Mini updates, like an update, but smaller…
December 21st, 2011 | Darren Di Lieto
We’re going to be attempting to publish more regular mini-updates on the Staff Blog over the next year. So to get the ball rolling, Darren has been working on a new version (version 2) of the White Label Portfolios and is hoping he’ll get it finished before Christmas. Also we’ve recently made a few improvements to the hai website, but one to take note of is the improved search facility. In the past if you wanted to see which Children’s illustrators we had in Spain you would need to go to our Advance Search page and click on the Spain and Children’s & Young Adult option to see the results. Now you can save the URL from that result and go directly to it anytime you want rather than preforming the search again. For example… http://www.hireanillustrator.com/i/search/#childrens_young_adult&spain
Hopefully lots of mini-updates will be published on the Staff Blog over the next few months, but if you want the latest news and titbits, follow our micro-updates on Twitter… https://twitter.com/hireanillo
The holidays are coming and we’re looking forward to them, we hope you are too. 
Installing Exhibitions: A practical guide
October 24th, 2011 | Jane Di Lieto-Danes
Exhibiting your work is always exciting, but how do you know what the right way to display your artwork is? What fixings should you use? What’s the best way to light your work? How do you make a shelf for your 3-D pieces to stand on? Even if you have a professional gallery install and curate your art for you, it’s always handy to know how to the practical side of things work. And if you’re doing it all yourself, then it’s really important to know the best and safest way to do things. So, it’s time to look at another useful book from the hai bookshelf!
Installing Exhibitions: A practical guide, by Pete Smithson, does exactly what it says on the cover. If you want to know how to transport, fix, hang and display your prints, paintings, 3-D or audiovisual work, this book will give you the information you need. Pete Smithson is the Technical Manager for Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London, so he definitely knows his stuff!
The book starts off by asking you to consider the space that you are using, then briefly talks about risk and health and safety issues (important as you will have people visiting your show). Next it looks at the tools you’ll need, how to prepare the space, and how to safely pack and move your work. There is plenty of information about different types of wall fixings plus a chapter on using rigging to suspend items. For 2-D artwork, there is advice on how to plan where to put the pieces so they look their best and how to hang different works. For those artists who create audiovisual art, there is a chapter that covers using projectors, video and audio, how to install the equipment and what to check to make sure it works.
If you fancy having a go at a bit of construction, this book will show you how to make various shelves and plinths. The final chapter looks at electrics (UK, Europe and North America), managing all those cables and using lighting. At the end of the book is a glossary and space to make notes.
This is a great book for anyone who exhibits their own or other people’s work at any level (or who is planning to). It’s totally hands-on and full of useful advice and plenty of diagrams. We recommend it!
Publishing info -
Title: Installing Exhibitions: A practical guide
Author: Pete Smithson
Publisher: A & C Black Publishers Ltd. (2009)
ISBN: 978-1-4081-1016-4
How do you like them apples?
October 10th, 2011 | Darren Di Lieto
It wasn’t a quick job, but we’ve finally finished it. The hire an illustrator website has been rebuilt from the ground up… and we’re very happy with it! I’ve been testing it live for a week now and I’m pleased to consider it officially launched as of today. So tell your colleagues and friends as we would love to know what they think. Whether you send us an email or leave us a comment via Facebook or Twitter, get in contact!
Visually this wasn’t a redesign, as we wanted to keep the look the same, but we’ve made some big improvements in leaps and bounds as far as the underlying code is concerned. Have you checked out our new search pages yet? I’m hoping you’re impressed with the ease and speed at which you can now find our artists and illustrators. We now list additional links on behalf of our members, so you can now see if they have an online store or have a Google+ or LinkedIn profile along with the usual suspects. Also we’ve made improvements to allow artists or animators to have video galleries in their portfolios. There’s more brilliant new features to announce, but I think that’s enough for one blog post…
We hope you enjoy and have as much fun using our new site as we do! For the latest updates sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Fish on a Stick, Pugs and more…
September 5th, 2011 | Jane Di Lieto-Danes
We just love having interesting, original items created by illustrators on show in our home and office. It really makes for a unique environment to live or work in and provides shed-loads of inspiration! We thought we’d share our latest arty acquisitions with you
We were very happy to give this rather cool, folksy fish a new home! He’s hand carved and painted by the awesome Jim Bradshaw and if you swim on over to his Etsy shop, you might be able to find your own fishy friend to brighten up your office or living room! Jim also has lots of other original character-based artwork to choose from.
