How to work with Illustration Clients: Managing Revisions

[@TullaCreative]

Dear Kendyll, as always your advice is very clear and very useful, thank you for sharing your knowledge. The terms you've come up with seem very good. I carry scars from working with (small scale) clients as a graphic designer, and you learn a lot as you accumulate experience. I would like to add to some points you made: 1. Don't rush into accepting a project, and do not hurry to make calculations based on assumptions. I used to jump into all sorts of calculations, preparing detailed information and terms, right after an initial inquiry. Sometimes, after I spent a day preparing the proposal, I would never hear from them again. This amount of info could be frightening for the client as well. I try now to take it step by step, asking questions, learning what they need, which also gives me time to assess them and how our future interactions may go. 2. Avoiding "Gifts" - on many projects, mid-way through, I would have a brilliant idea, and add something to the design. I viewed it as a sort of gift I gave them, but they were oblivious to my gift - the efforts and time, and would keep coming with demands and corrections for it, and I felt I couldn't ask for additional money for something I came up with. This caused me much frustration. 3. "If you do this for me now, I have many more projects/friends to send you" - Flashing red alarm - this is my #1 indication this is not the client for me. They would usually want the initial project almost for free, waving this promise for future work, which never happens.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Great tips, Tulla! Thanks so much for sharing. :)

[@nerueru5756]

The proverb: the man who wants to build a tower must first count the cost. Is all well and good and Vague. Kendyll, I feel as if I just went to school. You shared with us an actual contract, explained the object lesson, stressed what the costs and concessions were. Thank you, you never keep anything close to your vest. You generosity is really boundless.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thanks so much, Kazu! What a nice, encouraging thing to hear. I'm so happy the video was helpful and clear! Hope you're having a lovely day. :)

[@TheQueenytheLu]

Thank you so much for this video! It was extremely helpful for a gal like me who is currently in the middle of a frustrating project where the client has gone way past 2 revisions and are now on their 6th revision (without any charges). I never had this type of client before so it was so new to me and started resenting my client before I finally set some boundaries. Now I know how to respond and to create a more firm agreement. 💕

[@KendyllHillegas]

Oh my, I feel you! That is so exasperating!! I hope the project has wrapped up well and that you feel ready to set some good boundaries next time!💪🏻💕

[@twiggyt]

Thank you for sharing this! The worst part for me is figuring out how to say, "OK, but..." politely, and I think your wording is excellent. Definitely saving this video for future reference!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Oh good! I'm so happy to hear that it's helpful for you. And I totally I agree that mastering the "OK, but..." is a major challenge!

[@LauraDiehl]

I've been working as an illustrator for a while now... and this is by far the clearest revisions clause and phase description I've seen. Thank you so much! =)

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you, Laura! That's great to hear. I feel like this subject isn't something people usually go into a lot of detail on, so I figured I'd share what I could. Hope it's helpful! :)

[@dereklavoie-art2488]

Thank you for the tips in your video. My current client is drowning me in revisions and I didn’t set up a proper agreement...lesson learned! I’m definitely going to incorporate your advice for future projects. Glad I found your channel, look forward to learning more from you!

[@KendyllHillegas]

You're welcome! And I'm sorry to hear that about your client -- that's such a tough position to be in and I feel your pain. When you're ready to look on the bright side, for me those kinds of situations have always been the best lessons. I'm sure you'll protect yourself better the next time! Good luck! 👍

[@myartpixie]

So helpful! I'm a children's book illustrator and so the scope is so important and revisions always happen. I'm learning to set those boundaries and you have great tips. Thanks so much!

[@KendyllHillegas]

So happy to hear it was helpful for you! And wow - yes, I can definitely imagine that with illustrating children's books minimizing scope creep would be a major challenge. Thanks for letting me know that you liked the video, and thanks for watching! :)

[@9chloie]

Wow. Really helpful, even though I'm not working with any corporate clients yet 👍🏻. That bit about letting people see the work mid-process is so true too 😹

[@KendyllHillegas]

So glad to hear it was helpful! Thank you for watching. :) And YES - must avoid frightening the clients with mid-process work!😳😰😉

[@doras1887]

This is soo helpful! Honestly this is my favourite channel to go for professional advice for illustrators

[@aratakitheoneandoniitto]

Great video, very thorough and detailed! Thanks

[@sierrakellermeyer6241]

Good stuff! I like how simple and easy to understand you've made your client process. When I was starting out as a graphic designer, contracts and terms seemed so complicated and intimidating. I wish I had seen a video like this three years ago- would have saved me from a lot of trial and error.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you, Sierra! I felt the same way - finding clear info on working with clients a few years ago would've saved me some major headaches too! Hopefully it'll be helpful to folks just starting out now. Thanks again for the kind note - it's encouraging to hear what other people take away from these videos. :)

[@marciacocco]

Your videos are sooo helpful! Thank you so much

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you so much, Marcia! That's just lovely to hear and I'm thrilled it was helpful for you.

