Find a local
illustration

A typical illustration gig starts with a brief and a rough sketch or two so you can approve the direction cheaply, then moves to the finished artwork with an agreed number of revision rounds. Delivery is final files in the formats you need (usually layered source plus PNG, JPG or SVG for vector work), with usage rights spelled out in writing. Common small business jobs: a hero image for the website, spot illustrations for packaging or menus, a mascot or character, icons, and a map or process diagram.

Stock looks like stock, and your competitor can buy the same image tomorrow. Custom illustration is drawn for your brand: your colours, your product, your tone, and nobody else can use it. For a small business it's one of the cheapest ways to look distinct, because a handful of illustrations can carry the website, socials, packaging and signage for years.

A single illustration usually takes 1 to 2 weeks from brief to final, including a sketch round. A set (say six spot illustrations in one style) or a developed character runs 3 weeks or more, because the first piece sets the style and the rest follow faster. Detailed scenes, packaging artwork and anything needing print setup add time.

AI tools can produce images fast, but for business use they have real catches: the style is hard to keep consistent across a set, fine details (hands, text, your actual product) often come out wrong, and the copyright position on AI-generated images is murkier than owning artwork a human drew for you. Plenty of illustrators now use AI for moodboards and roughs, then draw the final by hand. The human is what makes it yours.

Vector artwork (SVG, AI) is built from shapes and scales to any size without losing quality, so it suits logos, icons, signage and anything that will be printed big. Raster artwork (PNG, JPG, Procreate or Photoshop files) is built from pixels and suits painterly, textured styles, but only at the resolution it was made. If in doubt, tell the illustrator everywhere the artwork will appear and let them pick; ask for vector if a vehicle wrap or shopfront is even a maybe.

Usage rights define where and how long you can use the artwork. Many illustrators price by usage: artwork for your website costs less than artwork you'll also print on products you sell. For most small businesses the clean option is a full commercial licence (use it anywhere, forever, for your business) written into the gig, with the illustrator keeping the right to show it in their portfolio. Agree this before work starts, not at handover.

The standard shape is one round at sketch stage and one or two on the finished artwork. Sketch-stage feedback is where to be fussy, because changing direction on a rough costs minutes and changing a finished painting costs days. Lock the number of rounds in the gig up front, and expect a change of style or concept after sign off to be quoted as new work, which is fair.

There's no single going rate; price tracks complexity, style and usage. As a rough shape: a simple spot illustration or icon set sits in the hundreds, a detailed hero scene or character development runs into the low thousands, and packaging or campaign artwork with broad usage rights costs more again. Get two or three bids on Unjumble with your actual brief; quotes vary more in illustration than almost any other creative service.

Style first: unlike most services, you're hiring the way this specific person draws, so shortlist purely on portfolio and don't expect an illustrator to mimic a style that isn't theirs. Then check they've worked in your use case (packaging, web, editorial all have different technical demands), read their verified reviews on Unjumble, and confirm usage rights and source files are in the gig.

Post an illustration gig in under five minutes. Describe the work, set your budget and timeframe, and choose whether it is time-based or outcome-based. Local freelancers send a bid with a quote, you compare their profiles, portfolios and reviews, then pick the one that fits. Posting is free, so you only pay for the work.

Every gig is split into stages you both agree on up front. You fund each stage before the work starts and it is held securely through Stripe, then released once you sign off. No chasing invoices, and no paying for work that is not done.