Briefs / Commissions

What is a brief / commission?

A brief / commission is a set of instructions given someone to guide them through a particular task. For an illustration brief or commission you would receive a list of requirements for the task they are asking you to carry out. The brief / commission would usually include information such as what they actually want you to create, whether it be one illustration, a series or a full book, any influences they may want the images to portray, the sizes of the image, whether it will be digitally or traditionally created, how they would like it submitting, what format they want it in, the deadline and more which I will talk about later.

How can a brief help you?

A brief is a very helpful form of information. If the brief has been written correctly and includes everything needed then you are sure to know everything you are supposed to be doing and what they want from you. A brief can be in depth or just a few bullet points and I think depending on the requirements either form of brief would be acceptable. 

How can a brief hinder you?

A brief can be difficult to work with or understand if the person providing it has not gave you much information. There have been many cases where illustrators have had to have a lot of back and forth conversations because their client hasn't provided them with the correct information or not enough of it. There is not problem with asking questions and emailing but it would be a bit more convenient if the brief has everything in it which was needed to carry out the task.  

What do I need from a brief?

Here is a list of things that are expected to be included in a brief -

- A summary of the idea / concept. I would need to know what the story or idea around the illustrations is because then I would feel more involved with the project and my illustrations would relate better.

- What am I doing? I would need to know what they wanted from me. Do they want one illustration? A series? Or a full book maybe? This information is really important.

- I need to know if they want the illustrations in full colour or just specific colours or black and white. A colour pallet would be a nice thing to have but it is not necessary.

- I will need some brief descriptions of the images they want. 

- If there are characters / animals in the drawings then I would need to know what their characteristics are such as what they looks like, their hair / skin colour, what clothes they are wearing etc. 

- I will need to know what size the images have to be and if they require a bleed.

- I need to know what format they would like the image whether it be a jpeg or tiff etc.

- Another important one is how would they like it submitting? Do they want it digitally sent or do they want the original illustrations?

- The most important requirement on a brief is the deadline, this is important because i will need to plan my time correctly to fit in what I need to do for the client. 

What do I do once I have read the brief?

Once I have read the brief I will make notes on what I am being asked to do and write down any ideas which I have had whilst reading it. I will then proceed to do some research on any topics they have mentioned. 

How would I communicate with the client and when?

If I ever ran into any problems with the brief or needed some extra information I would either email the client, ring them or have a face to face meeting with them. If I had a phone call or meeting I would need to make thorough notes on what they tell me just to avoid confusion or misunderstanding. As for when I would communicate with them, I would make set intervals every few weeks of the brief for check ins with the client to make sure the work I am doing is going well for them and that they like the work I'm doing and if I had any questions for them I would just drop them an email when necessary. 

Write a brief / commission.

As a group task we had to write a brief or commission to a fellow student.

- A book cover for The Wizard of Oz.
- The cover must have a detailed border and a Wizard of Oz related image with emerald green shades.
- The cover must have room for the title, author name and illustrator name. 
- It must be A5 in size with a 5mm bleed.
- It must be submitted as a jpeg in cmyk at 72dpi.
- Digitally submitted via dropbox or email and a physical copy.
- Deadline 15/1/15 with check ins November 1st and December 10th.
- A poster which advertises the book. 
- Poster will be A2 in size.
-Digitally submitted as a jpeg in cmyk at 600dpi.
- Includes colour pallet from the poster and the border.
- Imagery related to the story.
- Information on the sale of the book, including release date which is 15/4/15.
- Author, Illustrator and book title.
- An A4 folded flier - open to creative suggestions.
- Information on the front of the flier.
- Full spread illustration on the inside and credits on the back.
- Same imagery relations to the book cover and poster.
- Digitally submitted as a jpeg and photoshop file in cmyk at 300dpi
- An editorial for an article.
- 400px x 400px at 72dpi
- jpeg in cmyk 
- Submitted digitally