Question from a young designer I just got a freelance opportunity to do some book publications for a local business and wanted to see if I could get some insight on how to charge them appropriately. I'm not sure if I should charge then hourly or a flat rate. If you have any suggestions that would be great!

My response

There are a lot of different thoughts about this. For instance, long term you could set up price levels for different sizes of clients: like $10 for desperate pro-bonos, $20 for non-profits and small businesses, $40 for freelance clients and $80 for design agency freelance (typically they would turn around and re-bill your work fro $100-$150 to their clients).

But most of the time I come up with an estimate number and share that with my client. I arrive at that number by guessing the amount of hours it might take and multiplay that by the appropriate hourly rate:

8 hours of work X $10/hr = $80

Thinking in the clients shoes I would raise to $100 per edition if they have plenty of money.

And my word of caution with publications: sometimes there are rounds of copy revisions so I would build that into your initial estimate. With that in mind, you could charge them hourly for the first and second editions, then based upon the amount of time spent and your hourly rate, arrive at a flat fee for all future editions. Your first edition may take longest due to setting up a new template — therefore keep track of time per task and phase of work to accurately capture your labor.

All these rates are purely subjective and you can create your own based upon your perceived worth. Lastly, I've heard a theory that you should come up with a price for your design and if you lose more than 50% of the client requests who come to you then reevaluate your prices lower until hit a sweet spot of staying busy within your market.

Finding some tips for printing at home! http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/how-to-make-relief-prints/ http://weareoca.com/fine_art/relief-printing-at-home-hints-and-tips/

The Cincinnati Recreation Commission worked with the Cincinnati Reds to create neighborhood activities during the 2015 All Star Game weekend. I've been working with the Madisonville Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation on public art projects — we thought this would be a great opportunity to create a neighbor-made mural showing off our neighborhood pride!

Madisonville Bramble Park Mural Process Video from James Billiter Studio on Vimeo.

I wanted to share a behind-the-scenes process of how I created my illustration for the Cincy Ink project. I illustrated the final stanza of the poem: "Sing the Queen City, Say Home, Coast the long cut, Cross that Bridge."

Sing the Queen City, Say Home: Mini Mural process video for CincyInk from James Billiter Studio on Vimeo.

I am so proud of the creative output from last year — the true reward for creative work is more creative work. It was nice to see personal projects and sharing my vision lead to more opportunities. Now if I could only find more hours in a day!

James Billiter Studio: 2014, a year of creative output from James Billiter Studio on Vimeo.

As this year comes to a close, I'm thinking of what I want to do next year.

Geometric Series
In a style similar to my steamboat, depict architecture and other things using simple shapes.

Cincinnati Heritage
I can continue to capture Cincy landmarks and historical curiosities or I could focus on a couple areas of interest:
Hannaford and Hake — document the combined histories of two of Cincy's most profound architects.
Ghost breweries — document Cincy's brewing history by illustrating the existing buildings, creating replica signs and bottles, another product being a documentary and a guide booklet with driving tour.

Surreal advertisements
Could I combine images to make new meanings — playfully poking fun at marketing and advertising

Birds of Ohio
Combining my interest of birding with illustration,


Ecosystem
Get back to my nature roots. Explore our local ecosystem, observe the relationships of flora and fauna.

I could get looser and more gestural, embracing more hand created techniques, to create something more "arty" and less design-based. Could I use cyanotypes during field studies? Natural inks and pigments?

Could I take screen printing beyond the 2D? Create a sculptural forest?

Could one room celebrate life, and the end of the exhibit shows the effects of non-sustainable activity?

I wanted to create a post that shows transparency of my pricing and process, but also to show buyers of art the amount of time, effort and materials that go into a piece, but also to talk with other artists on how they should approach their work. I come from a design background — I would consider design as communication, and this communication is often done by a designer (artist/creative/problem solver, etc) on behalf of a third party (client) to inform an audience of their service/event/product. As an artist, I feel art is more of an expression of an individual, and it is up to that individual to include and/or communicate with (or not to) their audience.

I am a little exhausted of being treated by some as a mystical resource, creativity is naturally bubbling out of a designer or artist, so if it would be coming out anyway why should one pay for it? BUT, I will also say that due to my enthusiasm and creativity, and willingness to help others, I have also allowed myself to be undervalued in the past.


