plan for new team portraits

[lottiecoxon]

Problem

• team portraits take too much time to create.
• I tried to find someone to replace me and worked out that I can't find someone to do a similar likeness.
• The person who looked most promising on Fiverr who I commissioned basically just AI generated the image - it could work for now but it's giving uncanny valley :(
  Example of Bijan:

Solution

• Rethink how we do team portraits. I have found a designer who creates these little figures as well as a rigging system that allows you to easily animate them. I think these are along a similar vein to the hedgehog artworks (in line thickness and simplicity) and think that going down a similar route would do us well.

• Designer is this guy - https://deekaykwon.com/ - if we commissioned him to do them a) he would probably cost a lot which is fine but b) probably wouldn't commit to do our portraits forever as he is a big deal and has multiple projects going all the time so thinking we build in house for a more stable future.

• In a dream world, I would create a bunch of hairstyles/t-shirts/accessories and have a similar system to the 'build your own hedgehog' set up we previously discussed. This would mean in the future that it takes a lot of weight off me to draw everyone, adds a bit of fun to the onboarding process (aka build yourself) and also could offer other fun opportunities such as personal stickers and animated moments on the website.

Examples of inspiration

Steps forward

• I will have a sketch around today to see how it would look, but realistically this could take a wee while to gather all the contents for the new system. It may be a process that I ask our current employees to see what items/accessories they would want so we can begin building out components. Then I could work with website and wibes to build out a version that eventually doesn't need my input (aside from new outfit requests).

• Even though this concept appears to make more work now, it will lead to a point where I won't have to work on it anymore so I'm keen to see this through (as finding someone to just do the old style of portraits just feels counter productive)

[andyvan-ph]

Fwiw, I'm unsure about this direction, mainly because this would appear less like real people.

Given our engineers and support interact with people in the community using their profile pics, I think it's important they look like real people, and not potentially be misconstrued as bots, or sock puppet accounts.

It also doesn't actually the fix the short term need to free you up.

I am absolutely certain there is someone out there we can pay who will do a better job than the one fiverr person we've tried. I think James suggested this at the offsite, but can we try, like, five people at once and pick the best?

[lottiecoxon]

okay noted- good advice- I'm gonna run a bunch of testers with a variety of artists today and see what they all come back with

[Lior539]

Also, it would be helpful to know what our "budget" range is per portrait

[lottiecoxon]

I agree with this ^ as a lot of these artists range from £40-£100 (or even more) per portrait - and seeing as theres a backlog if we can't find someone to mimic the previous work we will need them to do all 50 ish of our current employees again

[Lior539]

these artists range from £40-£100 (or even more) per portrait

This seems way too cheap IMO. How long do you think each one of these would take a person?
What about a budget of £500 per portrait? We could probably get much higher quality then.

Also, anecdotally, I've had better luck with finding freelancers on upwork than fiverr

[lottiecoxon]

Upwork is a great shout - such better artists on there - thanks Lior!!

[lottiecoxon]

something to discuss when marketing team is back would be a budget though as I am finding a bunch of people on Upwork who look very good but they are around 200$ a head - for the amount of people we have already (50 people) is 10k for all the new portraits- which is A LOT of money.

Also if we get someone to redo all the images and we get the new style to be them, we also run the risk of this person also quitting/leaving and then we face the same issue down the line- and therefore the process would need to be repeated again.

Do we maybe consider a photography option? get people to do headshots in a similar style in whichever country they live...? Far less fun but more safe? OPEN TO THOUGHTS PLS

[Lior539]

for the amount of people we have already (50 people)

Dont we only need to do this for the new people? In any case, I think $200 per person is fine, but would defer to @charlescook-ph

[charlescook-ph]

Up to $200 per (new) person sounds fine to start with for a few ad hoc, then we can renegotiate once we're obviously sending them a batch of regular work (e.g. $500/mo for up to 4 people for example)

[lottiecoxon]

I still haven't found any one who can replicate my style so either we redo all of them or we have half drawn one way and half drawn in another way - do you see my issue

[charlescook-ph]

I still haven't found any one who can replicate my style

Seems that this should be possible - how many people have you commissioned to try this out?

I think you'll probably need to invest a bit of up front work here briefing someone, giving them a couple of rounds of feedback etc., but if you already spend say half a day doing each portrait then spending a whole day or two getting someone fully up and running seems appropriate here?

[lottiecoxon]

very true point - edited the upwork job description - will throw some money and time at it

[corywatilo]

I probed ChatGPT and it produced some decently relevant examples of specific illustrators who are in the ballpark – at least it beats hunting through pages of portfolios or trying to sift through hundreds of inbound responses.

1. Zoria: A digital illustrator specializing in stylized digital portraits. Zoria offers personalized artwork tailored to client preferences. 
2. German Dv: A freelance illustrator and portrait artist with expertise in classical oil painting and digital art. German creates customized portraits ranging from semi-realism to cartoon styles. 
3. Twinkle Gupta: A fashion designer and illustrator proficient in crafting personalized digital vector portraits and caricatures. Twinkle focuses on portraying personality traits and characteristics in her artwork. 
4. Sillyutc: A freelance illustrator offering digital portraits based on provided photos. Sillyutc emphasizes attention to detail and creativity in her work. 
5. Elodrawss: An illustrator with experience in graphic design, creating personal portraits, logos, infographics, and more. Elodrawss offers digital illustrated portraits based on reference pictures. 

---

1. Mohannad Haikal: Specializes in semi-realistic portraits, offering detailed and expressive illustrations. 
2. Rosario Alfaro: Focuses on semi-realistic portraits with a unique artistic touch. 
3. Hinata Honda: Known for semi-realistic digital portraits, blending realism with stylized elements. 
4. Theodor Anag: Creates semi-realistic face illustrations, emphasizing detailed features and textures. 
5. Nyan Ny: Offers semi-realistic digital art with a focus on character and personality. 

(last 3 links are the same)

[lottiecoxon]

Finally found someone from Upwork ! so can close this - thanks for the research though Cory!!