Artist Hunting. - Page 2 - OG Myth-Weavers

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Artist Hunting.

   
One more idea: Stock art and stock photo sites exist. Always read the licenses

Shutterstock and Getty Images are the big time.

BigStockPhoto was cheap enough that I've used it in the past for small/quick projects. There are illustrations being sold there, too. They are not as cheap as they used to be. $35 for 10 credits is the cheapest you can go: A print resolution image will likely cost you 4 credits. There is some really great illustration work here, though.

CreativeMarket has some stock images. I mostly buy fonts there.

DesignBundles is a place where I've bought maybe a small handful of items. They mostly sell and highlight vector graphics. There are background images and "textures" and such.

The less you pay, the more limited your use. Read the licenses. When you start paying $3 an image from stock art suppliers, you're going to be limited to a certain number of sales per month/year. (I'm looking at a $3 image that would offer 10,000 sales a month. If ever hit that many in a lifetime then I'll be on cloud nine).

You'll still need to put words and title information on any image you buy.

One more free resource: OpenClipart has a lot of explicitly free-to-use vector graphics. Most of these look like clipart from some 1980s "print your own calendar" software. There are some rare gems.

I know this is a hobby and your funds are limited. This is something I've been struggling with for years, too.

I think I'm all out of ideas now. Count on having to pay with either your time, your money, or both. If you learn to do things for yourself and take some risks then those skills will be transferable to future projects.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greyen View Post
That's what I was afraid of.

What's a reasonable fee to offer?
Popping in to add my two cents as an artist who does work-for-hire! Here are some tips for finding the artist who best suits your needs and your capacity.

1.) Come up with a budget that you're willing to spend. Remember that the better the art, the more it's going to cost. The more in-demand or famous an artist is, the more they're going to charge. Basically if you want quality art from a professional, you need a decent chunk of change. There are a lot of quality semi-professionals, hobbyists, and amateurs out there, though. So think about how much you're able to spend and start hunting.

2.) Most commission artists set their own prices. This makes it easier for you to hunt. If you have specific artists in mind, contact them directly via social media or email and ask them if they accept commissions, and what their prices are. Let them know your budget and ask if they offer anything in your range. If they are not accepting, or if they're too expensive, ask if they know of anyone who better suits your needs.

3.) If you don't have specific artists in mind, find some job advertising sites. Many art communities have them. DeviantART has a "job offers" board where you can post your offer. Fiverr has a large stock of artists offering work-for-hire. There are a number of Tumblrs that advertise commissions, and also allow you to post your commission request. Be open about your budget. If you only have $50 to spend, let people know in your advertisement. It's good practice. Also check artists on Twitter or Instagram. This is a great way to contact them directly and most of them have commission information (or links to it) somewhere.

4.) Make sure to read ALL the info on an artist's commission practices. Some artists limit the number of revisions they're willing to do before charging more. Some charge more depending on how much detail. Read the info, make sure you understand it before you approach an artist. That way you won't be blindsided by requests for more money, and you and the artist won't be frustrated.

5.) It's okay to approach several different artists before making a decision. Many of us have been solicited without a job offer before. It happens. Sometimes people think they want to hire us, but they get a better offer or resonate better with another artist. Nobody will take it personally if you decide not to work with them.

6.) On a similar note, listen to your gut. If something about an artist's personality, presence, or interaction doesn't sit right with you, then don't work with them. Commission work involves a lot of back and forth between artist and client. If you don't feel like you can be open with the artist, or if you feel somehow uncomfortable working with them, then find someone else. Again, nobody will take it personally unless you post bad things online

7.) Have references ready. The more specific you can be about certain things, the easier it is for the artist. Pictures are the best. Do you envision your character looking like Chris Evans or Michelle Rodriguez? Tell the artist that. Does your character wear a specific kind of necklace that you really want shown? Send the artist a picture of the necklace. If you can't find one, then send something similar and explain the differences. Be clear, concise, and thorough.

8.) As others have said, remember that most artists aren't going to work for free. Any that do likely won't be the quality you're hoping to get. Whatever you do, DON'T say things like, "the exposure is going to be great!!" or "when this project is famous, it will be great for the artist!" I am not saying this to be mean! But it's important to know that no artist worth their salt is going to work for "exposure" because that doesn't pay the bills. In fact, it's kind of an ongoing meme among the work-for-hire artist community. So if you don't have a budget, just don't offer the gig

There are a few specific exceptions to this. If you find an "art request" situation, that usually means free. If the artist is offering free art, that's also an exception. Just don't go offering work for free!

