The AOI is a not-for-profit organisation which serves to protect illustrators, encourage industry standards, and promote and improve the work of illustrators. The AOI has over 2,000 members across the world who pay a yearly subscription fee to the service.
Lou came in to talk to us about professional illustration practice (accounts and legal) and encourage us to join the AOI. We were provided with examples of contract forms and leaflets about becoming a member, including a special reduced rate for students.
Self-promotion
Website: Lou discussed the importance of self-promotion as an illustrator, including having your own professional website. We should get one as soon as we can because it is a solid place to link all of our portfolios and social media pages together, a point of contact for comissioners to find us.
A website should have a relevant domain name (i.e. www.loubones.co.uk), should be simple, functional and professional. If someone is looking at your website they should be able to see everything immediately without clicking anywhere.
Websites can include a link to your blog, which will show visistors what your latest work has been, more up to date than your website.
Contact details should be easy-to-find and obvious on your website. Don't use contact forms, these are for big businesses are are used to deter people from contacting them directly.
Include a copyright line at the bottom e.g. 'all work copyright Jay Stelling 2017'
Start collectives: Join forces with other creatives to share ideas, promote your work together as a team of artists.
Personal Projects: do personal projects to get the work that you want to do more of. When clients see the kind of work you've enjoyed they will know what kind of standard to expect/what kind of work to offer you.
Social Networking: Instagram is the most important and valuable social networking app. Commissioners and clients will have one too. Get one, use one and keep it separate from your personal page (unless your artist page is a personal approach).
Behance, Flicker, LinkedIn and The Dots are portfolio sites where you can connect and upload work. HAVE AS MANY AS YOU CAN.
The sites you use, the way you upload will vary depending on the artist, the brand, the person, the approach.
Networking: Don't say sir or madam, make your contacts personal. Research exactly who you want to work for and who you need to speak to.
Accounts
You are a business - conduct yourself as one.
Do not work for free, this devalues your own work and the illustration industry.
Register for income tax within three months of starting
Keep up to date accounts, keep all paperwork involved with each job and retain all claimable receipts including cultural expenditure such as cinema/theatre.
Copyright
Does not require the c symbol. It lasts 70 years after the creator's death.
Licensing is lending clients the right to copy for x amount of time.
Assigning copyright to the client means you can't use it EVER, they own it. If they do want this they should be paying tens of thousands of pounds, since they are paying for the 70 years after your death too. Say NO, BUT THIS IS THE LICENSE I CAN OFFER.
Moral rights: right of paternity, right of integrity. Moral rights are automatic but can be waived (i.e. copyright assignment)
Contracts
Can be written or verbal. They are legally binding - including cancellation fees, who it is going to, what it will be used for, when, and for how much. Every single use of your work should be charged for. Always quote accurately because this is an agreement.
Illustrators do not work on a day fee/hourly rate WE LICENSE OUR ARTWORK!
Briefs can be vague but you need to know details about your client because this will impact the scale of the project/usage of your artwork/the cost of the job. The size of the client is based on circulation
re-licensing is where you lend client the right to use again for a different application/amount of time after the initial contract ends.
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