Editorial illustrator: characters and stories with purpose

Three things drive the price: number of pieces, complexity and usage rights. As a guide: a single editorial illustration starts around €300; a character design with its model sheet runs between €600 and €2,000; a full book or campaign, between €2,000 and €6,000. Rights matter: an image for one article doesn't cost the same as one that will be the face of your brand for years.

To quote I need to know how many pieces, for which media and for how long they'll be used. With that I give you a fixed price in writing before we start — no surprises halfway through.

Whatever we agree on, in writing and in plain language. The usual setup is a licence covering the uses you need (your book, your campaign, your website), with media and duration spelled out. If you want exclusivity or no time limit, that's possible — and it shows up in the price and the contract, not in the fine print.

Authorship is never transferred: Spanish law doesn't allow it and, besides, I like signing what I draw. What I do guarantee is that I'll never reuse for another client what I created for you, and that you'll always know exactly what you can do with each piece.

An illustrated book: 6 to 10 weeks depending on page count and how settled the text is. A multi-piece campaign: 3 to 5. These are real timelines, not brochure timelines: they include your reviews and print proofs where needed.

The bottleneck is rarely the drawing — it's the decisions. If the text changes after the illustration is done, the timeline changes with it. That's why I lock the manuscript or script with you before moving from sketch to final artwork.

Yes, and it's some of my favourite work: an own illustration or icon system does for a brand what no typeface can — it makes it unmistakable. On ZigZig, for instance, iconography and illustration were part of the identity system from the first sketch, not an afterthought.

If your brand doesn't exist yet or needs a rethink, even better: I design identity and illustration as one thing. Have a look at the branding service — when both are born together, the result is more coherent and usually costs less than commissioning them separately.

Not for the illustration itself. I use AI elsewhere in my work (web development, proofs of concept) and I've nothing against it as an exploration tool, but the final artwork I deliver is drawn by me, stroke by stroke. That's not romanticism: it's what makes the result yours and nobody else's.

There's a practical reason too: the rights around AI-generated images are still legally murky, and a book or a campaign needs a clean chain of rights. With a drawing of mine, the licence is clear and defensible. If what you need is cheap volume and authorship doesn't matter, AI may serve you well — but then you don't need me.