Jane was extremely chuffed to get some fab Gemma Correll stuff for her birthday, including one of Gemma’s Boston Tea Party tees, some badges, a roll of Animal Parade tape and a brilliant original framed Pug drawing. We’re not quite sure what to do with the tape yet, but suspect it won’t be long before any bare-looking folders or boxes are covered . Check out Gemma’s shop on her website for lots of great gift ideas!
If you have a favourite illustrator (or several!), don’t forget that they probably have their own shop online or sell items through other websites. If they don’t, but you fancy having a piece of their work hanging in your home, it’s often worth getting in touch with them to ask if they would sell you a print or create an original for you!
Evolution of the new hai background image
July 10th, 2011 | Darren Di Lieto
I’m please to announce that we have a new background image on hire an illustrator, created by the talented Jose Pardo. The new background wasn’t just a simple case of asking an illustrator whether they had a piece of work that could just be reused as-is on the site… What we wanted was something original that reflected the illustrator’s style, without being too dominating on the page, and I’m really happy with what Jose produced and how it turned out. As the hai website is all about the illustrators and illustration I’m going to share with you how we got to the final piece.
Here is the first sketch that Jose sent me a few weeks ago.
Following the first sketch, Jose started to flesh it out and it was only a short period of time before he sent me this next image.
After I had reviewed the above piece, I let Jose know how well things were proceeding and that the image looked great. I then left it in his capable hands to complete the image with no set deadline for delivery as the deadline was at his discretion.
The next thing I heard from him was that he was tweaking a few things and working on a dragon! Later the same day he emailed me the following image.
Click on the image for a larger preview, so you can see a bit more detail.
Now this would have been a fantastic place to leave the image alone and call it finished, but there are some rules that neeed to be followed if an image is going to work as a background image on a website. I asked Jose to email me a layered version of the artwork and a few minutes later that’s what he sent me. I then got to work on ruining his creation.
I then emailed him back this image…
I had dropped a lot of the small details, the land and changed the background colour to white. Jose and I discussed what I’d done and he said that he much preferred a blue background as the clouds had been illustrated to work with that. From my point of view I was also happy to go with blue as that’s the colour we tend to normally use on the site. So Jose then refined the images a bit and sent me a white and a blue option…
I did like the white one, but it felt more right to go with the blue one still. So I then took the blue one and got to work on the arrangement of the elements to make it fit with the website framework. At this point I actually uploaded what I had to the site and sent Jose a link to it, so it could be seen as a live preview. I had squeezed the floating castles into the top section and put a cloud behind the main large one to try and balance the overall look. The red from behind the hai logo was also removed.
After I sent Jose this version, being the perfectionist he is, he then re-did the layout and sent me another copy which became the final version which can now be seen on the site in all its glory.
Click on the image for a large preview or go to our main site to see it in action.
Jose (MoonVisionStudio) Pardo was brilliant and so easy to work with… You can see more of his work at: http://hireanillustrator.com/i/jose-pardo or http://moonvisionstudio.com/
A big thank you, Jose, for all your hard work!
They seek him here, they seek him there…
June 28th, 2011 | Jane Di Lieto-Danes
Being easy to contact when you’re a freelance illustrator, animator or designer is pretty important. If an art director or agency wants you for a job, they need to be able find your email address or phone number quickly. Otherwise, they might just pass you over for someone else…
It always surprises me how many creatives don’t make it straightforward to find their contact information on their websites. Or even on their business cards or promo postcards. Really, I hear you say? Yes, indeed. I’m not talking about the majority of people, of course, just a small number, but surely no-one should be making it difficult for potential clients to contact them. Over the years we have seen illustrator’s postcards with gorgeous images, but no contact details on them at all, or with just a website URL – which is fine, but doesn’t make getting in touch as easy as it could be. Make sure that somewhere on there is a name, email address and ideally your telephone number, as well as your URL. Make space for a contact section or page on your website too. You need to make it nice and clear who created all that amazing artwork and how ADs can get hold of you to produce some more for their project!
This isn’t just an issue with contact details, however. Very occasionally, it can be almost impossible to find an artist’s name. Presumably while maintaining an uber-cool, minimalist image, some people neglect to add their name to their website or other marketing products. This certainly isn’t a common problem, but when it does crop up it is very frustrating having to trawl through Google and other websites trying to work out who that person is.
Always remember that art directors are very busy people. They will not want to spend their time hunting around for either a name or a way to contact you. Make it easy for them. And once you are in contact with them, be consistent with the information you use. If you send a out a postcard to an AD, make sure your follow-up email uses the same name and email address that you used on the postcards so they can see who you are. And it may seem obvious, but don’t go and change which name or email address you use half-way through working with a client.
