Busy? How to handle multiple illustration projects like a pro.

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Busy? How to Handle Multiple Illustration Projects Like a Pro"

Released on October 15, 2024 by The Good Ship Illustration

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Introduction

In this episode of The Good Ship Illustration, hosts Helen Stephens, Katie Chappell, and Tania Willis delve into the challenges illustrators face when juggling multiple projects simultaneously. They share their extensive experience and offer practical strategies to manage deadlines, maintain creativity, and avoid burnout. This comprehensive discussion is invaluable for illustrators seeking to enhance their productivity and sustain a thriving creative career.

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Managing Multiple Projects and Deadlines

The conversation begins with addressing the common concern of handling multiple illustration projects at once. Tania Willis emphasizes the importance of not overcommitting:

Tania (00:32): "Don't take on too many. For a start, figure out do you want to do them all at once because the B word illustrator's burnout."

Helen Stephens concurs, suggesting that managing two or three projects is often feasible without compromising quality or personal well-being.

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Avoiding Burnout and Overcommitment

Both Helen and Tania discuss the pitfalls of taking on too many projects, highlighting the risk of burnout and the potential need to charge lower rates when stretched too thin. Tania shares her personal approach of avoiding long-term commitments:

Tania (00:54): "I don't like to have too many lined up, partly because picture books take ages... I never sign those four book deals and things anymore because it just feels... you're just mapping your life out too far in advance."

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Pricing and Rush Fees

Katie Chappell introduces the concept of "rush fees," a strategy to manage last-minute requests without compromising one's schedule or financial stability:

Katie (01:38): "If you really need it, and they really need it now but I'm busy, then I say it's going to cost a lot more because I'm going to have to upset a few other people and I'll do that, but I need a whole lot more money."

Helen adds context from the design industry, likening rush fees to those commonly used in advertising:

Helen (02:15): "Rush Fees and the advertising industry always know about rush fees because they're always coming last minute with newspaper deadlines."

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Scheduling and Time Management

A significant portion of the discussion centers on effective scheduling. Helen advocates for proactive scheduling, ensuring that illustrators remain in control of their timelines:

Helen (04:05): "I give them a schedule for when I want to hear back from them... it makes you look professional."

Tania elaborates on setting clear boundaries and maintaining a structured workflow to prevent chaos:

Tania (04:38): "Set some boundaries... exactly. Set boundaries, yeah."

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Client Communication and Feedback

Effective communication with clients is pivotal. The hosts stress the necessity of clear, written feedback to avoid misunderstandings:

Helen (10:40): "The best way for me to get feedback is on like a PDF, if they can circle the thing they want changed because that really helps."

Katie highlights the challenges of managing client expectations and ensuring timely responses:

Katie (07:54): "If they start adding it in the email thread, I'm like, I'm going to miss one email and then you're going to come back to me and I'm going to have to redo it again."

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Setting Boundaries and Contracts

Establishing firm boundaries through contracts is a recurring theme. Helen emphasizes the importance of having clients commit to deadlines and revisions within the contract:

Helen (12:34): "It's like a marriage and relationships... you can talk to them and just say, you're driving me mad with this, I don't agree with you."

This approach ensures that both parties have clear expectations and reduces the likelihood of endless revisions.

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Tools and Techniques

The discussion touches upon the use of project management tools like Trello to organize and schedule multiple projects effectively. Tania expresses interest in learning more about Katie's use of such tools to enhance scheduling efficiency.

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Differences in Publishing Sectors

The hosts compare the dynamics of different publishing sectors, noting that educational nonfiction may operate more systematically compared to the creative and often unpredictable nature of picture book publishing. Helen shares her experience working on a children's encyclopedia, highlighting the extensive coordination required:

Helen (16:53): "We almost did the whole book in roughs before we got the sign off for each rough and going on to final artwork."

