Sketch & Feedback Phases
Lesson 14 from: FAST CLASS: Working Successfully with Clients: A Class for Illustrators and DesignersLisa Congdon
Sketch & Feedback Phases
Lesson 14 from: FAST CLASS: Working Successfully with Clients: A Class for Illustrators and DesignersLisa Congdon
Lessons
Class Introduction
02:41 2Be Prompt, Clear and Succinct
05:23 3Email Communication: What Works, What Doesn't
08:47 4What to Look for in an Assignment
06:39 5Red Flags
04:50 6Questions about the Schedule
03:24 7Fees & Negotiation
08:45 8How to Approach Bidding
02:50Navigating Contracts
03:30 10What Should Go Into a Contract?
08:27 11Negotiating Contracts
03:49 12The Pros and Cons of Having an Agent
06:30 13Phases of a Freelance Illustration or Design Job
02:01 14Sketch & Feedback Phases
05:01 15Ask Questions!
02:04 16Final Artwork Phase
02:21 17Dealing with Change in Scope
02:39 18Wrap Phase
02:06Lesson Info
Sketch & Feedback Phases
And the sketch phase is the first phase. In 90% of the cases, you'll have to submit sketches first. Um, there are exceptions to that, but in most design and illustration jobs, um, there is a phase where you're just floating around ideas or concepts. So a sketch which is called a rough in many cases is a simple bare bones drawing or rendering of an idea or concept. Okay, for illustrators, it's often a pencil pen or digital sketch. For designers, it might be a wireframe for or rough layout of something. Typically there are three and no more than four rounds of changes to the sketch phase. And again, I'd stipulate that in the contract so that you're not going back and forth and making changes over and over and over and over and over. Um, the sketch phase is often the longest in the process. Um, really important phase because it's where you're sort of working out with the client, like, you know, sort of getting to the, it's a way to make your work so that you're not investing a ton of time...
into final finalizing something. Um, that's not quite right. Right. So you're not spending a ton of time sketches are, that's why they're called roofs. Um, you want to make it obviously legible, but um, you're spending a lot of time in this phase just going back and forth with the client, is this what you're looking for. Like, here's another idea. The idea is that you are not spending a ton of time on the drawings until you get closer to the final approved concept and that can take a while sometimes a limited number of rounds of sketches, forces the Art director or a client to give you really specific well thought out direction from the very beginning. So here's, here's an important note about sketching after. It's also concept ng. So we've been talking about sketching and so in some cases, like I said, they'll be like, this is the concept for the illustration. We want a young girl sitting in a chair eating her breakfast and her dog sitting on the floor, make it look like she's in uh, you know, in a kitchen and that's sort of like one level, right? Where they're telling you, they give you the concept, they just want you to illustrate it. Maybe you can add your own whimsy or whatever. And then the other extreme is like read, read the magazine article and come up with your own come up with three concepts. Um, we don't want them to be literal, we want them to be sort of conceptual. So you're actually concept Ng and your sketches are based on your own ideas because you've read the manuscript or the article or whatever it is, you're illustrating okay. Or you're coming up with the design for packaging, like smell the fragrance and you know, design something that's based on the fragrance like where you have usually, it's somewhere in the middle. You know, they'll give you some ideas, You can ask some questions and you're doing a little bit of concept ng and some sketching but know that in the world of design and illustration, there is a whole spectrum of the amount of direction you're going to be given and you know, so sometimes you're sketching a concept that the client came up with, but a lot of times you have to come up with a concept or several and sketch your own ideas, so prepare to get creative part of your job as an illustrator designer is not just to execute an idea but to come up with the concept in the first place, then comes feedback. So the art director will take some time to look at whatever you've turned in and present them to hurt his or her team. A lot of times, this is not just that person getting to make a decision, they go to the editorial team, they go to their boss, they go to the editor, they, whatever, they go to the design team or even the sales team on rare occasion, once your sketches will be approved after one round and you move on to final artwork like that happens sometimes where you turn something in and they're like, I love it, done 95% of the time, that's their motivation and you gotta, you have to come up at it from that perspective as well. So like it or not, you signed up for a job to create something for the client that the client likes. That's what commercial work is working for a client. That's why a lot of people don't want to do commercial work and I get it. But being open to feedback is part of having a strong and positive relationship with your client. Okay. Um the art director's job is to help you make the best work possible. I think it's super open. Super. Um important to stay open if you are resistant to feedback or too attached to your own ideas. The relationship can often break down. So you want to avoid getting um getting defensive because the art director's job is to help you make the best possible creation, not to criticize your art or demean you or your design skills.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase