 Hello
and welcome, thanks for checking out this web site,
As a
visual artist I feel that one's work should speak for
itself, but often I myself like to read about a fellow
artist's background, training, and possibly the way they
conduct business. Likewise, its interesting to find out
where a person was born and raised, if they have a
family, how old they are and what their long term
creative objectives are. Given this interest in the
background of other creative people, I thought I should
mention a bit about myself.
I was born on a cold December night in the
industrial town of William's Lake, British Columbia,
Canada, but we soon moved to Vancouver and then
Kamloops. My parents were both accountants so I grew up
in a household of business minded people, and my bothers
and sister and I all had offices of our own - on
Saturday and Sundays anyhow- at my late
 Father's
accounting practice in
Kamloops,
British Columbia. Both at home and in 'my' office, I
drew constantly, no, not financial illustration as I do
now, but Star Wars ships and robots, warriors and
dragons, and mutants. I have always loved to both write
and draw my own stories and actually set out to be a
writer instead of an illustrator in my early 20's but
found plenty of success with my art, and pursued it as a
career, allowing my writing to assume the secondary role
as a much loved hobby. My wife, Brooke, and I have four
children.
Artistic Background
While I had been selling art and illustrations for many
years, I decided to add the graphic design skill set to
my portfolio and was accepted into the Graphic Design
and Illustration program at
Capilano College
in Vancouver British Columbia, which I highly
recommended to anyone wanting to make a living as an
illustrator or designer. I graduated in 1998 and set out
as a freelance illustrator immediately from college.
 How I work
In recent years I have gradually switched over to
digital illustration, at least for the color and
grayscale work, while my inking remains hand rendered. I
work in a large basement studio
(see floor plan here)
with a computer station,
library, light table, painting easel, and two drawing
tables. While much of my work is now digital, I still do
plenty of acrylics on board, ink or pencil drawings and
whatnot. Our studio is equipped with a fairly powerful
computer system hooked to high speed internet.
How
do I get paid?
If a new, potential client calls me up or emails me and
wants a quote, I usually ask what sort of price range
they had in mind. Who keeps the original if there is a
physical image, what size they want the final art to be
used at (which affects how large I do the original
illustration). I am not concerned with how wide the
usage is(local, national or international, etc.), how big or how small the client is or whether
I get my credits in the publication or not. I am
concerned with the detail and complexity of the job, the
possibility of changes after the sketches have been
approved, and if I am going to get paid within thirty
days after acceptance or not. All new clients are
required to pay 50% up front on a job before I commence
work, but this amount can be paid after the client has
approved sketches if desired, but I don't begin final
work until the deposit arrives. The remainder of the
funds are preferably paid on acceptance of the work when
it arrives in the client's ftp or mail box (if on CD-ROM
or
 original art), and while I welcome checks in any
currency, I can be paid by check or via
paypal
since it is instantaneous and once the deposit arrives,
I can get to the color portion of the job immediately.
My
Production Timeline
I usually have between 3 and 6 jobs on the go at any one
time, many of them are in the sketch phase, some waiting
for approval from a designer's own client, while other
assignments are lined up to be painted. Usually it takes
two weeks to receive an assignment, do the sketches, get
the deposit, do the painting, possibly get it
photographed and then have it sent to the client for approval.
If you have a rush job, and I am going to have to sneak
it into the line, it usually means I have to give up my
weekend and evenings to get the job done, and I will do
it as long as the deposit is paid and a slight 20-30%
increase in the normal fee is tacked on to the agreed
upon price.
In
Conclusion
I think that about covers it. I know that every client
has his or her own company protocols and payment terms,
and many larger advertising agencies pay up to 90 days
after acceptance, and I don't mind that as long as the
deposit is paid and the payment terms have been
specified in advance. I don't work on spec and I don't
produce anything on a paid on publication basis (having
lost my shirt on this sort of project in earlier days).
I welcome any feed back
you may be able to offer on my work here, and let me
know if there are any other designers I should send an
email too to inform them about my service. If you have a
project in mind but don't see an example of the style or
subject matter shown on this site, just drop me a line
and I can send you a link to another site or fellow
artist who might be able to help you out.
In closing, whether you're an established illustration
buyer or a curious student, I invite you to discuss a
potential job or just
say hello.
Best Regards,
Will McAusland
Copyright ©
2009 William McAusland / mcauslandstudios.com
All
rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, except for mock-up 'comp' use in
design layouts, without prior written permission from
the artist.
See
Studio Views and
Client List
|