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Notable Quotes

• Tania (00:32): "Don't take on too many. For a start, figure out do you want to do them all at once because the B word illustrator's burnout."
• Katie (01:38): "If you really need it, and they really need it now but I'm busy, then I say it's going to cost a lot more..."
• Helen (04:05): "I give them a schedule for when I want to hear back from them... it makes you look professional."
• Helen (10:40): "The best way for me to get feedback is on like a PDF, if they can circle the thing they want changed..."
• Helen (12:34): "It's like a marriage and relationships... you can talk to them and just say, you're driving me mad with this, I don't agree with you."

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Conclusions and Final Thoughts

By the episode's end, the hosts reinforce the importance of proactive management, clear communication, and setting firm boundaries to handle multiple illustration projects successfully. They encourage illustrators to adopt professional scheduling practices, utilize project management tools, and assertively negotiate terms that protect their creative integrity and personal well-being. Ultimately, the discussion serves as a valuable guide for illustrators aiming to navigate the complexities of a busy creative career without compromising on quality or passion.

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Join The Good Ship Illustration community for more insights, support, and no-nonsense advice to sail smoothly through your illustration career.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to our business chats on our podcast.

[B]

Got more good questions?

[C]

Shall I read the first one out? Yeah. So it is about. It's from a Drawbury studio who says how do you handle deadlines when managing multiple projects at once?

[B]

And I said please let me know.

[C]

Me too.

[A]

Yeah. Don't take on too many. For a start, figure out do you want to do them all at once because the B word illustrator's burnout. Yeah, you can do. You can really stretch yourself too thin and if you are doing too many you might be charging too low. That's my first thought because you probably can only do two or three. I couldn't do more than that over a period of time.

[C]

I don't like to have too many lined up, partly because picture books take ages. So if I had a lot lined up, that's years of my life planned out. So I never sign those four book deals and things anymore because it just feels. Yes, you're just mapping your life out too far in advance. Yeah, just don't take on too much work. But usually I've found in publishing anyway. If I get offered a job but I'm really busy, but I really want to do it, I'll just tell them I'll busy and then they'll have a little meeting and come back and say what about next year? When. When is your next slot? We'll book you in for that. So it's always worth. Instead of just fitting yourself around the project and killing yourself and working all hours and not speaking to the publisher about it, it's much better to tell them what the situation is and see if they can work with you.

[A]

It's such a genteel world, the world of publishing, isn't it? Let's have a look at it next year, my dear. I'm just imagining design groups going, we have a client want to do this now.

[C]

There are times where it's time sensitive and they really need it now. But in those situations I say if you really need it. If I really want to do it and they really need it now but I'm busy, then I say it's going to cost a lot more because I'm going to have to upset a few other people and I'll do that, but I need a whole lot more money. So it's a really good way of getting a bit more money.

[B]

When I was at college they called that a headless chicken fee.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

If you've got a good and get it done you can. But it'll cost you.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Rush Fees and the advertising industry always know about rush fees because they're always coming last minute with newspaper deadlines. And this has to be in the press by Thursday. Blahdy, blahdy, blah. But I think books as well. It sounds like you really need to be in the zone. You can't just be doing multiple things as a picture book illustrator because it's such a unique form of creation that you've got to live and breathe it. And that alone. It would be so false in a way if you had other stuff on top and you were mentally swapping between your creative brains.

[C]

There are people who do that who take on a lot of projects and seem to work very quickly and be able to switch between projects. It's definitely not the way that I work. I can't do that. I'm really invested in my picture book for that period of time. Really invested. I don't really want to be working on anything else while I'm doing it. Although with some publishers there can be really big gaps. So you're handing your roughs and you might wait six weeks for your feedback. So then it's handy to have another publisher at the same time because in those six weeks you can be doing roughs for somebody else.

