Hire An Illustrator

How to Hire an Illustrator

For many business owners, stock illustration is a go-to solution for their visual communication needs. It’s cheap, quick, and easily accessible. However, if you want to successfully communicate powerful messages and visualize your company’s complex ideas, you’re better off using a custom illustration.

As a brand, the last thing you want is to see your supposedly unique visual collaterals with another company’s name plastered on it.

To stand out in the hyper-competitive market we have today, you should be able to provide a one-of-a-kind artwork that shows your company’s value proposition. A simple way to do this is to hire an illustrator.

What Does an Illustrator Do?

An illustrator is a visual artist who specializes in creating visual representations of concepts and ideas. Through their art, they help convey a feeling, meaning, and the essence of a piece of text. They also simplify complicated ideas by transforming them into universally understandable images. Furthermore, their work is meant to complement any text or message being delivered to an audience.

They create original artwork intended for commercial purposes by using a variety of different mediums including traditional media such as ink, watercolor, and colored pencils as well as graphic or illustration software.

Illustrators are needed in a variety of industries including apparel and accessories, interior design, architecture, packaging design, publishing, film, and advertising. Some of the projects they can work on include:

• Book illustrations
• Book jackets
• Catalogs
• Computer games
• Diagrams for instruction manuals
• Film animation
• Giftware
• Greeting cards
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Packaging
• Phone apps
• Posters
• Storyboards
• Training manuals
• T-shirts
• Websites

There are many types of illustrators who can help you no matter what industry you are in. Here are the most common illustrators you’ll come across:

• Editorial Illustrators. These professionals created images that go with written articles usually published in newspapers, magazines, and journals. They create art that brings stories to life or helps readers understand political, scientific, or medical concepts better.
• Product Illustrators. They create illustrations that are usually used in brochures, commercial packaging, online products, and various forms of advertisement. The custom illustrations they create help people understand the true purpose of a product, provide a better sense of what a brand is all about, and even show off unique features of a product or service.
• Children’s Book Illustrators. These artists help bring a piece of narrative text to life and make a book more colorful, interesting, and thought-provoking for its intended audience. They help set up key scenes in a story so that young readers can better understand what is going on in the narrative.
• Fashion Illustrators. They help fashion stylists and fashion buyers make buying decisions for their clients. They create artwork that represents the clothing/makeup/accessory well and is visually appealing.
• Storyboard Illustrators>. They create panel by panel representation of a script to be used for films, music videos, animated features, television commercials, television pilots, video games, and ad campaigns. The storyboards they create are meant to give a visual idea of what the final product will look like after production.
• Medical Illustrators. These artists create realistic renderings for textbooks, charts, magazines, and advertising associated with the medical profession. They may specialize in different subject matters such as surgery or veterinary medicine or in specific markets such as medical publishing or advertising.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Illustrator

The cost of hiring an illustrator depends on the size of the project you have at hand and the expertise of the professional you’ll be working with. Typically, freelance illustrators charge between $19 to $150 per hour.

Depending on the project, illustrators can charge the following ranges:

• Logo design: $200 – $1,000
• Corporate identity package (letterhead, business cards, etc.): $250 and up
• Newsletter design: $1,000 and up
• Promotional collateral (brochures, etc.): $1,500 and up

How Do I Hire a WordPress Illustrator?

FreeUp makes it easy for you to hire professional freelancers. Just follow these simple steps and you could be working with an illustrator in less than 48 hours after signing up.

Create a FreeUp Account

Sign up for a FreeUp account for free to gain immediate access to the FreeUp community as well as the hundreds of top, pre-vetted illustrators for you to choose from.

Send a Request for the Freelancer You’re Looking For

Once logged in to your FreeUp account, click the “Freelancer Request” button so you can tell FreeUp about your budget and the qualifications of the illustrator you’re looking for. You should then be able to meet the freelancer that matches your requirements within one business day.

Interview and Hire the Best Freelancer

You can then set up a 15 to 20-minute interview with the freelancer you were introduced to so you can determine if he or she is the right fit. You can then hire them instantly if you think they meet your requirements or request to be introduced to another if they don’t.

Easily Manage Freelancers Via Your FreeUp Account

Once you’ve hired the illustrator of your choice, you can then meet with them again so you can set clear expectations about communication methods, work hours, hours approved, and estimated deadlines, among others.

It’s important to remember that the buck doesn’t stop upon clicking on the “Hire” button. Taking time to properly onboard a newly-hired freelancer often leads to better working relationships.