A brilliant little local job came my way recently for a
client only a ten minute walking distance away in town. The closeness of this project allowed me to
dust of my folder and bring my I pad and sketch book to the meeting for a face
to face meeting to discuss the job.
Most of my work is done via the phone and email, I listen or
read the brief make comments, send concepts, respond to feedback and draw finished
illustrations a process I’m very good at.
My objective when working remotely is to give the impression to the
client that I’m just another part of their workspace, easy to contact and talk
too with ideas and artwork ready when needed.
That they can in a sense look over my shoulder and see what I’m doing by
giving them updates and sketches to progress the project. Working remotely can be for the client as involved
with what I’m doing as they want to be or if they prefer I can create something
with greater latitude then that’s good too.
Lots of commissions can involve me to project manage a lot
of what the final art will be and its context.
As some people can be new to asking a freelance illustrator to work with
them, with only a bare outline of what they need provided. Its great and I get a buzz out of guiding
this kind of project. Developing the
rapport and work to give them something they wanted but maybe couldn’t articulate
preferring me to get there on my own as part of the commission as much as the
finished illustration.
Some of my clients will express a feeling about the kind of
image they want and if I can capture that impression the result is very satisfying. The specifics and detail are left to me and
these elements if correctly interpreted in the artwork can capture those feelings
and give them the emotional connection to the work that they desired.
My recent local project to draw the shop front for the
children’s shop Puddles and Sun was one such project with latitude to create
something the client felt they wanted for their store. As it was for a local independent retailer I
wanted to capture that uniqueness and feel of a special one off experience you
get when entering that outlet. I
rendered the illustration in a children’s book style to deliver that sense of
magic complete with toys that come alive, children playing, a dragon and of
course given our location in Perthshire a Highland cow. It’s not a typical shop illustration but it
suits the shop’s identity and the clients feeling that the artwork needed to
have a sense of wonder and creativity.
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| Puddles and Sun 2013 |
Puddles and Sun 2013, illustration created in pen and ink
with art pen and pencil for some textures with colour added later on the
computer. The artwork was fully layered
so that characters could be taken away with new details added. The flexibility was created to allow a change
in format for Facebook and Twitter banner use and for seasonal variations for postcards
for you never know when Santa might show up.
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| Puddles and Sun Facebook and Twitter Banner |
Visit my website for more work and ways to get in touch, please email me for samples.
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