Thank you so much for taking my suggestions on the Children's Book Hiring Guide. I've already seen a difference in the specificity of job requests. I can't THANK you enough!
However, I'm still encountering the same kind of problem with other types of illustration. AI can be super helpful for a lot of things, but sometimes the AI exact repetition of the job listed below is so demoralizing, that I've often thought of completely giving up on Upwork.
"This project requires creativity, attention to detail, and the ability to bring characters and scenes to life.
Skills required:
- Strong drawing and sketching skills
- Ability to illustrate characters and scenes in various styles
- Understanding of color theory and composition
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
- Ability to meet deadlines and work within a budget..."
ANY halfway decent illustrator above high school age already knows they can do ALL those things. Even with the US Only category, job descriptions like this are so vague that artists like me feel we are desperately gambling our Connects on the dim hope that we might come up with a living wage. If you want to keep me and others on your platform, here's what artists REALLY need to know.
- What style does the client want? If you could ask them to download an image of the style th0e like off the internet and include it, that would be SUPER helpful. Words like "colorful" and "whimsy" could equally be applied to Beatrix Potter or Manga. If images are hard to put into words, give us images.
- How many pages/pictures/pieces does the client need for fixed-price contracts? This is a HUGE issue. Without that information, it's like asking a plumber for a quote when he's never seen your bathroom and has no idea where the leak is. For example, I often come across high-budget projects. If I know how much work is involved, I can divide the number of pieces by the total budget and see if it's anywhere close to a decent rate. Often what seems like a promising opportunity comes down to something horrible like $4 a page, before the Upwork fee. Those are just the jobs where I know the scope of work. Most of the time, artists have to go through all the time to apply and just hope it's a living wage.
- Does the client want digital art or traditional media? I didn't even know traditional media clients or artists were on this platform, but I recently had a very time-consuming and frustrating encounter with a client about it. A lot of corporate clients already know about digital, but not all private commissioners do. They need to understand that digital art is made ON a computer, usually with a stylus and graphics programs. Traditional media is real paint on canvas or drawings on paper. My client didn't know why a digital artist would have answered her ad and got angry at me for wasting her time. I explained that digital colored pencil-style drawings look exactly like traditional media, take less time and money, and are easily uploaded through the platform. Traditional media either needs to be shipped, or scanned or photographed before upload. If it's a large work, scanners are rarely large enough to scan the entire image, so you have to do multiple scans and digitally piece them together to upload. I've done it, it's a horrible, time-consuming process because scan pieces rarely match properly. It's better than photography, where unless you have a custom camera set up and lighting, you get distortion and loss of image quality. All that time and specialized equipment means extra expenses for the client and they should know that. When I explained all this to my angry client, instead of getting mad at herself or Upork, she got mad and blocked me. I was lucky she didn't give me a bad review to "shoot the messenger."
- With digital art, size doesn't matter. I've had a lot of clients think small drawings should be cheaper. It takes time to explain that digital art can be scaled to any size. Also, drawing smaller is very hard. Imagine a traditional media miniature portrait smaller than 5 inches. Could you do that? I'm a **bleep** good artist and I can't. My dad was a miniaturist, so I know what I'm talking about. If you have miniaturists on this platform, they are an expert specialty and should cost more, not less.
Think about how long it takes for an artist to apply for a job. We need to adapt our cover letters to fit the project, upload images, and add Upwork jobs or portfolio links. It's a LOT of time. Time we'd prefer to make your clients happy by giving them the art they want and saving them time and money while doing it.
Please help us do that. Artists won't give up on Upwork as often.
P.S. I've attached some digital paintings and drawings I made ON my computer. Could you tell the difference between traditional paint or pencil?
**Edited for Community Guidelines**