[A]

That's what I was thinking in terms of longer projects like design based projects, you could schedule the feedback waiting time and you can give them the feedback waiting time so that you can fit in other projects. I think the biggest thing is scheduling, isn't it? And having, I didn't really realize, early illustrator activity where someone gives you a job and you think, yeah, I'll do it. And you don't even think you can give them dates for roughs and for delivery of final artwork. But there are loads of micro stages in between that that as an illustrator you need to schedule so you don't waste a week while you thought they would come back with revisions in a day, but they don't come back for two weeks. You can't actually afford two weeks downtime because your client's late and they still want you to keep to the same deadline. So taking control of the schedules yourself is a really good way.

[C]

Do you give them a schedule for when you want to hear back from them?

[A]

Yeah, I do now because I just think if they've given me a deadline, I can tell them this is the way I can deliver the work you want on time. But you have to promise me you give me full feedback all collated into one one document without messing me around and calling me a couple of days later. With three more editions, it has to come in one round, all put together, and then we will be able to meet your deadline. So I think being proactive, writing them a schedule, a, it makes you look professional. Quite often private clients are quite shocked by that, but in a good way.

[C]

Yeah. This all comes from years of experience, doesn't it? You ended up having to write those guidelines because of being left in that position loads of times. And when you've been through it a few times, you think, okay, I've got to organize this now. I'm going to make a document that's. Set some boundaries. Exactly. Set boundaries, yeah.

[A]

And also, when I worked, there was one design agency I used to work a lot with, and they became really good friends, like Bella and Julia at Origin. And Bella would run the schedules for multiple different jobs. And she would show me the schedules, and it was a revelation. I was like, oh, okay, I could do this, couldn't I? And she said, you mean you don't do it? I was like, no, I just draw till I think I'm ready and then hand it over. She was like, no, we're brethren. Design and illustration are associate really associated in terms of client management and client delivery. And because. Because as illustrators, you often have the. I can't think of the word. The art director looks after you. They tell you what their schedules are, and you just think, okay, I'll do the drawing and hand it over and you deal with the client. But when you go out and deal with a client on your own, you have to adopt all the stuff that the design agencies use to manage the client. Otherwise it just becomes chaotic and you get endless revisions. But adding other jobs on top of it, having multiple jobs really complicates it. So you do have to write a schedule for everything and then know that you can maybe squeeze in a couple of other little jobs on top of it. But whatever, you do it in a way that you avoid burnout and headless chickenry and charge for it. If you can avoid it and say to someone, I've got a lot of stuff on other projects on at the moment, but if you really need me to do it and you really need me to do it now, then it will be almost double rates or whatever it takes to manage that job, because you'll probably be working till midnight, doing one in the evening and one in the day. But what I wish I understood was Katie's use of trello and things like that. Because that's when I think you can really write functional schedules for two or Three different clients simultaneously.

[B]

Yeah. And I get to a point because of the. When the job's confirmed, it gets moved into like the jobs board for that month and it gets a point where I look at the jobs board, I'm like, that's enough jobs for that month. And I've got a banner on my website that says, like, now booking for the month that I'm booking for. So at the moment it says November because we're recording this in October. But now November is getting quite full and I want to take December pretty much off. So I'll be changing it to looking for January 2025. And that really helps because it's the first boundary that I've set and if a client gets in touch and they're like, we need this next week, I'm like, firstly, you haven't respected my boundary that I've set. You failed the first test. Congratulations. But then I can talk to them and if it sounds really exciting and they've got a good budget, maybe. But I always feel like the boundaries that you set, if they start trampling on them at an early stage, that's a really good red flag and it's worth paying attention to that sort of thing. But yeah, try as much as I can to book stuff in advance, even though they're events, so it's a day, so they're booked into my calendar. That really helps. The further in advance the better because I really struggle with like projects where it's like the roughs at this stage and then we're going to do this stage and then we need feedback because, yeah, there's so much client management, like, you say you've got to discipline the client and be like, if you don't give me feedback on this day, I can't make that deadline work.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

So you've got. I will need the feedback in one email because that's another thing. If they start adding it in the email thread, I'm like, I'm going to miss one email and then you're going to come back to me and I'm going to have to redo it again and then export it again. So it's really. I don't like projects like that.

