How Much Does It Cost To Create Custom Illustration or Graphics

As a brand, you have a lot of ideas and plans in mind, but how do you make them a reality? You need to plan it out and put it into a sketch. If you’re a brand trying to sell a new product or service, you need proper illustrations to make your audience believe in your brand and deliver the exact message to help them understand better.

In this article, You’ll learn about:

• Understanding custom illustrations: Let’s explore what custom illustrations are, learn about the basics of what an illustration can do for a brand, what an illustrator does, and the scope of work.
• How much does it cost to create custom illustrations: Here, we’ll look into the pricing, costs, and considerations defined by categories, as well as how much it can cost to create illustrations that rebuild your brand.
• Personal opinion: Here are some personal opinions and tricks to help you create custom illustrations within a budget.

Many businesses invest time in creating illustration art to power up their brand identity. To achieve proper success for your business, you need to ensure that your target audience and clients recognize your brand through custom illustrations. In this article, I have created a small guide to help you understand the price you need to pay for custom illustrations.

What are Custom Illustrations?

Custom illustrations are artworks created by skilled artists that present concepts, written text, and tones. They can be used online or in printed materials such as books, magazines, product packaging, and even on customized merchandise.

You can find illustrations online, but they come with a price as they’re not original, and there’s no brand identity you can create with them. Either way, if you consider yourself a skilled artist, you can create DIY illustrations online using different tools. However, it’s quite difficult to create your own identity, so it’s better to have your own illustrator do this. We’ll look into what an illustrator does in a bit.

There are different types of creative visuals you can use as part of custom illustrations, each delivering a different message to the audience. Most widely used custom illustrations include brand mascots, branding illustrations, comic illustrations, product and portrait illustrations, and conceptual illustrations.

Now, is there a professional who can do illustrations and elevate your brand image?

What Does an Illustrator Do?

Illustrators are skilled professional artists who create sketches, draw concepts, and design products to bring ideas to life. They help transform ideas into visual representations for a brand’s purpose. Illustrators often work closely with graphic designers, and sometimes people confuse the two.

Let me explain the difference. Illustrations are used to convey ideas or showcase a product, while graphic design focuses on communicating in a way that pushes the target audience to take action or feel inspired. Graphic design involves the combination of imagery, text, and color, while illustrators create original images through drawing, sketching, and painting, uniquely evoking human emotions. Illustrators also help in the branding and marketing of products.

Businesses can hire different types of illustrators. Some hire in-house illustrators if they need a continuous output of work or require constant check-ins. Expert illustrators are needed more often than expected for brands related to advertising and publishing agencies.  The cost of hiring a freelance illustrator versus an in-house illustrator where to provide quality work illustrations rates varies.

Most of the time, small businesses seek custom illustrations for specific projects, so freelance illustrators are often hired. However, the downfall is that they have multiple clients and will often be working on these projects, making compromises on quality.  Graphic designers can also be considered for illustrating projects if they have the required skills. So, if you haven’t had prior experience hiring an illustrator, you can also check for professional graphic designers skilled in this niche.

Now, moving on to the cost, here I have included all costs related to illustrations based on different criteria and pricing adjustments.

How Much Does it Cost to Create Custom Illustrations?

As a business, it’s more convenient to have a proper budget assigned for everything. It makes things easier and less stressful for you. When it comes to the rates for illustration, they can vary according to the illustrator’s expertise, location, quality of work, prevailing market conditions, and the project itself. If you’re in an industry like motion pictures and video production, the illustrator’s rate will differ from that in advertising and publishing.

Comment
byu/Terayakiii from discussion
inselfpublish

Keeping all these factors in mind, you have to find the right illustrator who understands industry standards and is the best fit for your company and niche.

Here are Some Tips to Consider Before Hiring an Illustrator

If you’re an established company that can afford experienced illustrators, you should compensate them accordingly, as they typically command higher rates. The advantage is that they work faster, have a specialized approach, and promise to deliver high-quality work. If you’re unable to provide this rate, it’s better to choose an amateur illustrator with ample experience who offers similar services but may take more time. If you’ve never tried hiring an illustrator before, the below rates can help you make a budget.

