ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

You are here: Home / Blog / Need a Graphic Artist

Need a Graphic Artist

Blog, Business of Writing POST A COMMENT by

I have a budget of $1,000. I need some designs for the merchandise store to be printed on T-shirts, mugs, etc. Mostly quotes with Canva and Adobe stock graphics. Stuff like Ripper Cushions. Save me from myself.

  • Familiarity with Canva and Photoshop
  • Ability to put fonts together that do not look like I (3-year old toddler with two left hands) did it
  • We buy all rights

To apply, please use the contact form on the site. Please select Graphic Artist option. Please do not respond via email, as in please do not reply to the newsletter, or post Facebook comments, etc. Please use the contact form. Please include a link to your portfolio and let us know how many designs we can get with $1,000.

We don’t know if the merchandise shop will pay for itself or not. If it does, we will commission more stuff.

NEVER MISS A BOOK RELEASE

Join 30,000 Subscribers

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO
PUBLISHING NEWS

New book releases, give-aways, and appearances.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO
BLOG UPDATES

Free fiction, snippets, and funny stories.

Read our Privacy Policy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Me too.
      Or Nevada‘s “Eat dirt and die.”
      Actually, I’m not picky, anything House Andrews branded will be great.

      • or how about when Neveda was thrown at Rogan in the hallway and how she can’t tell grandma, something about fate throwing them together.
        or the you’re rich right? why dont you have a/c in the basement.
        Nevada has so many good snarky quotes.

  3. I wish the cups could be wider at the bottom and narrower towards the top, to keep my tea warm longer. I sip tea slowly and it cools before I finish in the wide mugs.

    • Off on a tangent, I’ve got a double wall “thermal” metal mug with plastic, fitted stopoer lid pierced with sipping hole that is ust incredible at keeping for at least couple of hours, and warm for even longer. Also helped by shape where base half is twice radius of top half (think mad=scientist beaker flask). Not for those with metal allergy, and best cleaned with longer/narrow brush, but lasted decades so far.
      I’ve got others with metal outside and plastic liner which do better than ceramic, but well short of first one.

      • Mexican “jarrito”-style clay mugs are perfect for this I discovered..I save mine for my hot chocolates

  7. Good luck.

    I spring from a family full of artists, but I’m not one myself. The one thing I’m really good at is something I find mind-numbingly dull to do.

  9. My niece is an amazing and talented graphic artist so I forwarded this to her – would be so exciting if she applied and got picked! ????????

  11. Just here to bounce excitedly! — and add my wish for ripper cushions merch for anyone keeping score.

  14. Not an artistic splinter of bone in my body, but I will totally support any merchandise goodies you sell. ????

  17. I’m a crappy artist but I’ll def. buy merch…especially if it accompanies new Kate Daniel’s ‘verse books – sell sets! I’d buy the HECK out of sets!

  20. I always thought a t-shirt or hoodie with Gertrude Hunt B & B on it would be fun! One that looked like a legit place where you went and brought one back, but all of us BDH’ers would know what it was. ????

    • I love this idea!! It would make a great t-shirt!! Also, one advertising Nevada’s or Kate’s agency / business!!

    • Yes! Came here to ask for this too. My top item would be one of those insulated wine/tea tumblers. “Gertrude Hunt Bed & Breakfast, Red Deer, Texas” with something like the image of the Inn from the One Fell Sweep cover art, or a stylized version of the roofline, or something similar. That would be amazing!!!

    • “I traveled across the universe,
      went shopping in an inter-galactic bazzar,
      enjoyed the incomparable luxury of the Gertrude Hunt Inn,
      dined on culinary masterpieces prepared by a 5Cleaver Chef,
      and bought myself this exclusive GHI logo zipper hoodie,
      because they wouldn’t let me return to Earth with a primed blood mace.”

  21. I use a mug warmer plate, so any kind of cup that has a flat bottom would be great! Most of mine are concave, which doesn’t work as well.

  24. I hope everyone knows…that mug needs to be included, because now I need to buy this for my Best Friend as a Christmas present. Curran is her number 1, (don’t shame me please!!) Bones is my number 1.

  25. OMG, you’ve done it now! I can already see the additions to Christmas and birthday lists; you have just created another job for yourselves!

    Loved the 2017 post, I must have missed the original posting too.

  26. As a coffee addict who uses milk, I would love a mug with Roman’s “Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers.” quote. But there are so many clever lines to choose from 🙂

    Oh and if the mugs are tulip-shaped I’d probably buy a set! For some reason I always end up using my tulip shaped mugs more than the standard/even shaped mugs. But they are harder to come by.

  27. Proud member of the support team for artists!! Craft show fan for many years.
    Mugs, totes, t-shirts, etc. – very excited to see what happens next with this cool project!!

  29. I’ve been waiting for merch for forever! Now I’ll be here checking for link to purchase.
    Graphic Artists do you your stuff!

  31. Oh yeah, I want a shirt that says ‘ripper cushions’ (and maybe a picture of Helen).

    And one that says ‘here kitty kitty’!!!!

    Well on second thought maybe a cup with those Quotes as well…..

  32. love the idea of merch! I’d definitely buy mugs or tote bags or whatever you guys sell. I have the calendar and absolutely love it!

  33. I’d love a mug or cup with an image of Gertrude Hunt! (like, Gertrude Hunt welcomes you!)

  34. Oooh! Goodies!
    We *wants* them, Precious, we *does*.

    Sounds like I will be sending more money your way…

  38. I can’t help with this or your other Asks so far but I am waiting until you need someone who understands /knows Thoroughbred Horse Racing LOL

    Ya never know

    • +1! Not about the horses, but about waiting/hoping that they may need something that I can help with, like banking regulations or a related type of question. ????????

