Micro-Financing in Indonesia

Singapore based Raptor Capital Management already had a good foundation for procuring international capital.  What they still needed was a logo worthy of the service they provide.

As a lender of micro-loans to poor farmers and villagers of Indonesia, Raptor Capital Management is committed to providing much needed resources used in improving the production, quality, storage and distribution of food while aiding in premium high-value crop selection for maximum profitability at market.  In addition, their funding of land purchases through a Land Assist Program, not only provides local farmers with the rights and responsibilities to farm but does so with conservation of agricultural land at the forefront.

Through the implementation of Syariah based financing, the borrower does not pay interest but shares profits with their funders. Prospective borrowers are selected through social criteria and receive loans in clusters of four.  Peer pressure and a clear motive to succeed make default rates amazingly low.

Local community involvement, fair and equitable financing, empowering borrowers with loans averaging $500 to $1000… it all adds up to providing the potential, resources and direction to vastly improve the lives of individuals and communities alike.

The client’s logo design request was for a raptor that appears proactively aggressive but not overpowering.  A logo of a bold and serious nature with modern, professional, masculine, conservative and up-market traits.

If you are interested in more information about Raptor Capital Management as an investment opportunity while helping others at the same time, keep a lookout for their website (currently under construction).

If you are interested in your own exclusive custom logo, just ask.  Free quotes.  Reasonable prices and a willingness to listen to what makes your business work, makes for happy customers and great logo designs or logo illustrations.  Still undecided?  See other Jeff Jones logo samples by browsing my custom logos category.

Capturing ones look and personality within a portrait is a tricky business. It helps to know some anatomical fun facts relating to basic form and proportions, understanding masses, planes and symmetry or the importance of building features from light and shadow. Yes, this is all good but what is also essential is distinguishing the characteristics unique to your subject.

When Real Life isn’t Practical

As a portrait artist, when someone asks me to create a portrait of themselves, friend or family member, it’s fun to be able to draw from real life but not always practical. Working with clients from around the country (as well as globally) it becomes necessary for me to work from your photographs.  I generally request several photos of the individual if possible. The reason being, although a particular photo will inevitably be the main source from which to draw, the other photos may help tell a more complete story.

Portrait Art for Home or Business

Next, it’s helpful to know how the portrait will be used or displayed.  Are you looking for a more formal representation or a more playful rendition of a graphic nature? A picture to hang on a wall or to use as a small icon on a website? What style do you prefer?  Simple or detailed?  Serious or fun? If you haven’t done so already, you may want to peruse the portrait category of this site to get an idea of my range in styles. Or check out some of my figure drawings and portrait art at  http://www.jeffjonesfineart.com/art/traditional/

Portrait Styles

Above are several portraits I’ve created in a variety of styles and situations for one client in particular – a celebrity chef and successful restaurateur extraordinaire!  In each portrait, I try to do justice to his undoubtedly fun and adventurous nature. I bet you can guess, he’s become a favorite client of mine to be sure.

So if any of this sparks your interest in having a portrait drawn of you or a loved one, please feel free to inquire.  Figurative and Portraiture art and illustration have always been a favorite passion of mine.  Let’s see what I can do for you.

Art directors and designers often hire me to help with logo assignments for a variety of reasons.

1. To explore or illustrate a particular concept of theirs. They may have some rough sketches requiring an illustrator’s touch or maybe their logo idea just needs some fine tuning.

2. The designer needs a “fresh pair of eyes” or a new perspective. With so many designers working independently, it often helps to bounce ideas off someone else to obtain better results.

3. The designer needs a new idea and prefers to leave the concepting of the logo up to me OR maybe they have an idea or two already formulated but would like to present optional logos to their client.

4. The art director or designer’s heavy work load is standing in the way. In this business, it’s not often wise to decline a job. If you know of a reliable artist to help in a jam (that would be me:) you can either hire me as a third party or have me work directly with the client. Your choice.

5. Lastly, some art directors and designers just don’t care to design logos. So why not hand the job over to someone who loves designing logos? Or thinks in icons? Once again, that would be me.

I welcome working with you as the designer or art director and the challenge of presenting a company’s identity, branding or “look” in the best possible light.

Click here for a quick overview of sample logos of mine.

If I were to play the stock market based on recent requests for CUSTOM ILLUSTRATIONS, my bets would go to investing in healthcare, casual dining and wineries (JNJ, PNRA) for starters. If hedging bets is your game, how about adding a few discretionary picks like travel stocks (PCLN) to the mix as well as a stake in Apple (AAPL) based on the most recent licensing of my STOCK IMAGES?

Of course, if stock market trades were that easy to predict, I could simply turn down incoming requests for custom illustrations and write an investment strategy blog instead. A sure way to go broke for this illustrator!  Besides, drawing pictures for a living is a lot more fun and far more rewarding.