[A]

How long are your encounters per client? How long are your dates with them?

[B]

So on average, sometimes people get in touch a year in advance, which is amazing. Wow. And they want to get booked in most of the time it's in two weeks time, which I really try so hard to get away from it. But I think events, because they're like we're organizing the event, blah, blah, blah. And then they have a meeting and the CEOs, I've just seen this thing called Graphic Recording. Could we get an illustrator? And they're like, yes, I found Katie Chapel. And then they're like, we need you in two weeks time. And it's. Two weeks is the absolute minimum because we've got a. I'm very strict about them signing a contract now because then that just confirms they're definitely going ahead. And if they don't go ahead, they still have to pay. Like, that's not my problem. If they have a change of plan.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then we've got to get all the information about the event. I've got a book, travel or set up the links to the online event. And yeah, in my experience, anything less than two weeks is horrible because they can't get stuff turned around fast enough and it's a mess and they don't mean it. And I'm like, if they're thinking about it less than two weeks in advance, I'm glad you found me now. But next event, call me.

[A]

That's a bit like maps, where people say, in April, I'm thinking, we need a map for the new tourist season. So when does it. When does the tourist season begin? April 1st. That will be for next year, but not this year. But when you're working with your clients, how long are you with them on a project? A day or a week, or bear with them.

[B]

Probably a week. A week or two before we'll have a meeting to talk about their event and then I'm with them at the event and then.

[C]

And how long's the event?

[B]

Like a day, two days, an hour, depends. They're all different. And then after that, sometimes there's tweaks to do and I say, please allow me four working days. I don't work Fridays to do the edits. And that's when things can get a bit tricky. If I've got. I'm fully in events all week and then another client from two weeks ago, I've got some changes now. That's when I'm like, oh my God. And that's when it gets not nice because I have to stay up late or get up at 5 in the morning to do them. So I try not to do that.

[A]

Yeah. But mostly the job usually lasts say a day and then. So you've got your run up and then your.

[B]

A couple of weeks after, I'll chat and then, yeah, send the things in. Like, how was it for you?

[A]

But the Information's really complex, doesn't it? Do you find if someone's talking to you from two weeks ago about some aspect of the talk they gave you, like, oh, what was that stuff again about?

[B]

Yeah, they were like, could you change this point? And I'm like looking at my illustration, like, why did I write that? Where's Wally? On your own illustration. I've got to change something, but I don't know where it is.

[A]

But it's really complicated, isn't it? You see the sciences or businesses. It's really esoteric material which you must understand in the moment as you're working on it, because they briefed you on it and you're in the conference and you get it all and you know what you're doing and then two weeks later. Hasn't your brain chunked it all out by then and you can't remember.

[B]

I do ask if you can. The best way for me to get feedback is on like a PDF, if they can circle the thing they want changed because then that really helps. I know exactly what they mean. Especially if I've drawn the same thing twice or like a similar point. Yeah, but yeah, just training your clients to being better clients.

[A]

And yeah, the visual feedback makes such a difference. If people verbally describe a point in a picture that's wrong without you being able to see what they want or where they want it moved to or replaced with. It's really impossible. They're just words.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's so different to the world of publishing because if I've worked with a publisher who don't get back to me for months on end, I just end up deciding I'll leave the publisher. I very rarely leave a publisher and move to a new publisher. It's a rare thing now, but early days, when I was trying to find the right publisher, you'd have a. You'd have an experience making a book with a publisher. They would take ages to get back to you. And then the list of changes were. Seemed unreasonable and difficult and then you'd do them all and then they'd say, I preferred it before or. And now we've thought of this.

[A]

Oh no.

