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Images

A bit of history first.

In the last 5 years, illustrators have agonized over the changes facing our vocation: Downward pressure on pricing, increased competition from masses of new illustrators entering what had been a fertile field, the list goes on and on Meanwhile, the ease and availability of images from royalty-free Cds, stock house collections, clip art, and just plain stealing from the internet have given art directors and designers an exploding pool of imagery to choose from.

The number of art buyers who consider commissioning illustration drops every year. Fewer staffers handling art direction chores mean less time to bring younger ADs into the art-buying habit, and less time to spend developing concepts. Client pressure to lower costs and shorten deadlines means illustration is an easy luxury to toss overboard. The result: fewer and fewer assignments, chased by more illustrators.

Catalogs for royalty-free art collections clog in-boxes, with art available for download, today, to fill that empty space, and to solve one problem right now. A phone call to an illustrator to fill that space takes more time, maybe more money, more hassle, and sadly, doesn't impress anyone higher up the chain. The unique value of original illustration is not championed by young editors or creative directors anymore. That's if they even consider using illustration instead of photography.

Recently graduated graphic designers and art directors fresh out of school have come to rely on readily available imagery to solve their image needs and under the pressure of deadlines and money, they will continue to do so.

Where are we now?

All the collective hand wringing by illustrators over this state of affairs has resulted in no detectable gain in affluence or security. All the talk and angst haven't made a dent in the onslaught of imagery. The tipping point has passed and the new standard for adding imagery to publications is to turn to stock art or royalty-free Cds first, and commissioned artwork comes later.

There will always be a market for high-end, unique original artwork. Clients who value exclusive, unique or custom artwork will still use illustration. Especially in the advertising, product and corporate identity markets. But editorial markets will increasingly use pre-made readily available images.

Unfortunately, editorial markets had been the bread and butter for many illustrators. Many of us had made a very nice living without being famous or notable. Those days are gone for now. The world moved on. It's with a mix of admiration and bemusement that I see illustrators soldiering on to fight the wave that crashed 5 years ago. We lost the war. Now we have to make our way in a new world. The old model isn't valid anymore. We haven't figured out what the new model is. Or if there will even be one that works.

What I'm doing.

In the meantime, I've dutifully registered my artwork with the Copyright Office as I've gone along. I own the rights, and I'm free to assign those rights as I choose. While I dabbled in stock art and still make the odd sale here or there, mostly to existing clients, the volume isn't enough to justify the time and expense of keywording, uploading, cataloging and managing sales.

Nor can it justify assigning a significant percentage of the revenue to a third party to handle those sales. The high cost of hosting a stock collection with one of the major players online hasn't justified the miniscule sales. The cost of hosting these collections has not declined as we thought they would. Providers like Folioplanet.copm and theispot have a yearly-fee model which provides them a steady income even if the artwork doesn't sell. They realize that the sales of stock will never cover the cost of hosting and keeping up with technology.

In sharp contrast to the decline in illustration, sales of my font designs over the last five years have steadily climbed. Fonts are sold much the same way as royalty-free artwork. Buy once, use whenever you want within the terms of the license. Fonts are also priced within reach of many buyers. It's a habit a lot more buyers are in.

So I decided to put my assets to use, and am offering a few collections royalty-free. Here are my terms:

What I'll do now.

Work more on my own projects, worry less about what it all means.
This isn't meant to be the final word on the subject, just my view.

June 15, 2004

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