How To Navigate The Business Side of Being An Artist (Patreon)

Hello my beautiful flowers!

I’ve had messages from a few of you recently about navigating your first paid projects or picture books as artists which is SO EXCITING, so I thought I’d write this post (it’s very long - whoops) with lots of advice and things to think about when navigating the business side of things like contracts and getting paid.

I know the business side can be dull and intimidating, but it’s also exciting because it means you’re turning your hobby into an income even if it's starting out small!

Obviously I’m not a lawyer or a business coach so this isn’t official business or legal advice, just some pointers that I’ve learned from my own experience.

So today I’m going to cover a few things:

Setting yourself up as a business

Navigating contracts

Keeping track of important things like sales, invoices and contracts

But firstly, one of the most important things that I’ve learned in my experience negotiating with publishers, customers and prospective clients over the past year or so is that it’s ok if I don’t get it perfect. Each time someone reaches out to you and you communicate with them it’s a learning experience and will help you build confidence for future negotiations, even if the project doesn't work out.

Another super important thing is that you can ask questions! If someone asks you if you’ll illustrate a book for them, you don’t need to say yes or no straight away, go back to them with questions until you have enough information to make your decision.

Setting Yourself Up As A Business

This is a bit of a difficult thing to cover because it varies so much depending on where you live and your personal situation, but it’s quite likely that to do business as an illustrator you’ll need some combination of the following:

A business name

A business number (in Australia it’s called an ABN or Australian Business Number)

A way to invoice

A way to track your finances

My Set-Up

I can’t advise you on exactly how to set up your business, but for me, I have a registered business name (Mimimoo Illustration), an ABN, a separate bank account for my illustration work, software for invoicing (more on that in a moment), and a spreadsheet to track my revenue from different sources.

Under the Australian system I’m classed as a Sole Trader, which means that my income from my illustration work is classed as personal income. I have to pay tax on my income, and because it isn’t deducted automatically like it would be if I were an employee somewhere, I have to make sure I have money set aside to pay a tax bill if I need to at the end of the financial year.

I have an accountant who helps me figure it all out at tax time and gives me advice when I need it, which is lovely because I’d be totally lost without her! I’d definitely recommend familiarising yourself with your country’s business and tax requirements, or hiring someone who can help you understand it to avoid having issues down the road. It doesn’t have to be scary, it’s often quite simple especially when you’re only just starting out!

Invoicing

When I need to invoice someone, like for a commissioned project or picture book, I used to use a free service called Wave, but they no longer service Australia so then I started using Zoho because they were free, and now I’m getting set up with Xero. The first time setting up an invoice can be intimidating, but after that it gets much easier!

Tracking Finances

As far as tracking everything goes, I mostly use Excel spreadsheets (although now I’m getting set up with Xero I suppose I’ll use that a bit more) so I have a big spreadsheet to track my revenue from everything (this image below is just part of it from December through February).

Because I have so many different little income streams it can get hard to keep track of them all so I just have a column for each stream and then update the total amount earned from it at the end of the month. Being a digital artist my expenses are so small that I don’t usually track my expenses until the end of financial year but if I were buying stock or making physical products I would want to keep track of those figures as well.

You might prefer accounting software to using Excel, so just go with whatever you’re able to keep up to date with. In all honesty, my partner Dan is super organised (and I’m not!) so he often helps create and update my spreadsheets for me!

Navigating Contracts

Like I said, I’m not a lawyer, and if you’re ever uncomfortable signing a contract because you feel like you don’t understand it, you can absolutely hire some professional legal help to make sure you’re protected.

I don’t have my own contracts that I use, as every project I’ve worked on I’ve had a contract brought to me to sign. Keep in mind that you’re always able to negotiate the terms of a contract. If the client doesn’t want to make those changes, then you get to make the decision to either accept the terms as they are or walk away from the project (there will be other projects!).

When a client or publisher brings me a contract to sign, or we’re discussing some terms via email, there are a few things that I look out for and ask about, depending on the project.

If it’s to licence some art, I look out for:

Will the licence be exclusive or non-exclusive?

How many units of the product do they want to sell?

Is there a fixed term duration for the licence (eg. 2 years, 5 years)?

Will I receive a flat fee or a royalty percentage?

If it’s to illustrate for a picture book, I look out for:

Are they a big publisher or self publishing?

Will I maintain the copyright for the illustrations?

Will I receive a royalty percentage from book sales?

When will the advance be paid?

What’s the timeline to illustrate everything?

Personally, I only ever illustrate or hand over licensed artwork after being paid at least partial payment upfront. Occasionally I’ll do a sample or provide low-res examples before payment, but I don't ever hand over any actual files until I’m paid. You might feel differently, so go with what feels right for you.

I also am very careful about copyright terms as I always try to maintain copyright for my illustrations. In book publishing this seems to be quite standard practice so it hasn’t been an issue, but I have turned down deals before because some smaller publishers want to own the copyright to the illustrations.

There’s always a copyright or intellectual property section in a contract so be sure to read it carefully (or hire some professional legal help), as sometimes the wording can be tricky. Sometimes if you’re classed as an ‘employee’ or ‘work-for-hire’ you don’t own the copyright to your work anymore so that’s something to look out for.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions or bring up things that you aren’t comfortable with in a contract. I’ve had small things changed before that I wasn’t comfortable with that weren’t a big deal for the client.

Keeping Track of Important Things

I already shared that I keep track of my finances with a spreadsheet, but what about all the other things like contracts and deals? I do two things: I always download a signed contract or sent invoice and save it to my computer, and I also have some really simple spreadsheets to track commitments.

If I have someone license my art, I put it on my licensing spreadsheet with all of the details so that I can keep an eye on what I’ve licensed. I include things like duration of the license, what it was for, and whether it was exclusive or non-exclusive.

Similarly with big projects like picture books, I have a small spreadsheet that tracks the book name, who the publisher is, and when my advance is due to be paid. Book advances are often paid in three parts, so I might get part payment upfront, part payment after finishing the illustrations, and part payment once the book is published. When and how much I need to invoice for is super easy to forget so I pop it on the spreadsheet so I can keep an eye on everything.

Make sure you have a safe place to store important documents like contracts and agreements where they can be easily accessed anytime you need to check the details of an agreed date or payment amount.

I know that was a lot of business talk but hopefully it gives you a bit of insight into how I run things and gives you the confidence to navigate things like contracts next time you’re approached to do some work!❤