How to Hire a Mural Artist - Ep 22
In this episode I share tips on how to hire a mural artist for your next mural project. If you are still looking for an artist for your project, check out my video on how to find a mural artist.
Mural by Jessie & Katey. Curated and Project Managed for CulturalDC/Jair Lynch. Photo via CulturalDC.
You Found Your Dream Mural Artist, What Next?
1. Reach Out to the Artist
Once you’ve found your dream artist for your project, you can reach out to the artist and let them know that you are interested in hiring them for your project. Send them your creative brief, budget, and timeline and see if they are interested in working with you.
Your creative brief will them them the details of the site, show them inspirational visuals, and share your budget, timeline, and anything you definitely don't want in the mural.
2. Get References
Next, ask for references from the artist. You can also look online to see if they have reviews or examples of past projects. Then you can reach out to those past clients to see what it was like working with that artist.
3. Ask for Proposal with a Concept, Sketch, or Quick Design
If you have good references and want to move forward with this artist, ask them what their fee is to create concept art -- this can be a sketch or full rendering. Basically you are asking them to send you a proposal of what they could do for your site. Some artists will have a set fee for this, others may not. If they do not, you can offer them a portion of your full artist budget.
Make sure they know if the fee for a sketch or rendering if going to come out of the overall art budget that you already gave them. You should always pay an artist for their design proposal! In order for them to create a design, they will have to spend time reviewing your creative brief, coming up with concepts, and then making a design. Also, their expertise as a mural artist is the result of many hours, sometimes years, of doing murals, so you are also paying for their knowledge as well as their time.
Make sure to ask how long it will take the artist to create this initial design. Many artists have multiple projects going on at once, so you should not expect the artist to send you a design over night. A few weeks lead time will enable the artist to take their time thinking about your project so that they can create their best design, but again ask the artist what deadline is best for them.
4. Contract the Artist for your Project
At this point, you might be wondering when you should sign a contract with the artist. It depends on how you are choosing your artist. If you are reaching out to a few artists for their proposals (and paying each of them their design fee), then you will want to wait until you have chosen your final artist to do a contract. If you are set on one artist, you can send them a contract right away and include in the contract the fee for the mural design.
Artwork by The Inking Rose. Curated and Produced for Curative.
What should you include in a contact?
Sometimes the artist will already have a contract and it's always a good idea to ask them if they do. You may also already have a standard contract for services, which is a good place to start if you are commission a mural on behalf of a big company. Otherwise, here are some tips on what to include in a mural contract (I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice):
Contact info and business entities of both parties, including who is making the final decisions about the mural
Budget and timeline, including a provision about weather
Roles and expectations of each party
Fee and payment schedule, including how and when payment will be sent. One way to schedule payment, not including the design fee, is 50% up front (deposit) and 50% upon completion
Mural design (or initial concepts with a note that design will be mutually agreed upon)
Site details
Who is paying for materials, installation fees, like a lift or scaffolding,
Any other things you require, like insurance/liability, site restrictions, design or community meetings you expect them to attend, etc.
That the artist retains intellectual property, if not, be prepared to pay a lot more for the project as artists will most likely want to retain the intellectual property for their work
Whether or not you can use the art on promotional materials
How and who will maintain the mural
Here are some examples of mural contracts:
You can also reach out to Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts to get help making a contract for your art commission project.
5. Pay Your Artist to Start Services
Pay your artist! You’ll want to pay your artist the first chunk of payment as noted in the contract so they can start working on your project. Mural artists have to order materials and do a lot of prep work to be prepared for installation, so you need to pay them to start working on your project.
I highly suggest paying the artist their design fee and deposit the fastest way possible. This will likely be by credit card if the artist can take payment that way and if you can pay that way. If your company has a long lead time to pay, like it takes a month to set up a new vendor in your billable payments system, let the artist know up front.
Hiring an artist should be fun and exciting -- you have found someone who will make art for you! That's awesome! By making sure you and the artist are on the same page, have a solid contract, and an initial design concept (that you paid for), you'll be on your way to having an amazing new mural!
Have you recently hired a mural artist? Share your own experience in the comments below!
Looking for a mural artist? We can help! Check out our Distill Creative art consulting services.
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Artwork by Stephanie Eche.
Your Host | Stephanie Eche, CEO & Founder of Distill Creative
Stephanie Eche is an artist and art consultant based in Brooklyn, NYC.
Follow Stephanie on Instagram (@distillcreative or @stephanie_eche), Twitter (@stephanie_eche), YouTube (Distill Creative), LinkedIn, and check out her art website.
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