[@artesallano3823]

You are such an inspiration and a True Teacher!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you so much! That's such a lovely compliment, and made me very happy to hear!

[@darrylquinn2355]

Thankyou! This was very helpful and clear advice!

[@ErikaLancasterArt]

This was very helpful and thorough. Thanks so much!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Glad to hear it! 👍🏻☺️

[@BrandyKelleyArtVids]

This was super helpful! You touched on points I hadn't even thought of before. Thank you!!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Oh good! I'm very happy to hear that.

[@curateddaisies4128]

Thanks for your advice kendyll, so helpful to see how it all plays out in real life, had these ideas in mind but it's like how many and where along the process? so your video was very useful. In terms of billing extra revisions an hour, do your clients start asking for time sheets? i.e you then have to start proving how long you spent on changes because you gave them an hourly rate. (or do they even start breaking the original fee by hour and wondering about your fee because you gave them your hourly rate) I'm at the beginning of my real business journey and i'd like to give a percentage or a flat fee for additional changes. In your practice have you tried this? what were the pros and cons. I want to put something like 1 additional opportunity to request major chages (composition and layout) costs £??,1 Additional opportunity to request minor changes cost £??. feel like it might deter people from being extremely undecisive and i don't have to start official records of time (though i'd do that internally so make sure my processes are efficient).

[@SandrineAnterrion]

Worst ever client so far was one who asked me to do ONE fashion logo, who disapproved on all shapes of corsets, hips, lengths, curves, legs: for ONE pair of jeans. I foolishly charged very little because it was one contour illustration only. Every day he changed his mind about what was wrong or right, contradicting himself over and over, inventing edits as he went along: all this before paying the rest of the fee. One day he wanted curvier in one specific place, then it was too curvy, the next “distorted”... All conversations were by email, but he drove me round the bend about stupid details, for weeks, for a tiny tiny fee. I never had a photo to work with. Lesson learnt. SOME CLIENTS IN ILLUSTRATION (AND OTHER SECTORS) ARE BASICALLY CASTRATED CHARACTERS, PROJECTING THEIR PERSONAL FAILURES AND FEARS ONTO THEIR STAFF, FAMILY OR SUBCONTRACTORS.

[@jeffsfolio]

I am very impressed with your knowledge in the matter. You have made my life so much easier. I no longer have to give the same spiel to my students, I can send them here :). Thanks for taking the time to create such a good resource.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Wow, thanks! Glad to hear it was helpful. :)

[@johnnybless6420]

Would you mind sharing a template to fill in with the details for the agreement such as price, and delivery date?

[@elyskachapman1704]

This was fantastic, definitely saving for future reference!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you, Elyska! :)

[@blancaochoa]

Wow! So much information!! Thank you for the effort on doing this video. If in the future I consider doing commisions I will be sure to come back to this :) Now I think of you I cant stop thinking about the donuts from last week!!

[@KendyllHillegas]

I'm so happy to hear it was helpful! And we're in the same boat regarding those donuts - I think I might have to take another trip up there again this weekend! :)

[@sarahaweida5537]

Thank you very much! that was very helpful :)

[@annotatedaudrey]

Great video! You always give us such useful info!!! Thanks so much.

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thanks, Audrey! I'm really happy to hear that you liked it!

[@TheBeastlyBit]

Really helpful. I have subscribed. Thank you.

[@leighannenight]

Hi Kendyll, wow, such useful information. When drawing up your initial client agreement, do you charge an hourly rate or do you have a set overall price with only additional hourly charges when they exceed the agreement? Or, do you charge an hourly rate throughout with an increase in price when agreement is exceeded?

[@KendyllHillegas]

Hi Leigh, glad to hear you found the video useful! I always charge a flat rate, and increase the price by the hour if the client goes beyond the scope of the agreement in their revision requests.

