Illustrators

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What is your backup plan for when an illustrator doesn't deliver an assignment on time or at all?
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Wow! First off I should say that we work with professional illustrators who take their jobs as illustrators very seriously and who respect the time and effort of their clients. Not getting an assignment done on time or at all is really not acceptable. Any art director would rather be asked for extra time up front, before the artist accepts the job. Whenever possible art directors do try to accommodate these requests. As reps part of our job is to create a workable schedule of jobs that can be accomplished on time. If we suspect an illustrator may not be able to complete an assignment on time we won't accept the job without first discussing the schedule and demands with them in the context of their existing assignments. If it works great, if it doesn't the client will likely remember the artist and hire them again in the future. If the illustrator accepts the job and then fails to meet the deadline or bails - they will probably never be given the opportunity to work with that client again.

Of course true emergencies do happen. We have had artists who have had parents/grandparents die or have become so ill that they could not work for a period of time. When something like that comes up we contact the client immediately to see if there is enough time in the schedule to permit an extension. If an extension is not possible we try to offer up another artist that could finish the job on time - but clients hire illustrators because they want them, not someone else. We don't have the type of agency that has artists that are virtually interchangeable so it's unlikely that the client would be able to find a replacement from within the agency. I would be willing to go out of my way for both the artist and the client in a circumstance such as this, making sure the artist has the time they need to recover and the client finds another artist from my agency or even from another agency.

Chrystal Falcioni (more answers by this person)
Artist Representitive, Owner
MAGNET REPS
http://www.magnetreps.com