I need an artist, it's an emergency
October 20, 2021 3:54 AM Subscribe
The artist who was supposed to creat the album art for my debut record has completely dropped the ball. We had a hard stop deadline, this is a crisis. Need some recommendations.
Can anyone refer me to an artist in the NYC area who could deliver something no later than November 1 for an album cover. The extremely short turnaround time is making it hard for any of my artist friends to commit to this.
I am also open to any artists not in NYC. Really I just need someone with talent and the ability to take direction and work fast, and I will absolutely compensate them.
(Original artist delivered something that is so unusable that it borders on vulgar. This is not what we were expecting from him and now we have a crisis and a deadline we HAVE to meet.)
Can anyone refer me to an artist in the NYC area who could deliver something no later than November 1 for an album cover. The extremely short turnaround time is making it hard for any of my artist friends to commit to this.
I am also open to any artists not in NYC. Really I just need someone with talent and the ability to take direction and work fast, and I will absolutely compensate them.
(Original artist delivered something that is so unusable that it borders on vulgar. This is not what we were expecting from him and now we have a crisis and a deadline we HAVE to meet.)
This post was deleted for the following reason: posters request -- frimble
Best answer: Also sent a MeMail, just in case you need a backup option. Good luck!
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:24 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:24 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Are you looking for something more figurative/realistic/portrait/illustrative or more abstract/expressionist, or another specific style entirely? That might help us give better recommendations (or throw our hat in the ring if the desired style seems like a fit).
posted by limeonaire at 8:43 AM on October 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 8:43 AM on October 20, 2021 [6 favorites]
Oh also, you should post this on Jobs.
posted by limeonaire at 8:49 AM on October 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 8:49 AM on October 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Best answer: You'll get better results by being a better client, which means knowing something about how the process works, and communicating this knowledge:
- Many illustrators (e.g. editorial illustrators, who do work for news publications) do work on short turnaround times. Others who don't normally, might, for a rush fee. Be aware of the going rate and be prepared to pay it.
- Be very specific about what you're looking for (illustration style, dimensions of what you're looking for, number of pieces, etc—like, what exactly is the assignment here?). There are illustrator directories where you can search by style.
- The normal process for creating commercial art includes at least a couple rounds of back & forth, in which sketches and critique are exchanged, on a pre-set schedule. There should be few to no surprises by the time you receive the final artwork.
- Location really doesn't matter. Anyone should be able to deliver their work digitally these days. (Granted, scanning for print reproduction is its own skill.)
- And, my personal opinion, talent is a meaningless concept here. You want a professional.
posted by the_blizz at 10:30 AM on October 20, 2021 [23 favorites]
- Many illustrators (e.g. editorial illustrators, who do work for news publications) do work on short turnaround times. Others who don't normally, might, for a rush fee. Be aware of the going rate and be prepared to pay it.
- Be very specific about what you're looking for (illustration style, dimensions of what you're looking for, number of pieces, etc—like, what exactly is the assignment here?). There are illustrator directories where you can search by style.
- The normal process for creating commercial art includes at least a couple rounds of back & forth, in which sketches and critique are exchanged, on a pre-set schedule. There should be few to no surprises by the time you receive the final artwork.
- Location really doesn't matter. Anyone should be able to deliver their work digitally these days. (Granted, scanning for print reproduction is its own skill.)
- And, my personal opinion, talent is a meaningless concept here. You want a professional.
posted by the_blizz at 10:30 AM on October 20, 2021 [23 favorites]
Just to hedge your bets, maybe get a few options going on Fiverr.
posted by mezzanayne at 11:01 AM on October 20, 2021
posted by mezzanayne at 11:01 AM on October 20, 2021
Or you could do what Pavement did with Watery, Domestic and take another album cover, scratch out some stuff and scribble in some other stuff.
posted by sjswitzer at 12:03 PM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sjswitzer at 12:03 PM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you all! I managed to connect with two artists here (one Mefite and one friend of a Mefite) who created some gorgeous work. We have cover art and we also have an additional promotional image for merch. I am so grateful. For those who reached out and I didn't get a chance to respond, please accept my apologies - once I found two people who offered to take the assignment I was pretty much set, plus I had my cousins visiting for the first time since the pandemic (yay vaccines!) so it's been a hectic four days of happy fun family times and looking at art mockups. For those of you I didn't respond to, I'm happy to pass along your contact info to two bands I am friends with who will be starting the process of releasing new records as well and will need art.
Thank you all again for jumping in to help me with this crisis.
(If you are curious, the original artist who screwed us over delivered a piece of artwork that literally looked like a menstruating vagina. Like, everyone who looked at it went straight to "yup, that is mega vaginal". My album is... not about menstruation. I don't know what he was thinking but it was just so off the mark and also so vividly a vagina that it was straight up vulgar and obviously not the imagery I want associated with my debut, not to mention not something we could put on merch. We had to drop him immediately as he clearly misunderstood what we needed and there was no hope of salvaging it. He's a dear friend of mine and a wonderful artist (I own one of his pieces) and also a musician so I foolishly assumed he would be up to the task. He wanted to listen to the record without hearing my take on the music so he could have an unbiased take when he made the art. Clearly that was a mistake. We needed to give him specific direction. Lesson learned. Also, WTF.)
posted by nayantara at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2021
Thank you all again for jumping in to help me with this crisis.
(If you are curious, the original artist who screwed us over delivered a piece of artwork that literally looked like a menstruating vagina. Like, everyone who looked at it went straight to "yup, that is mega vaginal". My album is... not about menstruation. I don't know what he was thinking but it was just so off the mark and also so vividly a vagina that it was straight up vulgar and obviously not the imagery I want associated with my debut, not to mention not something we could put on merch. We had to drop him immediately as he clearly misunderstood what we needed and there was no hope of salvaging it. He's a dear friend of mine and a wonderful artist (I own one of his pieces) and also a musician so I foolishly assumed he would be up to the task. He wanted to listen to the record without hearing my take on the music so he could have an unbiased take when he made the art. Clearly that was a mistake. We needed to give him specific direction. Lesson learned. Also, WTF.)
posted by nayantara at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2021
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posted by overeducated_alligator at 4:06 AM on October 20, 2021 [1 favorite]