Think of yourself as a business
There are elements of my creative process I love, and there are elements that I do not need to do. Sometimes these obligatory "chores," lets say packaging art by buying crystal clear and backing each piece with board, become a bit monotonous and if I have a carrot like being paid it make the time I spend doing it much less tedious. 1, it makes sure that these obligations do not become a burden and time-consuming money pit that force me to be a starving artist and 2. if I build these costs into my art, then someday I could pay another person a fair wage to do them.

Salaries
The first thing I wanted to target was my ideal salary. Due to some discretion, I will not go into details but it looks something like this: what is our ideal income? This should include money for living, healthcare, saving for retirement, and I always roughly 40-50% will go to taxes (from what I experienced as a freelancer a long time ago). Also factor in vacation time, and also, worse case scenario, less hours per week expected due to slow work or illness. What if you can only work 25-30 hours per week?

Income required / (Hours per week x 48-52 weeks per year) then x 2 to factor taxes

I came up with $75 per hour for design work. This would enable my lifestyle with the amount of hours I would say could be a slow week. Plus, it works out to about half of what a design firm would charge a client per hour of my time.

So, here are the current rates that I charge myself when creating work:
Design for client (ulitising my 20 years of experience to solve problems and help a client communicate to their audience, a.k.a. creating the big idea): $75
Making art/self-expression/creative play (developing artwork and stretching my abilities, but still using my mind/creativity, which should be my #1 resource and should set me apart from others): $35
Techinical Skills (using technical expertise to ensure design/artwork can be produced with the determined medium): $20
Production/Retail/Errands/Chores (anything that I am not an expert at, AND, are jobs and skills I could eventually pay an employee to do): $10 (I am hoping someday minimum wage will be this rate, until then I will day that).


Example In Use
So, here are some numbers for a gig poster that I just created:

CREATION: 7 hours = $245
– Creating design in computer
– Handdrawing a keyline element

SEPARATIONS: 2 hours = $40
– using my technical skills to separate film for screenprinting

PRINTING: 6 hours = $60

BACK END: 2.5 hours = $25
– signing and numbering: .5 hour
– retail: 2 hours
(this does not include selling over longer period of time or packaging each item for retail)

MATERIAL COSTS:
Paper = $25 (bought in bulk to save money)
Ink = $30
Films = $10


Total Costs = $435
I will be using 35 pieces of paper targeting 30 good prints.
Of which, 10 prints will be given to band.

435/20 = $21.75 per poster

BUUUT, let's say I don't sell the whole run. OR I need to sell this in a store where I get only 60% of the final price. I would say our final price should be:

An even $30 for a 4-color print.

Once you do this for yourself a few times, it will become second nature and pricing will be easy. Getting a livable wage from my art adds to my enjoyment and it allows my art to be a sustainable entity that allows me to continue creating without being poor.

I am lucky I can divide these costs by a quantity of posters — now when you see a painting valued $200 - $1000 at the local coffee house you know why!

 I've been very busy producing a lot of work. Printmaking and illustrating, inspired by all my outdoor interests. My work will be at Park + Vine through May 25.

  My Artist Statement: I am a lifelong Cincinnatian who was reared on family camping trips into the Great Outdoors. I cherished these trips into Nature where life was simpler and more elemental. But as a city slicker there is a divide between my everyday life and the mystery of the Natural world.

Over the past several years I find myself often spending time outside and have reconnected with Nature. Through hiking, cycling, running and rowing I observe plants and animals. With child-like wonder I take in these new experiences compelled to unravel these mysteries — I find myself inspired. 

Along my bike commutes I see the sun rise over our majestic Ohio River valley and glow golden as it sets in the west. The light sparkes and dances along our hillsides. I can’t capture these moments with a camera so I replicate their beauty in my landscapes.

 As a boy I was captivated by the work of Charley Harper, I found his style based upon elementary forms delightful and inventive. As I have gotten older the work of Harper, along with John Ruthven and John James Audubon have inspired me as a designer and illustrator and this new collection of animal artwork that I have observed in nature.

Between our City Parks, the nature preserves and our great river ecosystems we are blessed with an abundance of Nature around us. I want my work to inspire all of us to appreciate these Natural resources and for us to celebrate conservation on this 45th anniversary of Earth Day.

