An illustrator can produce custom artwork, drawings, and images to suit almost any purpose. They combine freehand drawing with specialised computer software to create simple or sophisticated images. Here are some ways you can work with an illustration artist:

Book illustrations

Have you written a book? You can hire a book illustrator to bring your storybook to life - especially if it’s aimed at children. They’ll create original characters and drawings that follow your storyline to make it more engaging to young readers. Your book illustrator may also design a cover that draws attention to help boost sales.

Caricatures and cartoons

Many illustrators specialise in drawing likenesses from an image or photograph. These can make a great gift for a friend or family member, or become part of your marketing collateral to help tell a story. Your illustrator may choose parts of the subject’s face or body to accentuate as part of their comical drawing. Caricatures are quick to create - you’ll often find them in tourist areas with high foot traffic. But you can also find an illustrator online to help create your drawings.

Advertising and marketing illustrations

Want unique advertising and marketing material? Hire an illustrator to create images that fit cleverly with your content to help communicate your business message. Firstly, they’ll discuss how you want to use the marketing material and do some research, before developing a design concept. Once you’ve agreed on a concept, they’ll finalise their drawings and provide a vector image for your graphic designer to incorporate into your marketing collateral. If your illustrator is also providing logo design and graphic design services, they’ll place the illustration into a layout file (usually in Adobe InDesign) and finalise the entire document so it’s ready for printing.

Animations

From popular GIFs through to short animated clips and longer video-style productions, the freelance illustrator can use their creative skills to deliver animations that communicate your message. Firstly, they’ll design images or characters that align with your brand or personal style. Next, they’ll develop a storyboard to plan out what needs to happen during the animation. Finally, your illustrator will put it all together using software like Autodesk Maya, Adobe Animate, or Blender to produce your animation.