Bouquet of totes

The complete new tote design! Bags have been ordered and shipped to screen printing shop I use in NJ and an order has been put in at the screen printing shop. I think it will take about 2 weeks as it usually does. I should have done this a week or two ago to ensure they would get here before Canada..oh well.

Honestly, I have spent the past three weeks working on a big freelance project that kept getting bigger. the client and the design team were not on the same page, which made my life harder. It's difficult when the client does not know what they want because it means more work for me; however, I got paid for extra work because of the amazingness of a thing called a contract. The awesomeness of the contract is that you can dictate terms. So, if the client has revisions that exceed the number included in the price in the contract they have to pay for it...and they did.

This to know:

1. Always make a contract and have the client approve said contract.

2. Always include thumbnails- the thumbnails are your first safety net. You can basically say "I will do 7 thumbnails of ideas you get to choose one of them for the final." If the client exceeds that number it will cost extra

3. Once you have fleshed out the thumbnail into your fully detailed sketch the client has (however many revisions you decide are included in the price) in my case it was one revisions, but if there were little details to be added it was fine. By revisions I mean major directional changes and for that they got one.

4. color palette and color palette rough comp.- Once the sketch is complete I drop it in illustrator and do a palette of general colors. This gives the client a general idea of palette, how much of each color will be used, and tone. They must approve this before I go to gouache.

5. Once all these things are approved I go to final. If, for some reason, the final is not what they want it will cost them more. 1-3 are the safety nets for the client and the artist. If the clients idea changes once the final is complete it is the clients decision to pay to have the illustration changed.

I felt a bit uncomfortable with this in the past, but I have more confidence in my abilities now. The client is hiring me for my style so they know what they will be getting. If they do not like something it is not my style that is at fault, but rather, it is something they have not articulated before.

That is my two cents on the matter of contract and freelance. Money is never something I like discussing, but its very important and too often artists get swindled because they undervalue their work or their time.

I did not mean to make this a rant...but oh well.

Onward:

This week I am doing a bedroom mural, yay! I also have some more illustrations for the next book.

I was in Heath Mass. for the weekend and had some time to draw and veg out...I love vacation.