I think that's everything I can come up with right now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I've been accepting commissions for a while now, so I'd be happy to offer any advice you need.

One word of warning about stock photos for cover art. This is a very, very common thing in self publishing. To the extent that certain images get reused quite a bit, especially in the romance genre (where covers tend to fall into certain very standard images anyhow). It's in fact something of a running joke in some circles. Just be aware of that and TRY to pick something a bit different. Doing an image search might not be a bad idea.

Hi, Greyen! If it's within your budget, depending on what you want done, I'm willing to do covers in the $35-$70 range. Also depends on usage agreement we work out, because I'm willing to take a cheaper up-front payment with promise of back-end payment.

What sort of image do you want done?

If your budget is very limited, it can always be a good idea to think very simple.

Having an artist draw an epic scene illustration with realistic-looking characters means they're going to be spending many hours working on it, and that's too much work to expect someone to do without proper payment.

But not all books have detailed illustrations on the cover. Sometimes it can work just as well to just have the title in nice big letters with a symbol (such as silhouette of a dagger, a crown, a tree or anything else) related to your story. That shouldn't take more than an hour or two to make and you'll have an easier time finding people willing to do it cheap. You might even be able to do this yourself if you find a stock photo site with free vector art. (just make sure to check they allow you to use it for commercial purposes)

(Corel is readily available and still supported)

Sadly, a lot of companies are now posting jobs, bringing people in to interview, and asking for samples, or asking someone to explain something to prove that the interviewee understands it. Thing is, they never had any interest in actually hiring--they just wanted access to the samples. This is mostly for managerial jobs, where they want work-flow charts and free training for their own people.
Despicable and unethical behavior. And these fake interviews have become common practice for at least 5 years.

I find the idea of working on art for 20 hours and giving it away for free to be preferable to what I've run into and heard about while job-hunting lately. At least the people who want free art are honest about it.

Sorry if this is an off-topic digression.

Hi there! I actually am an indie who has hired cover artists, and also has crafted my own covers. If you don't have any experience with this, don't do it yourself. Unless you have experience with graphic design specifically for book covers, you're much better off hiring someone who does for your first one to three, especially if you're opening a series and want the branding to match.

Step one: Know what you want. When looking for a cover artist, you should have a solid idea of what sort of cover you're interested in. That doesn't have to mean you know exactly what elements, colors, or backgrounds you'd like to see. It means you have a grasp of the basic style you're looking for. Go to Amazon and drill down to the subcategory you intend to put your book into. Browse the covers in the Top 100. Pick 3-5 that you like and save the links. Your goal is to fit into your subcategory with awesome, not to be the odd one standing out.

Step two: Search for pre-made covers. Premades let you see the art upfront and usually cost less than custom covers. You can expect a price of $35-100, depending upon the artist. Google "premade [genre] book covers". Use a semi-precise genre tag, like urban fantasy, ya sci-fi, high fantasy, dystopian, etc..

Other stuff:

1. Facebook has a significant number of cover art groups. Search for them and you will find plenty, and a lot of them offer premade covers.

2. Remember those links to covers you like? Check their copyright pages (if you can) to see who does their art. If it's traditionally published, you won't be able to afford them, but if it's indie, see if you can find them and their pricing.

3. If you decide to get a custom cover, ones worth buying typically start around $250. Custom cover artists worth hiring are generally booked pretty far in advance, just like good editors.

4. Know upfront if you want an ebook cover only, or ebook + print. Most artists charge extra for both. If you want a print cover, wait until you have a formatted print version of your book before engaging your artist, because you'll need to know the spine width.

5. If you're buying your own ISBN (which you only need for a print version--ebooks are not required to have one), get as many as you can from Bowker (assuming US-based) at once because there are steep volume discounts. If you're using the KDP-print assigned freebie ISBN, be aware you can't use that ISBN if you eventually decide to switch to another Print on Demand service like IngramSpark. Also note that you do not need to purchase the barcode. That barcode is a waste of money.

6. Write your blurb now, before you get the cover. Make sure you have your final title and you've decided exactly how you want your name spelled. This is doubly important if you're doing a print version.

BTW, I recommend having a print version. Amazon gives more weight to books with multiple media versions. Also look into Findaway Voices at Draft2Digital for low/no-cost options for audiobooks.

Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have other questions about indie publishing.




 

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