[C]

Yeah. But in the world of publishing it's very difficult. Yeah, they can do that. It's very difficult to shout at them. Yeah, you can't really get them to agree to come back to you within a week. You could ask them to, but they might not. But you're in a contract now and that contract, making that book is a long term project. So what I've done Over the years is every time I've worked with a publisher like that, I've realized it's an in house systems thing and there's nothing much I can do about it. There's something's happening. Usually the staff are unhappy there. People keep leaving. That's why they take ages to get back to you. There's some kind of system thing going on. And so I leave and I find a new publisher and then you land on your feet with one you like and then you just cling to them forever. You're like, I am never leaving you. I love you.

[A]

Like marriage and relationships. When Helen talks about publishing, oh, wow. When you said that thing about they want changes or they have other ideas afterwards, I'm just inside my brain, I'm screaming because that's the bit I dislike most of all. So I put that in the contract. And in fact, in the business course we talk a lot about writing contracts and schedules and how to put the client through the sheep dip because you've just got to keep moving the gates correctly. That's the way they would treat their clients. So I'm not. This isn't anything untoward, but you've got to get sign off at every stage so there's no backtracking when they make revisions, all the revisions are written and they're not phone calls because then you can point back to what they asked you to do. And if they get to a second or third stage and say they want to revert, you can show that guided you through these stages. They've signed off at every stage. I make sure they give me an email that says, okay, we're happy with revisions too. We've signed off here. I keep that email and then go on to the next one, shut the gate behind them so there's no backtracking and lead them right towards the sheep dip through out at the end. And then there's the artwork.

[B]

And if that AOI template, the one that's like acceptance of commission says if they haven't said anything within seven days of you submitting the artwork, then it's okay.

[C]

You could not hold a publisher to that. You just could not. You couldn't. Yeah. If people are, then I'm amazed and I want to hear about it. Because the world of publishing is like you're a little team. You're your editor, you're your designer and the illustrator and you're working as a team and you giving each other creative feedback and you couldn't make the book without the three of you working together. In a really creative, trustful, happy way. And so when that is not going right, when all of that is going wrong, I do talk to them about it. But even after I've talked about if it's still going wrong, then I just feel like the only way to sort this out is actually to move on and find another team where that happens. It's like looking for the right chemistry. It is. It's like a marriage. It's looking for the right chemistry and publisher that you can talk to and just say, you're driving me mad with this, I don't agree with you. And you go, yeah, you're right, yeah, I am driving you mad and you're driving me mad. And then you get over it and you can carry on. That's when it's really working.

[A]

It must be because it's a. It's such a longer process to do a book that there's a perception there's time to move back and forwards and do a little dance and double check. But I think with design work and with graphic recording is so time sensitive, isn't it? Everything has to be optimized in terms of schedule. So everyone knows that you've got to get through to the end as easily as possible.

[C]

I'm also wondering about the world of. I'm in one very particular area of publishing. I am making a picture book, writing it and illustrating it. And we're all working towards this being the best picture book that we can make it be. What if you're working for an educational publisher? Maybe you're making books for schools or something like that. I've never done that kind of job. I'd be really interested to hear from people whether they have the kind of contract you have where you ask for a feedback within a week and then after that there are no changes. I actually don't know. I've not done those sort of jobs.

[A]

It must be. I would imagine that's how it works. I worked with Usborne on a children's encyclopedia and there was so much material to work through, even more than editorial, even more than design, because it was a bit like old fashioned encyclopedias. You've got maybe 20 or 30 single images per page. They find all the research, they send all the picture research to you, you interpret it and you go, yeah. The feedback stage. I think we almost did the whole book in roughs before we got the sign off for each rough and going on to final artwork. So I think they're probably a little bit more utilitarian. It's more like a machine in that kind of educational nonfiction area. But then again, beautiful nonfiction books, they're probably closer to the picture book where it's like giving birth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You can't do it quickly.

[C]

Yeah. But I bet there's a whole world of publishing where you are more like a. You're more like a jobbing illustrator. And I imagine with those kind of books, maybe you can be.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Do you think that answers everything today?

[B]

I think that wraps that one up nicely.

[C]

Okay, we're no good at saying goodbye. We're just gonna close the door behind us.

[A]

See you on the next podcast. Bye.