Keep your work visible, get your name known and make getting in touch with you a breeze!
Nuts & Bolts: A blueprint for a successful illustration career
May 19th, 2011 | Jane Di Lieto-Danes
Time for another book review, one which I’ve been meaning to do for ages!
‘Nuts & Bolts: A blueprint for a successful illustration career’ is written by Charles Hively of the wonderful and highly regarded 3X3 magazine, 3X3 Annual and Creative Quarterly. Having worked extensively in advertising and design as an art director and creative director, in addition to having been an illustrator, Charles is ideally placed to pass on his extensive knowledge of the industry from both sides of the fence.
The book covers important areas such as treating illustration as a business, making a website work for you and maintaining visibility. The final section of the book consists of essential Do’s and Don’ts. Charles tells it straight throughout, no waffle, just good, solid advice from a man who really knows what he’s talking about.
This is, of course, a nicely laid out book, easy to read or flick through, and at 10 US dollars (8 GBP/9 EUR) buying it certainly won’t break the bank. Overall, a fantastic resource that is crammed full of common sense tips and vital information to help you succeed in your career. Definitely one to add to your book collection!
Publishing info -
Title: Nuts & Bolts: A blueprint for a successful illustration career
Author: Charles Hively
Publisher: 3X3 Magazine (2010)
ISBN: 978-0981940540
All quiet on the home front?
May 18th, 2011 | Darren Di Lieto
We’ve not had a chance to really update the staff blog recently, what with a two week break in Canada and everything full steam ahead here! The weekly mail packs are packed and we are doing some ongoing major upgrades to the website, with a bit of optimization to our business structure. We’ve also been making new contacts and exploring new avenues all in order to promote the talented members of hai. I’ve got 3 essays on promotion planned that I’m hoping to post on this blog in the near future, also as mentioned I’m making some major improvements, speed and usability-wise to the hai website. It’s all very exciting and I can’t wait for the hard work to be finished so I can start testing and releasing stuff to the public!
Currently I’m looking for an illustrator to do a bit of work on behalf of hire an illustrator and another site. I have a few illustrators in mind and a couple I’m definitely going to ask, but directions for the projects have not been decided yet. So if you would like me to consider your portfolio along with the ones I’m already looking at please send me an email or leave a comment below.
Talking to SCAD, Coffee & Biscuits
March 29th, 2011 | Darren Di Lieto
Recently I had the pleasure of talking to a few of Violet Lemay’s students at SCAD about their portfolios and illustration in general. It was via video conferencing, which was a shame as I would have loved to have been there in person. Maybe next time!
I think they were probably surprised I wasn’t wearing a suit, but at least I had had a shave. This wasn’t the first time I had talked to students at SCAD. I did the same thing a couple years ago, but this time round I was a lot happier with the advice I gave. Maybe it has to do with being older or in the business for longer.
I’ve lectured a couple times in person in the past at different Universities, which can be quite scary as it’s often in a large lecture hall and more people turn up than you expect to. I do prefer to talk in smaller groups as you can generally turn it into a conversation instead of a lecture and people get to ask the questions they want answers to.
Well anyway… I enjoyed talking to the students at SCAD and it was great to see some many promising portfolios, which reminds me that I still owe them a couple reviews. I also got some great feedback from Violet about the talk, so much so that Violet and the students posted me and Jane a mug illustrated by Violet (see the pics above and below). It was a complete surprise when it arrived and it really made our day as it’s totally unique and was such a nice thought. A big thank you to Violet and all the students for taking the time to listen to me and for such an appropriate gift (we get through far too much coffee and this mug makes it taste even better)!
Time permitting I’m always happy to talk to students… Especially when we get a free mug!
Lovely letterpress and linocut prints
March 22nd, 2011 | Jane Di Lieto-Danes
It’s been some time since we bought any new artwork to hang on our walls, so what better choice than a letterpress print from the wonderful Gemma Correll?
It’s the perfect print for any lover of cats, coffee or cakes (or all three, as in our case!). We love it, thank you Gemma! The shop is closed for the moment, but keep checking back on Gemma’s site to see when it reopens so you can get your hands on some of her brilliant goodies!
We also spotted Lottie Penchion‘s rather lovely linocuts on the LCS. We decided we just had to have Mr Badger…
…and Lottie very generously sent us an extra one too, which was much appreciated as they look just great as a set! Check out Lottie’s print giveaway too!