From a dancing Carmen Miranda for Harbor Ridge Winery’s “Carmen’s Last Dance” wine label to healthcare icons and logos for agencies providing in-home care or tips on handling a pregnancy through iPhone apps (note another plug for Apple) the request for new imagery is on the rise.  And if more people knew of my true bargain pricing, well I would soon find myself in the position of having to turn many of those jobs down anyway.

Why so AFFORDABLE, you ask? Three reasons come to mind.

One.  I love the challenge of creating logos and icons to illustrating… well, pretty much everything.  When you love what you do, you’re willing to do with less.

Two.  I can’t ignore the increased competition due in large part to working within a globally internet-connected economy.  Since a decent percentage of both my custom and stock sales/licensing comes from countries outside the U.S., it isn’t in turn hard to conclude my fellow illustrators span the globe as well. So to maintain competitive pricing, a bargain it must be!

Three.  With the availability of ready-made-art, a.k.a. stock illustrations being just a click away, the market for custom artwork isn’t always the solution. If that’s the case for you, check out my extensive collection of readily available stock images from icons to logos to concept illustrations, all at prices guaranteed not to break the bank.

The request came through my website. “I’ve got a book about dogs and a practical guide for their happy life in the works and would like to know if you are interested in doing some illustrations?” I’m paraphrasing a bit but you get the idea.

Being pretty busy at the time, I admit to inquiring further as to the viability of publication. Once assured, the fun began.

What started as a project of possibly 7 to 10 drawings, became a book now published and featuring 39 of my illustrations. Best of all, a significant portion of the proceeds will benefit local animal rescue groups.

The author, Jodie Snyder, was really great to work with. She’s talented, humble and super nice (and has a really sweet dog too!)

As you read through the book, her caring and fun personality, along with her knowledge on all-things-dogs, makes this book a must read resource of practical tips for you and your dog, particularly if you live in Arizona.

Check out the Happy Dog Phoenix website: www.HappyDogPhoenix.com for a copy for your very own.

Exclusive vs. Non-exclusive Usage, the biggest difference… your budget.

As a small business owner, my recommendation for logo usage is to go exclusive. Exclusive Rights to an image is sometimes referred to as a BUYOUT  or FULL BUY. In such an instance, you as the buyer would be granted, not only full use of the image but the ownership of that image or logo as well. That means if you and I were to enter into such an agreement, upon my receiving the negotiated full payment, the image rights would be transferred from me, the creator of the image, to you, the buyer.

However, increasingly start-up small businesses or non-profits on a tight budget are requesting the option of Full Use of an image without obtaining exclusivity. Such arrangements allow the buyer to use the image as often as they like, across all media platforms whenever and wherever. The distinction being, the image remains in possession of the artist, thus allowing me to continue marketing the illustration to others. Since all images on my site are Right’s Managed, the non-exclusive option for these illustrations are available unless marked “sold”.

Because my website exposure is relatively small compared to that of some bigger players out there, chances of the guy down the block using the very same artwork as you, are slim. For the asking, I could let you know the popularity of a given image and if the image has recently been used by any other person or business in your area.

If your business qualifies as a sole-proprietor start-up or non-profit, it’s likely you could consider this non-exclusive option at a most reasonable price of $195 per image.

When determining the price of a logo, it’s true, SIZE MATTERS… the size of your company that is.

Over the years, I’ve created logos or licensed my images to companies as large as Anheuser-Busch and Toyota to companies as small as one person entities. All things considered, the exposure of an image is ultimately the primary deciding  factor when determining a price for creating logo art.

Realizing the economics of running a business while enjoying working with people in both large and small operations, my price range is wide.

With prices as low as $195 for full, non-exclusive use of an existing image or logo (for most non-profits and  sole-proprietors) to $500 custom logo BUYOUTS (exclusive use for most non-profits and sole-proprietors), it’s an affordable way to go while maintaining a direct line of communication with the artist/designer.

Ask for a quote for your own custom logo or custom illustration. You may be pleasantly surprised.

For a quick overview of sample logos of mine, just type in “logo” in the search box and see hundreds at once.

Most introductions between two people start by offering up your name, then asking theirs.  Within a relatively short amount of time, the questions of each other’s occupations usually arise.  In such conversations, as soon as I respond with “I’m an illustrator,” the most common response is a blank look, sometimes followed with an “Oh, what does an illustrator do?”

I stammer and hmmm a bit and finally say something along the lines of “I create things like logos or drawings for websites, maybe ads or brochures, to the occasional artwork for anything from books to billboards.”

This is generally followed by more silence at which time I quickly change the subject to deflect any further attention away from myself.  However if my new acquaintance actually is interested enough to inquire further, they may ask for things like my style.  Then things really fall apart. The logical thing to do at this point is to refer them to my website.

So here goes, for those still curious, a blog is born.

In future postings, I’ll discuss recent jobs (at least when I have the time to do so), introduce a few clients and try to answer some of those often asked questions.  I’ll also create a separate section dedicated to logos and the development process behind creating these icons.  Other postings may include discussions on the illustration industry, how it’s changed and what my role or experience has or continues to be within.