[@cmichaud04]

This was very helpful and a good overall video. Could you provide some insight on how much extra you charge for your out of scope revisions, in terms of sort of a percentage? For example if you charge $60/hr, and you give your "this will cost an additional $___" are you charging a fraction of that 60 for the revisions (or a higher percentage even) or do you remain consistent at that rate for all work? If the former, what do you typically base that alternate rate on? Sorry if that was confusing at all, I hope to hear from you. Thanks and keep the videos up you do an excellent job!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thanks, Craig! I'll address this in more detail in my next Q&A, but for now I'll just say that I charge my usual hourly rate for revisions and I disclose that in the working agreement. I wouldn't want to discount my rate for revisions, as this might encourage clients to ask for them willy nilly, and I find when that happens that they sometimes don't pay such close attention at the earlier phases of the project, inevitably resulting in frustration for them and me later on. Hope that makes sense!

[@cmichaud04]

great point Kendyll, thanks again!

[@EmiCrazyDoll]

hi Kendill, this is a great video, took some notes to start a contract, I want to start illustrations as a job. but I was wondering that, if the client adds the ice cream in the final stage, would you add another sketch and final revision for free? or charge the double as you're doing the job all over again or like strictly the additional hours you spend in those changes? thanks for all the help, I love you're videos :)

[@KendyllHillegas]

Hi Catherine, glad you liked the video. :) If a client added something compositional in the final stage, I'd tell them that it would cost extra, and then bill at my hourly rate. I have it in my contract that that's what would happen for revisions beyond the scope of the project, so the client agrees to that going in. Hope that helps! :)

[@paulcoxdraws]

Hey, thanks for the video. it's very helpful. One question I have is whether you show the the revised sketch to the client after their revision requests, or if you just move right into the final design after creating the sketch. My fear with showing the revised drawing after completing their revision request is that they would assume you are asking if they have more revisions for you. Does that make sense? Thanks!

[@KendyllHillegas]

That's a great question! It's up to you, but if you do decide to show it and you're NOT wanting to make additional changes, just be sure to clearly state that you're sending the sketch for final approval and that additional edits will expand the timeline and scope 👍🏻

[@ceriyork1710]

Super helpful. Thanks xx

[@KendyllHillegas]

Glad to hear it! :)

[@danikap1851]

Hey Kendyll! I absolutely adore your work and your videos have been so insightful! It'd be interesting to see how you organise your projects, do you use a to-do list on paper? Or maybe spreadsheets? Keep doing what you're doing, it's great!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you, Danika! I've actually just filmed a video about this topic, which should publish two weeks from today! Stay tuned! :)

[@christianaodum6408]

Great advice!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you, Christiana! :)

[@IrisMG]

This makes a lot of sense. Thank you!

[@KendyllHillegas]

So glad to hear it! Thank you, Iris! :)

[@frog7380]

this video was super helpful

[@KendyllHillegas]

I'm so glad to hear that! Thanks, Dylan! :)

[@707jmc]

Thank you!

[@Bobyfototube]

Thanks so much that was really helpful ;-)

[@KendyllHillegas]

Really glad to hear that! :)

[@chantalhoreis1929]

Hi Kendyll! Thank you so much for your videos, especially for this one, which was just what I was looking for at the moment :-) I am communicating with my first client right know and wish I had seen the video yesterday XD I had a few moments where I was like: "oh no, Mistake", "ah, Mistake Nr.2!"... I know this is not absolute and you are just giving advice but I learned a lot of things I can do better next time. Thanks a lot and have a great day :-)

[@KendyllHillegas]

Hi Chantal! Thanks for your note, and I'm so happy to hear that you liked the video! The client situation you're describing sounds all too familiar -- I've definitely been there. :( I always tell myself that one of the good things about freelancing is that it's just one client, one project at a time. So for the most part, even if you get in a bad situation it'll be time-limited and you can do something different with the next client. I know that doesn't fix anything right now, but it's how I encourage myself when I'm in that kind of a spot. Good luck!

[@chantalhoreis1929]

+Kendyll Hillegas I think that this is a good way to deal with that. It is also easier for me to stick to the agreement instead of arguing about it later (as long as it is acceptable for me of course). Thanks again ! :-)

[@TheDawningRemedy]

Great stuff! Thanks for uploading :)

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you! Glad you liked it! :)

[@johnnybless6420]

If you make it clear from the get-go. They will understand they will make changes that will cost them more than when you started off.

[@VestaraSkywalker]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@KendyllHillegas]

Thank you, Mara! I'm glad to hear it!

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i am composer, so my experience is : rarely show a sketch of the start only , or any sketch that YOU don’t feel like showing

[@IrshadAhamed]

Thanks, better if you can reduce the time.