Hello I am an illustrator who works in publishing. I am currently working with an art director from a one of the big 5. I have never experienced this before but I have an AD who paints in photoshop on top of my work. I wish they could just tell me what they are trying to achieve instead of asking me to work on top of their work. I'm easy going, happy to make changes and very capable but this boldness is really getting under my skin! What do I do!?
Paintovers are very common in many fields, not just publishing. So do not take it personally, like there is something wrong with you. There are many many reasons why an AD will do a paintover rather than just tell you in words:
—The AD is over there selling your work to their approvers (editors/publisher/author) and those people do not have the capability to visually imagine like artists do, so to get buy-in from them on the direction the art is going to go, the AD needs to show them. Once that is approved you really need the illustrator to not change it too much, or you have to start over with approvals. In many cases an illustration has been saved from being killed by an AD’s photoshopping, so it might help you to realize a paint over is preferable to a kill. Remember, art isn’t only killed bc it’s not good…a kill might happen if a piece of art is gorgeous but just isn’t serving the commercial purpose the approvers need. But an AD is generally going to be too polite to say “well this almost got killed but I saved it like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Photoshop, high five, go team!” – they’re just going to send you revision notes/paints and assume you know you’re both on the same team.
—Most illustrators are crap at following directions. ADs have had it proven time and time again that if you give illustrators a written list (numbered, bulleted, made as easy as possible to use as a checklist) they still miss things. It’s pretty accepted that if you send 5 points of feedback, and illustrator is going to send it back with only 3 done. Maybe you are more careful. But understand that most of your peers are not, and ADs have to manage that.
—Some ADs are better at explaining themselves visually than verbally. Remember, we’re artists too. We’re not always as clear with the words as we are with the images, especially when it’s something complicated or a note we think can be easily misunderstood. Easier to see it.
—Many illustrators have language barriers and it’s easier to show them visually. We don’t always know which ones do and don’t have problems with english, but sometimes we get that feeling from your emails and we make sure to be extra clear.
THAT SAID…I have never sent a paintover without saying “this is a guide, done roughly, so please recreate with your style/ability” — I know no artist wants to get a paintover, so I try to make them as rough as possible to make it obvious I want you to REDO it. If it’s unclear in this case whether it’s a guide or it’s exactly what they want to keep then I would ask this AD if it’s ok if you rebuild what they painted. Chances are, they’ll say yes but want you to keep very close to what they did, for approval reasons. But they very well might welcome a bit more creativity in how they solved the problem (I usually do, and I will tell the artist how close they need to stick to the paintover).
If you want to be let in on the AD’s thought process, just ask. You can say “I’ve noticed you work by paintovers. Is that a necessary part of your approval process or is it because you are concerned I won’t be able to get all the revisions in text? I’d love to try to save you the effort and take a crack at the revisions without needing the paintovers.” And I would hope the AD answers with some explanation of why they’re working that way. Maybe they’ll be relieved not to have to do a paintover if they can avoid it. Maybe it’ll be the start of a beautiful working relationship. Maybe there’s a solid reason they’re doing it and you’ll understand and not be hurt by it and it’ll still be the start of a working relationship. It never hurts to ask (in a non-hostile way).
Remember, this is a collaboration. An artist and an AD are working together to hurdle all the approvers and make a great portfolio piece that also sells lots of whatever you’re selling. Both sides want that process to go as quickly and easily as possible. ADs aren’t fucking with your work just for fun. They very well could be saving your art from a kill fee.
