pencil sketch of sphinx head

PROCESS

Please contact me by phone or email to commission a project from me. A confirmation of assignment helps me fully understand your expectations and needs.

I usually start work with research, going over any materials you supply and finding other relevant information and reference images to help me generate ideas. Based on that research, I begin brainstorming possible solutions. Generally, I cull around three of the best ideas and make sketches. Finally, I develop the idea you choose into a finished product and send it to you, either as compressed jpeg attachments to emails, as files burned onto a windows-formatted CD, or as original artwork for you to return to me, or purchase to keep.

I offer sliding-scale pricing in order to make sure that my work is affordable for individuals and organizations with limited budgets. Please call or email me to negotiate a fair price for your project.

Taking budgetary restrictions into account, I calculate my price based on an estimate of the hours needed to complete your project, which vary depending on the complexity, scale, and timeline of each project. Prices also depend on how many and what kind of uses you want to apply to the artwork. My standard rates compare well with the economical end of the industry-standard cost range in the latest edition of the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook.

Hand holding a pencil

TECHNIQUES

All my illustrations are hand-rendered in traditional or digital media. In my digital work, I usuallydraw with a Wacom tablet and pen in Fractal Painter, a program with digital tools that mimic traditional drawing and painting media. I also work in most traditional media including colored pencils, watercolor, pastels, charcoal, acryllics, oil paints, and ink. For projects which include typography, I use the computer to add text to the digital rendering or to a scan of traditionally-rendered artwork.

self-portrait from business card

ABOUT RACHEL PERKINS

I was born in Vancouver, Canada to American parents, and grew up in rural Oregon. I have also lived in Colorado, Texas, and Chicago, and I now live in New York City with my husband, Benjamin Sadock.

Education

Selected Honors and Awards


Website Copyright 2003 Rachel Perkins