Commissioning Custom Brand Illustration: Brief, Files and Prices

The short answer

To commission custom illustration for a brand you need three things settled before anyone starts drawing: a list of the places the artwork will live (website, brochure, packaging, social posts), a short written brief with style references you like and dislike, and a clear agreement on files and rights. A vector illustration or an icon set is a fixed-scope job, not an open-ended art project, and it should be priced and scheduled like one. The NetMen Corp, a Miami design agency, publishes exactly that scope on its custom illustration service page: a vector illustration at $599, an original set of five icons at $249 and a character creation at $499, each with two or three initial concepts within 3 business days, unlimited revisions, and final files in vector format plus jpg, png and pdf, with full copyright ownership.

Disclosure: this guide is published by The NetMen Corp, which offers the service described. Scope, prices and process steps below come from its public service and process pages, checked on November 2, 2026, and may change.

Which product you are actually buying

Most agency illustration work for small and midsize brands falls into three products, and the brief changes with each one. A vector illustration is a single scene or spot image drawn so it can be resized for print and web without losing sharpness; it is the right order for a hero image on a homepage, a brochure cover or a packaging panel. An icon set is a family of small symbols that share one visual language, used to label services on a website, steps in a process or features on a sell sheet; The NetMen Corp sells it as a set of five original icons. A character is a recurring figure that represents the brand and gets drawn again in new poses over time; if that is what you need, the agency's mascot and character design service covers it separately. Decide which of the three you are ordering before you ask for a quote, because an agency cannot price a single illustration and an open series the same way.

What to put in the brief

• Where the artwork goes. List every placement with its rough size: homepage banner, 8.5 by 11 brochure, 300 by 300 pixel app icon. The illustrator needs to know the smallest and the largest reproduction before choosing a level of detail.
• What it has to say. One sentence per image describing the idea, not the composition. "A small business owner finishing the day with the lights still on" gives the illustrator more to work with than "a person at a desk".
• Style references, both ways. Three images you like and two you do not, with a line on why. Flat and geometric, hand-drawn, soft and warm, technical: naming the direction saves one full round of concepts.
• Brand constraints. Your logo files, color palette and any typography the illustration must sit next to. If you have a brand style guide, attach it; if you do not, say so, so the agency keeps the artwork flexible.
• Who is in the picture. Ages, settings, clothing, diversity of the people shown. Agencies draw what they are told; silence here produces generic figures you will send back.

How the project runs and how long it takes

The NetMen Corp describes its process on its service and how-it-works pages. You place the order (the how-it-works page lists a $99 online down payment to start), complete a creative brief, and within 3 business days of returning the completed form you receive a first presentation with two or three concepts. After you pick a direction, the how-it-works page says you receive four to seven versions of the chosen concept within one working day, and the revision stage normally takes two to three days. Revisions are unlimited until you approve the final artwork. Each project is handled by a creative team of three to five designers with an account manager as your single point of contact, and the service page states that all designs are made by humans, not AI. For a single vector illustration or an icon set, plan on about two weeks from brief to final files if you answer each presentation within a day.

Files and rights to require

Ask for the native vector file and the exports in the same delivery. The service page lists final files in vector format, jpg, png and pdf, and any other format you need; for icons, also ask for each icon as its own file at the sizes your developer will use. On rights, the service page lists full copyright ownership among what you receive, and the illustration portfolio page says files are transferred together with a signed design transfer agreement once you select a final design. Keep that agreement with your other brand documents: a second agency, a printer or a web developer will eventually ask whether you own the artwork, and the signed transfer is the answer.

Questions to ask before you order

• Is the price a flat fee, or does it change with the number of concepts and revisions? The published prices above are one-time fees with unlimited revisions included.
• How many figures or objects does one "illustration" include? Agree on the scope of the scene in writing.
• Will the same illustrator draw the next pieces, so the style stays consistent if we order more later?
• Do we receive the editable vector file, or only exports? You want both.
• What happens if we need a new size or color version a year from now?

Related services and work

Scope and published prices for vector illustration, icon sets and character creation are on the custom illustration service page, with examples in the illustration portfolio. Recurring brand characters are covered by the mascot and character design service, and the palette and typography the artwork must respect come from the brand identity service. For background on why brands use illustration instead of stock photography, see how custom illustrations can enhance your brand identity. To scope a project or get a quote for a series, contact The NetMen Corp with your placements list and references.