Illustration guidance

Last updated: September 2026

I often work with people who have never worked with an illustrator before, or are at an exploratory stage in writing a funding bid or application. This guide sets out some prompts that can help you think about how we might work together.

Questions to think about before we start

These are the things I’d usually ask in a first meeting. Give them a read and send me an email.

1) What’s your budget?
What would you ideally like to spend? I’m happy to adjust my work to suit your budget. If you can be open with me about how much you’d like to spend, I can give you more for your money.

2) Who is your audience?
This might affect considerations on the accessibility of what we produce. I can provide large font for a printed document, high contrast colours or accompanying image descriptions (audio or written). If you’re not sure about what your audience might benefit from, we can discuss this together.

3) What are you recording?
If you’re hosting a conference, it might be important that I attend particular break out rooms throughout the event. I prioritise work that centres lived experience, and can advise on how to make sure you create with people rather than about them.

4) Where would you like to share your ideas?
There’s little point in making something amazing if we don’t show it to anyone. Your format (i.e. an Instagram video / an academic report / an A2 poster) will affect how I work on our project from the beginning. I can more easily create a poster that’s also a video if I know this from the beginning of the project.

5) When would you like this work completed by?
If you plan to send a follow up email to attendees a week after your event, let’s include your live illustration in there too. I’m usually working on multiple projects at the same time, but knowing deadlines in advance helps me keep costs low and manage different priorities.

6) Do you have brand guidelines you’d like me to work with?
Depending on the nature of the work, I may be able to work to your brand guidelines. If this is the case, share any branding with me as early as possible. This includes logos (.eps files are best), colour palettes and fonts.

Examples of work

(Hover your cursor over image to pause the slideshow, click to go forward or back)

Factors that affect cost

Clarity around your budget
The more specific you can be around what you’d like to pay for this work, the more easily I can meet your aims and save you money. If you choose not to share your budget with me, I may charge a higher rate, this covers a solidarity rate for other clients who express they’re working within a tight budget.

What I work from
I can work from digital audio/text files, in person or online workshop or 1-1 interviews. If I need to facilitate conversations, I may need to record audio and then illustrate them afterwards. I prioritise work that centres lived experience, is accessible and mindful of participants time, energy and resources - I’m an experienced facilitator with 10+ years experience of delivering workshops and am connected to a network of other people who do this work too.

Edits
I charge edits at a minimum of £50 per ‘round’ (a simple list in one email). If you’re a team working on this together, nominate one person to collate and send feedback to me.

Access/Travel costs
I’m experienced in working both online and in person. I travel by public transport. If your meeting is online, I can provide various options about how to share our work. If you’d like to do a hybrid meeting, I can advise on how to make sure things flow smoothly using Zoom, Teams or a simple phone call. I have a detailed access guide which you can read here.

Further use
I charge a little more for flexible assets that you can use again and again, as opposed to a single illustration with fixed use.

Gee Collins.

About