What is the most common problem you run into when working with illustrators?
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Can't say there are any problems as such. The most disappointing thing that AGM has faced over the years is the lack of loyalty from young illustrators. . There have been far more wonderful moments and great achievements that AGM has shared with freelance illustrators. There is nothing more gratifying, then taking on a freelance illustrator that is unknown and launching his/her career.
Anna Goodson (more answers by this person)
owner
ANNA GOODSON MANAGEMENT, INC.
http://www.agoodson.com
What is the most common problem you run into when working with illustrators?
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That's pretty easy to answer. The biggest difficulty I have is with illustrators being unhappy about working with the client on revisions. Ideally every job would be a charmed experience with no revisions, immediate approval and many thanks thereafter but it's just not the case often enough. What we are doing is commercial illustration, with the end result being art that the client can publish in some way to reflect the needs of their customers or themselves based on their opinion. Different types of clients and jobs have different demands and expectations of the process. An illustrator that has worked primarily in editorial illustration may be surprised to find that in advertising and book publishing more rough sketches and revision stages are expected, and revisions to the final are not unheard of. Sometimes the fee structure accommodates this type of exchange, sometimes it doesn't.
While art directors should hire an illustrator based on both style and conceptualization skills, this is not always the case. In some instances an illustrator is hired primarily to illustrate an art directors concept in the illustrator's specific style. An art director at an ad agency has already gone through a lot of planning and a number of approval processes before an illustration is assigned, this puts more restrictions on what can be accomplished with the final illustration. Often specific corporate colors need to be incorporated, perhaps some visual iconography cannot be used since it has recently existed in a prior campaign or currently exists in a competitors marketing. There is a lot more to consider and the repercussions are greater in advertising than they are in editorial, which is part of the reason that (in most cases) the fees reflect the additional care, work and cooperation required.
This practice distresses some artists more than others, but the best way to address it is to be honest about the job at hand. I try to make sure that an illustrator understands that client needs may vary substantially from job to job before they join the agency. I build a specific number of allowable revisions into the project job confirmation. Clients know in advance what it will cost for additional revisions which in itself may reduce the number requested. When a job comes up that will likely be more involved or difficult to deal with I am up front with the illustrator about what the expectations will be. If a client demands more than is to be expected or tries to take real advantage of the illustrator's time and energy, I am the first person to intervene on their behalf and resolve the situation amicably.
If I see a pattern with an illustrator consistently being asked for more revisions than normal and being unhappy with the work involved it does set off an alarm. I usually spend some time with the artist trying to resolve the issue. Are they providing too many roughs or too few? Is there a communication issue or a language barrier? Is it a perception issue? There is always a way to get to bottom of it and make things better.
Chrystal Falcioni (more answers by this person)
Artist Representitive, Owner
MAGNET REPS
http://www.magnetreps.com
