative.com, debutart.com, centralillustration.com, arenaworks.com, illustrationweb.com, folioart.co.uk, SAA Society of Artist Agents saahub.com
• enter competitions: aoiimages.com (if you did work for a UK client)
• aoi.com: illo in UK
• the illustrators guide to law
• events: Pick Me Up (40k people), Illustrative, Bologna Book Fair (children’s books)

Melinda Beck

• Trust your gut
• chooses either the labor of love or the bags o’ money client

Wayne White

• “real world humor”
• into underground comics
• not “visual artist” or “illustrator”… “creationist”!
• both innovative and proud of traditions
• the art world needs laughs
• outsider and likes it

Todd Oldham

• Book Dept. is his publishing company and labor of love
• “go ape shit on your house”

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Thank you for reading! I have one more day of coverage of ICON 6 coming up and then Comic Con!

If you have a chance, check out the additional coverage of the event on Escape From Illustration Island.

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FYI, I have a couple of events coming up:

Saturday, August 7th -Piecemakers Peddler’s Market, 8am – 3pm, 1720 Adams Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Saturday, August 14th – Thrown Together, Glass House Records art show, 7-11pm, more info TBA

Saturday, August 21st – ARTery art show, TBA