My favorite places to visit:
Cincinnati City Parks: Ault Park, Burnett Woods, Caldwell Nature Preserve Eden Park, French Park, Mount Airy Forest and Otto Armleter Park.
Cincinnati Nature Center
South 80 Trails
Valley View Nature Preserve Little Miami Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy’s Red Bird Hollow


Creative Pursuits: James Billiter—Naturally Cincy by Adam Sievering
As an outdoor enthusiast who has spent the last decade sharing his talent at LPK, Senior Designer James Billiter experiences the duality of city life and the great outdoors on a daily basis. His upcoming art exhibit, Naturally Cincy, explores the symbiotic relationship between his work and time spent outside, illuminating nature’s extraordinary ability to feed creativity and nurture the imagination—right here in Cincinnati.

James’ connection to nature stems from camping trips during childhood. “I cherished these trips into nature where life was simpler and more elemental,” he says. “But as a city slicker, there’s a divide between my everyday life and the mystery of the natural world.”

He helps bring these two worlds together by riding his bike to work, channeling daily inspiration from natural surroundings in the Ohio River valley. When he’s not commuting or intimately involved with Creative Suite at his desk, it’s a safe bet he’s spending his time outdoors.

“Through hiking, cycling, running and rowing, I can reconnect with nature,” he says. “I observe animals and sometimes wonder what really distinguishes their daily lives from my own. I take in these new experiences, compelled to unravel these mysteries. I find myself inspired.”

In addition to drawing inspiration from nature, James highlights its therapeutic value.

“I’m kind of a workaholic, so when I’m outside it helps me cleanse and detox. It’s like a retreat from my daily stresses. Instead of multitasking, I find myself focused on nothing but what I’m experiencing in that moment. It’s a form of active meditation,” he says.

Naturally Cincy is a culmination of these experiences, celebrating the beauty of Cincinnati’s parks, nature preserves and river ecosystems with a range of illustrative styles inspired by the works of Charley Harper, John Ruthven and John James Audubon.

“The exhibit is a combination of realistic portraits and playful illustrations,” he explains. “I wanted it to be accessible to anyone.”

“Even more so,” he adds, “I want my work to inspire all of us to appreciate the abundance of nature around us and celebrate conservation on the 45th anniversary of Earth Day.”

Naturally Cincy opens Saturday, April 26th and runs until Sunday, May 25th at Park + Vine (1202 Main St, Cincinnati, OH 45202).

2 years ago I submitted a few posters to this event, and this year I am happy to announce that I am helping organize the event!

We are gathering Cincy artists and designers who have created rad bike posters and putting them on display during Bike Month (May) at Coffee Emporium.






BikeArt Poster Show 2012 from CinéCinnati on Vimeo.


#crankupcincy  #bikeposters

Client: Education Foundation for the Colorado National Gaurd
Audience: Service Men and Women seeking further education
Year: 2011
Concept: Combining the symbol of the book with an eagle to communicate the idea that education will provide freedom, success and limitless potential for service men and women. The eagle symbol and color palette provided a strong link to their previous identity.

Inspired by last summer's trip to see the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado—I entered this submission into a contest for the lovely city of Breckenridge. Can't wait to go out and visit my family again this summer!

Check out my Flickr photo set of all my cycling posters:


Digging the new Facebook page as well:


   

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I haven't meant to take a break from the blog. I was busy putting together a solo show at Park+Vine last October — then establishing myself as a designer/artist on social media.

James Billiter Studio on Facebook

James Billiter Studio on Pinterest

James Billiter Studio on Twitter

James Billiter Studio on Big Cartel

I haven't checked in for awhile. I have some wicked news: I've been very productive and had my first solo show. I will write more about that soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to post some inspiration sites:

http://411posters.com/

http://www.printsonwood.com/

http://omgposters.com/

http://www.thecaravan.co.nz/

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I have a show in a couple months and I would love to feature some new work along side some older work.

<iframe width="500" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jP9lXjE1bxE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I want to animate like this.

I created a fun image of our building made out of leaf shapes to communicate our sustainability efforts. Cute and fun, yay!

From brosmind.com

Whoa... This was on Sesame Street back in the day? Philip Glass goodness?

12 in 12 #3
USA PRO CYCLING CHALLENGE POSTERS

There was a Facebook contest where people can upload posters and judges and the public can vote on them.

One vision I had was inspired by my 2002 visit to Colorado Springs, where we saw Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods.

My poster option for the main contest was inspired by the feeling of speed and upward movement, climbing the great mountains of Colorado. I contacted a professional photographer/journalist who covers pro cycling races. The contest states that you must own the rights to the imagery you use, so even if I had the photographer's permission I would not have the model release rights to the image of the pros. Thus I was stuck using a less than perfect image for my main race poster. If selected, I wouldn't mind using an image supplied by the race organization if they owned the rights to it.