FAQ

How much do you charge?

It varies! Each project is different. There’s a few factors to take into account:

Complexity: It depends on the complexity of the illustration or the design: basically, the more detailed and the more time I spend on it, the more it will cost. It also depend on the complexity of the concept; branding takes a lot of research and concept time, while creating a flyer with an exisiting brand is more straight forward.

Project Management: If you require for me to deal with other contractors like web developers, printers or animators and manage your project, I’ll charge for my time doing that.
If you’re an agency and you are contracting me to create illustrations for a project managed by you, and the creative direction has been done, you’re likely to get a cheaper rate.

Resale & Royalties: If you intend on using the designs and illustrations on products for resale, the cost may be higher than if you only need the illustration or the design for a one-off purpose. I have T&A ready to go for these situations.

All that said, I can adapt to a wide range of budgets; for example, we can create a simpler visual language to allow for more illustrations; or, if you want a style that will be time consuming, we can look into reducing the number of illustrations and assets, or we can create a payment plan in milestones, etc.

No matter what solution we find to adapt to your budget and needs, you are buying a bespoke service that will benefit your brand, product or service and will be tailored uniquely to you.

How long will it take?

That also varies. It depends on the service I provide, the complexity of the project, how many feedback rounds we’ll go through and how responsive you are. As a ballpark, one illustration can take 2-3 days to 1-2 weeks. Branding can take 1-2 months, and general graphic design can take one day to 3 months! For a picture book design and illustration, you’re looking at a minimum of 3 months and it can take a lot more.

We define a timeline prior to starting to make sure we meet your deadlines.

If you’re in a big rush, I sometimes can slot you in if there’s space, but as a general rule, there’s a couple of weeks wait before I can start. I will sometimes add an additional fee for rush orders.

I have written a children’s book! Can you illustrate it and we’ll share the benefits once it is published?

Oh, how often have I been asked this! Thank you for your interest in working together, I appreciate it. However, it can take between 100 to 200 hours for me to illustrate and design a picture book; sometimes less, sometimes more, but you get the idea: it’s not a small project, and unfortunately, I cannot put that amount of hours on a project with no guarantee of getting any payment. Exposure does not pay the bills, nor does hope of success. I can sometimes agree to a lesser fee if I know that the books will be doing well sales-wise and will be published and distributed widely; I then accept an "advanced royalties" fee. But in the case of a self-published book, I do not often enter royalties agreements.

I have written a children’s book! Can you illustrate and design it? I have a budget.

Yes I can. I can storyboard, illustrate, design and layout your book. I can even help with the prepress process. However I cannot help you with the publishing process, so we’ll make sure to be clear on your expectations prior to getting started.

I suggest you have a distributing strategy in place if you intend on self-publishing. I am happy to advise to a point, but you’ll need to be the one doing the work.

If you intend on getting it published by a major publisher, please note that they often prefer submissions without any illustrations included; it depends, but it is better to do your research first and have a plan. Different publishers have different submission processes and it is often outlined on their website.

I am sometimes happy to create a few artwork samples and/or a rough story board instead of illustrating and designing the entire book.

To give you an idea of cost, here’s the Australian Society of Authors recommended rates.

what if I don’t like the illustration?

Fear not! I have processes in place that make sure we collaborate all the way to create what you want and need.

If you don’t know exactly what you need yet, it is also my job to help you figure it out and to propose ideas and solutions. There’s a few steps in the process to make sure you’re on board from start to finish, and it is outlined in the quote and T&A prior to starting.

I will make sure that I discover as much as possible about your project, concept, context and target audience by asking you a lot of questions. I’ll ask you to show me things you like, dislike, etc… At the end of this part of the process, we’ll have a finalised design brief and a vision for the final outcome, including the tone, direction and deadlines for the project. Once I get started with the concept, I work quickly, and my approach is fluid and adaptable. Through testing and visualisation, we’ll collaborate to determine the best approach. I’ll provide you with a various number of concepts and drafts. Then, taking feedback from the concept creation stage, we’ll make final decisions and start the final production.

I work using the medium best suited to the project to create finished art that will meet the brief down to the last detail and set your product or brand apart from the rest!

We live far away from each other, can we still work together?

Of course! I work with people all around Australia and the world. We can email, chat on the phone, have Zoom meetings and I have never had an issue working that way. I will occasionally make the trip to wherever you are if it’s absolutely necessary and will budget that in. That said, it rarely has to happen nowadays :-)

Do you do talks and workshops and how much do you charge?

Yes! Get in touch with me and we’ll chat. For price guidelines and reference, check out the Australia Society of Authors’s recommended fees.

How do you get a book published?

The $1 000 000 question! To get started, I suggest you check out The Australian Society of Authors. Meeting authors and illustrators (and aspiring ones) is important for so many reasons, and the ASA has a lot of resources on how to get started. There’s also The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They can help with many things like promotional opportunities, networking, grants and many information resources. I would suggest to start there to get a grasp on it all.