Comment
byu/Pale-Professional123 from discussion
inartbusiness

Here are the hourly rates in 2024 I’ve found where illustrators charge based on their experience level:

✅Entry Level: $15 to $18 per hour
✅Mid-Level: $20 to $25 per hour
✅Expert: $30 to $35 per hour

Cost to Hire an Illustrator

When hiring an illustrator, you can also create a design contract or retainer, where you pay based on the type of project, the time spent, and the number of custom illustrations for your business.

Comment
byu/cryoniccrown from discussion
inartbusiness

✅Hourly rate: From what I’ve learned, the illustrators working hourly have standard hourly rate ranges between $25 and $150. You can choose this method if you need only a few illustrations done immediately. Again, this depends on the illustrator’s expertise—if they are a pro, they might charge a premium, but the quality will not be compromised.

✅Weekly rate: The actual weekly rate starts from $500 to $2500. I think this is suitable for those who need a set of illustrations on a weekly basis. Once the scope is clear between you and the illustrator, this pay structure will save you time and money compared to the per-hour rate mentioned above.

✅Project-based: Some professional illustrators get paid a flat rate per illustration, ranging from $25 to $1000 per project or illustration. You can create a contract based on this type of payment, which lasts until the project is completed or the required number of illustrations is delivered.

Illustration Costs by Project or Brand Type

Illustrators with high expertise and solid experience in advertising and commercial graphics often help by providing a rough estimate for specific creative projects.

Comment
by from discussion
inartbusiness

As a brand, if you’re looking for design services like custom illustrations for a specific project, I’ve outlined some of the most common design projects offered by illustrators.

• Corporate identity package (business cards, stationery, etc.): Starts at $250
• Brand identity kit (logos, icons, custom illustrations): Between $200 to $1,000
• Newsletter design (news, events guide, etc.): From $1,000 and above
• Promotional materials (brochures, flyers, posters, etc.): From $1,500 and above

Traditional vs. Digital Illustration Costs

What exactly is traditional illustration versus digital illustration? Traditional illustration involves hand-drawn artwork created on paper or using real drawing tools on a canvas or drawing surface. On the other hand, digital illustrations are created with the help of digital tools on a tablet or computer.

The cost for traditional hand-drawn illustrations is generally more expensive than digital illustrations (though not always the case). The overall cost of traditional drawings, murals, and paintings depends on the size and medium of the final product.

When it comes to digital illustration, the cost can sometimes be higher if the illustrator is already paying for expensive apps and programs that allow instant revisions and ease of use. Graphic designers often use these high-priced tools and tablets to create custom graphics and illustrations for social media marketing.

Therefore, while traditional illustrations may require more time and effort due to the manual process, digital illustrations can also vary in price based on the complexity of the tools and software used.

Personal Tip

The only thing I have to say is what you get is what you paid for. When budgeting for illustration, I would recommend you to really do your research, and if it makes a big difference in overall branding and helps promote your business, then you should not constrain yourself to spend more on custom illustrations.

So, choose your designer or illustrator according to your expertise, and do not hesitate to spend more on quality work and timely delivery. I once paid for a custom illustration that looked amazing in the portfolio, but the final piece didn’t match my expectations. It taught me to be very clear about what I want. I’d also suggest you have good communication with the artist prior to working with them because if they don’t understand your vision, then the output won’t be what you’ve imagined and dreamed of.

Conclusion

I know custom illustrations can be game-changing if you’re starting to move from being a new brand to a recognized brand across your neighborhood. To make that shift, you need the right illustrations, but where do you find them? You can always find illustrators from freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and other sites. You can go to social media platforms and leverage them to find unique artists across the globe if you don’t mind long-distance relationships.

Or else, the easiest way, if you’re looking for affordable custom illustrations, or a cost-effective solution you can contact Graphically. Graphically offers unlimited custom illustrations for a fixed monthly rate. We have faster turnaround times, unlimited revisions, and consistent quality when it comes to the unlimited package prices we offer. So we hope Graphically can help you outsource the talent you’re looking for to enhance your brand’s identity across the board. Check out Graphically to learn more.

FAQs

1. How much should I charge for a custom illustration?