One of the hardest elements of being an illustrator is THE QUOTE! How much to charge? I know how much I value my time and work but it doesn’t always follow that the client will agree. If the client agrees on the fee without a blink of an eye you think “could I have got more?” Occasionally when I’ve quoted for a job the designer/account manager will let me know I’ve quoted too little and I could actually put my price up a bit. This is rare though mostly they tell you it’s too high! I think I’d prefer a straightforward system where the client just offered you a budget and then you could work out whether it was worth your while. It would take the game show element out of it where you have to guess right in order to win the job.

In a world of diminishing budgets is the fear of the client looking at the balance sheet rather than the easel destroying the future of illustration?

Illustration agent Anna Goodson’s having a go at figuring this out on her blogspace and surprisingly finds the illustrators themselves to blame.

Frederik Peeters talks to Elizabeth Day of The Guardian about his bestselling graphic novel, Blue Pills, about his young family coming to terms with HIV.
Blue Pills is available from Amazon

The Royal Schools in Ireland – 400th Anniversary Book
IGI member Jonathan McHugh was recently asked to contribute a number of illustrations for inclusion in a hardback coffee table book to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Schools in Ireland in 1608.  The five Royal Schools – in Donegal, Cavan, Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh – all worked together to produce the book to mark the occasion and to focus on their long histories.
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The Spring issue of START Magazine – arts and culture of the south-east – is now available for download.  This issue features articles on 2 IGI illustrators in the region, Alé Mecado and Karen Nolan

The Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards Shortlist 2008 was announced today, with Olivers Jeffers among those shortlisted for his picture book ‘The Way Back Home’. The winners will be announced on May 22nd 2008.

If you are interested in what ruined comics and left us with ‘decades of censorship and wimpy white-bread superheroes cast as role models for the youth of America’ David Hajdu’s new book ‘The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America’ might be worth getting. This New Yorker review by Louis Menand is worth a read.

I noticed this full page painted illustration in the Sunday Independent. It’s for a new RTE show called Marry Me. Don’t know who is responsible but its a very good job, the illustration I mean not the show, which I’m sure is vomit-inducing. It’s a take on Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (obviously) but it’s a charming piece done with a fair amount of skill. Not sure if its completely original but either way it’s pretty good.

Anyone know who did it?

UPDATE: This came in from Jeff Wack….
Hi BRENB,

This was a fun job from Stephen Rodgers [AD] for the TV show. I can quickly answer the process of execution. I shot an old beat up Boticelli poster , digitally removed figures, painted back in all missing detail and integrated new face, hands, costuming,etc. to “Venus” adding some additional background elements. Feel free to check out
any additional work at http://jeffwack.com/ . I also have a new” Venus” up on my other website http://sensuousmuse.com/ . All the best!! JW

Fintan Taite sends us in another interesting post. This week it’s about a book he thought we might be interested in having a look at.

Kwik and Kwak by Oscar Fabres is an odd little slice of social history I found on eBay a couple of years back. The premise and artwork is so weird I couldn’t resist buying it. (more…)

Don Quichotte Website and Magazine has just announced its 3rd International Cartoon Contest. The theme to illustrate this year is “World Languages”! Professional and amateur cartoonists are invited to send their cartoons by email to donquichotte@donquichotte.at – Deadline: 31 July 2008 – Cartoon Contest Rules – First Prize: $1000 – Updated Cartoons Gallery. Mario Sughi is a Don Quichotte Committee Member and the Don Quichotte representative for Ireland!!!!!

Following on from The Irish Blog Awards 2 weeks ago comes this ’step by step’ from IGI member Fintan Taite, showcasing the process in illustrating the cover for the first novel by perennial award winning blogger Twenty Major. (more…)