Chewing Pencils

In the second installment of this series, I negotiated to receive 50% of the payment up front and finalised some details before beginning the drawing. In this post I’ll outline the communication that flew back and forward about the drafts for the project.

Here is the email I sent with the initial draft below:

Hi Stephen,

Here’s a pencil draft of what I was thinking for your project!

I’ve left any text off as that can often change as the drawing itself progresses.

I wasn’t sure of the orientation you were after. That is, did you want a portrait or landscape piece, or something square that could fit in either? I’m also assuming you were after colour!

Anyway, have a look and let me know of anything you’d like me to change, then we’ll go for a colour version.

Hope you’ve had a good day!

Matt  

I thought this was pretty good for a five minute sketch! Stephen liked it, but it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. His reply:

Hi Matt

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I love the drawing. Just some thoughts:

 - could we have a full length mirror (the oval kind?) to give more emphasis on the reflection?

- I thought we could have the old man reflection with a slight beer belly to give the impression that he has “let himself go”.

- The square picture format that you currently have is great, and you’re correct in assuming I would like it in colour!

Let me know what you think.

Thanks again for all your help.

Steve

NEVER be offended by this sort of feedback!! It’s more valuable than words can express. If you have a client that can articulate exactly what he or she wants, then you’re 80% of the way there when it comes to generating the image. I was able to take Stephen’s thoughts to come up with the following draft:

Here’s a draft with the changes you suggested.

I’d probably bring the two a bit closer together in the final version…what do you think?!

Regards,

Matt

Hi Matt,

Sorry it has taken a while to get back to you. I have been working at a hospital that doesn’t have access to hotmail. I am using my other account, but if possible could you keep sending email to my hotmail account: *****************.

In regards to your cartoon, I really like it. I agree that the young guy could be a little closer to the mirror. But otherwise I think it is going to look fantastic.

I can’t wait to see the next stage!

Steve.  

This was as good as permission to go ahead with the final stage of inking and colouring the cartoon. Again, my suspicions were confirmed about the nature of the client and thus I felt good about quoting a lower price. Treating a client well at this stage maximises the chance of repeat work down the track.

Having said that, if the client was a publishing house, a medical journal or some other large coporation, I would have quoted $200 or more for the same cartoon, based on the recommended rates in Australia.

Always be sure to adjust your quotes based on the type of client you are quoting for.

Anyway, I finsihed the cartoon and sent the final version with this email:

Hi Stephen!

Here it is - let me know what you think. If you’re happy, please  deposit the rest of the money into my acocunt and I’ll send through a high resolution file right away.

Regards,

Matt

Hi Matt,

I LOVE it! Thank you so much for doing such a great job. I will transfer the remaining funds.

Will be in touch, thanks again,

Steve 

I asked about adding the text to the image, but Stephen had decided to get a graphic deisgner to layout the project and get it printed for him. The money arrived in my account within a few hours and I sent off a 300dpi TIF image, as well as the 72dpi JPG for web use - just because I liked the guy!

All up, the project was completed in about two hours, but stretched over the course of ten days or so.

Let me know if you have any questions about any stage of the process!