In the summer of 2016 I was asked to do my first ever commission which was a mural design in the ARTea Room in Towcester, a small vintage themed cafe. I worked part time at the tearoom so have a really good relationship with the owner. After he asked me to do the mural and due to the success of it he asked me to produce some illustrations for his new menu that he was designing.
Being a traditional style vintage tea room, one of their specialities is to do an afternoon tea which is a selection of cakes and sandwiches on a three tier cake stand. He wanted artwork that would support this section in the menu and that I should use what I know from the business to inspire my idea. From working there for almost three years on and off I knew how the cake stands, products, cups and saucers and tea pots looked like. So I used my own photos and memories as reference for these images.
When communicating with my old boss, I went in to see him to discuss face to face and he said he was happy for me to take control with what I was doing and the trusted me to create the illustrations for. This showed he had a lot of trust in me and that after the mural, he trusted my skills and art. It was nice to get work off the back of something that I has already done for the same person. It shows that he had trust in what I had done and it taught me, again, a real life client situation whereby I was commissioned for the work.
All of the illustrations are painted with water colour and then scanned in digitally and enhanced. The fact I sent them digitally as well means I could send them directly to the client quickly and efficiently. I produced 4 separate illustrations which I have been paid for in a bundle whereby I selected the pricing for the images. The style I used came easy to me and the illustrations were completed within a time period of a day, including roughs, producing the illustrations and getting it signed off by the client.
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| Afternoon tea cake stand |
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| Teapot with tea cosy |
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| Cup and saucer with spoon |
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| Clotted cream and jam with spoons |
From this project I have achieved a more in-depth set of skills about working with a client and producing work that they have asked for. I feel my images are of a high professional standard and really strong images that work well collectively and as stand alone images (maybe apart from the clotted cream and jam). So far I haven't seen any progress of these illustrations being used after the commission but I am just happy that I have produced something I am very happy with for a happy client.
I was a little nervous about being handed over complete creative control for this task and producing the illustrations with little input from the client as it was something I had never done before. I wanted the work to be of a high standard so I pushed myself to make sure there was a consistent style between each image and that they were all produced to the same standard and quality. As an end result I felt I did intact meet my expectations and maybe even have exceeded them a little bit. I knew that I was hardworking and applied myself to everything I do but I took my time and was very professional about the whole process from start to finish which really helped meet this clients brief.
After a few discussions with my client I had a small vision for what he wanted and therefore the expectations he had. He said he was confident in my ability and that he was expecting nothing but good things. On one hand this was added pressure but on the other it helped me set a bar for myself to work too as the client had such high expectations of my practice and the outcome. When the commission was complete I sent him by email a quote for the finished commissions. He expressed he was happy with the work and paid the amount and signed off the commission the next day.
Whilst the client was very happy with the illustrations, I could've taken a more professional approach and drawn out a few more ideas and rough sketches for the client to have an input on instead of just going head first into the design and sending him the result. This would've let the client see my progress and also have a better input on the work he was paying for rather than just having no progression sketches, just the final piece.
From this commission I have learn't more about how to conduct yourself to a job more professionally and how it is important to keep your client up to date with what you're doing by showing them the progression of their commissioned piece. I took a risk with not doing this and for this client it worked but that doesn't mean that it would work for any other client. Its important to understand that every client will be slightly different from the next.
I felt comfortable in this way of working once I had really applied myself to the task in hand. I have a better understanding of how this type of work would work and how its important to keep your client up to date with your progress. Now I have produced work for this client that he is happy with, it creates a stronger network for more work to come from this specific client. Because the job was done well and he was happy there is a potential for him to use my work again at a later date. In the industry, this may be something that really happens and I feel that it is a true reflective if I was doing this as full time job in the future.
From the commission I feel it has supported my ideas of this area of work and that I have built a better knowledge about how this area of freelance illustration and commissions work. I understand how jobs are more likely to arise from others and how it is sort of a chain reaction. The more work you produce and the way you promote yourself will affect who you're contacting by and how much work they will ask you to do and whether they will revisit your skills and expertise again.
Employer's Report Form:
I felt I professional applied myself to this commission. I had worked with the client before so had a good understanding of how they worked and how we worked together. I pride myself on being hard working and enthusiastic and to have feedback that compliments this is really positive and shows that I should be priding myself upon this. From the feedback as well it shows that I am reliable and it gives me confidence in my practice that he said he would work with me again in the future. There isn't many improvements I can take back from this feedback as it is all so positive. Maybe I should ask next time if there was anything at all I could improve on to self help my practice and improve a certain area.
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