Chewing Pencils

The term deadline is unfortunate.

When we engage a client and begin to work on a project, all parties involved are hoping for the best possible outcome. They want the cartoon or illustration to convey a message and to inspire a response. The worst possible outcome for a piece is that it not be noticed or even worse, instantly forgotten.

However, a deadline can cause a cartoon to be exactly that - a dead line.

Time pressure on the client are transferred to the artist, forcing corners to be cut and the finished piece to be compromised. In the end, the cartoonist is still paid, but there is a nagging feeling that the result could have been far better.

I have no idea when or where I first heard, but somewhere along the way, I heard a cartoonist talk of alivelines. When taking a brief and entering into negotiations with a client, the cartoonist urged the client to keep the end date as flexible as possible so the finished cartoon would be a real work of art, alive and brimming with life, not just a bit of scribble on a page.

I doubt that many of the clients you encounter will have the freedom of flexible due dates for their projects, however if you communicate well with them for the duration of the task, you’ll find that deadlines are not the creativity killer that they often turn out to be. In my experience, involving clients at every stage of the process and not simply delivering a finished product (like it or lump it style) means that a client can see their illustration unfold before their eyes. They can have input into how it looks and are more willing to extend a deadline if they can see that a good result is not far away.

After you take your brief, it’s a good idea to communicate with your client at the following points in the project:

1. After you’ve done your first pencil draft. Actually, it might not be your very first - you’ll probably have a stash of ideas scribbled on paper somewhere - but it will be your best guess as to what you think the client might like. At this stage, ask for their honest opinion. What do they want changed? What do they want left out or added? What do they really like about it? Then take all these ideas and move onto the next stage.

2. Ink your linework then show them again. Before adding any shading or color, show your client the linework as it is easier to change linework rather than an almost completed, color cartoon.

3. Show them a color version without any text. At this point, the client should be really excited about what they see. If changes are requested at this point, you’ll need to explain that there will be an extra charge, but that it is still possible.

4. Then show them the finished product!

I do all of this by setting up a private web site for the client and posting each version as I go. At the end of the project, they can see the progression from pencil draft through to finished piece. Most clients find this quite fascinating in itself, and it goes a long way to building a good relationship that will hopefully gain you some further work in the future.

If your deadline has been set in concrete at the beginning, some of these steps will probably be left out. There is nothing more unprofessional than missing a deadline, so make sure you do everything in your power to meet them. And if circumstances arise that mean you can’t meet the agreed upon deadline, then communicate that with your client as soon as possible and re-negotiate Most of the time you’ll get an understanding response, but sometimes you’ll have to cop a bit of flack.

That’s the nature of the freelance game!