  39. I can’t help with the graphics and you probably don’t need a t-shirt place, but tsdesigns does low print runs (as few as 12 t-shirts) and uses a really cool, environmentally friendly print technique with some unique color methods. I have not commissioned t-shirts with my own logo, but I have purchased their t-shirts. I think the t-shirts are WAY awesome. I did consider doing t-shirts with my BearMountainBooks logo, but in the end, decided to forgo such an activity completely. The site is tsdesigns.com.

    Good luck with the merchandising! It’s so much fun to design things!

  40. I would like a HKK refrigerator magnet please! And HKK stickers too!

    Last month I was in Ralph’s and a Mom was shopping with four small children and I heard her say “Stop it now or there will be ripper cushions”. I said I love Innkeeper and she said “Me too”. I laughed and felt great the rest of the day.

  42. I used to use 99Designs.com for corporate logo, illustrations, stationery and merchandising. It used to be done in either a public or private contest format with designers around the world competing to have their designs selected. Usually, it was gold silver or bronze packages. The pricing when I first started using it maxed out at about $600 at the gold package. The process for a logo for example was to select a category, and industry, give a description and select some samples you liked and post the project. You can also browse completed designs on other public projects and invite designers you like to become part of your contest. You wait a few days for designs to roll in and select up to 6 to provide feedback to and then in a few days you select the final designs. The last time I used it I, I got a great logo package in various regular and reverse type formats and combos of my colors from a designer in Malaysia with full copyright and a waiver of moral rights.

    However, 99Designs was sold to Vistaprint so its website is more corporate/standardized and I haven’t used it recently so the process might be a little different There are lots of alternatives – both contest based and monthly based (e.g. Kimp).

    However, if you are mostly going to use text (or illustrations you have already licensed for that purpose) on your promotional merchandise, you probably don’t need a designer – you can probably create the designs you want using the design tools and the good guidelines on the Vistaprint website (www.vistaprint.com), Vistaprint is one of the supply companies used by designers and creators. There are a lot of merchandise categories available from clothing and bags to mugs and USB flash drives or power banks as well as traditional print categories. I always use it for things like business cards – it’s fast, cost effective and wasn’t hard to learn to use.

  43. I can just see a t-shirt with a black cave and two cat eyes glowing in the cave. Then the Here Kitty, Kitty phrase underneath.

  46. I didn’t know there was a merch store!!! Where is it? I definitely need that Beast Lord cup!!! Big smiles!

    • Hi Sharon,

      There isn’t one yet 🙂 , as there is no merch- that’s what the graphic designer is for 😉

      • Take my money! I’m ready to buy the HKK and ripper cushions in both mugs and t-shirts. I need them for holiday gifts. Really, really soon… Please…please…

      • can you please remind me of the quote/where to find it for ‘going medieval on his a**’ I have vague recall that it’s from innkeeper and maybe similar timeframe to Helen’s ripper cushions

        • “ “She’s outside. She said to find you right away because ‘that cop is about to go middle evil on Mrak.’”

          It’s from One Fell Sweep, page 216 on my Kindle edition ????

  47. I am so glad that you are exploring a merchandise shop. I hope you can do it without too much stress or more time than you want to spend.

  49. Yes, please. All the merchandise. I would would buy tshirts, coffee cups, basically anything Kate Daniels! Please and thank you! Y’all are the best!

  50. I am not a merchandizing person. Not my skillset. But as a potential buyer: I would love a mug with red carnations on it and some reference or quote to the first Hidden Legacy book. Or something with Grandma Frida. Or, or, or…

    Notebooks are also cool. I believe you can get composition-type notebooks and do custom art on the covers. So much pretty KD/HL/IC art to choose from!

    • I don’t think that we’re talking slow, patient, dark ages money making. I think we’re talking FTL money manufacturing processes. The market is large and untapped.

  52. And t-shirt/sweater/hoodie that says “Proud member of the BDH” with small print below it spelling out the acronym. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking we’re an extremist group. Although we are extreme HA readers…

    I realize we’re throwing a lot of requests out, but if you do intend to include clothing, then XX/2X, XXX/3X, etc. sizes would be greatly appreciated.

    • Yeah, me too! Umm, grown up sizes please? I haven’t worn misses sizes since I married.

      And I’d love to get my hands on something with the ferret burglar team on one side and Connor and Augustine calling to update security on the dryer vents…

  53. I agree with the note above about getting Gertrude Hunt tourist swag. I would even go more upscale and get an embroidered white fluffy bathrobe like they have at the really ritzy spas.

    I’d also love a set of Orro oven mitts.

  54. My personal favs are Erra quotes like “Bow, worm!” Lol good luck graphic artists. We’ll graduate to merch devouring horde. ????

  55. I’m ashamed of my fellow posters – how is it no one has mentioned a metal rose yet? 🙂 Someday I’ll figure out how to add emojis.

    • ????????????

      Sorry, that’s the best emojis that I had for you. I can help you if you have a Samsung phone (or maybe another brand of Android), but I’m clueless about iPhones. I’m sure there’s someone else here that would help with that though! ????

  56. I really hope that you get lots of applicants & can get the shop set up quickly so we can purchase all the fantastic things you can think to create. I’m pretty sure that the BDH will ensure that this will be a success!

  58. Oh! We need stuffed animals! Or stuffies, or plushies, or squishies, or whatever you want to call them! I realize this doesn’t really fall into your merchandise graphic artist request, but I think you’d sell a lot of stuffed Currans! Or maybe a whole set? ???? **Or maybe even a stuffed Puffles?** ????

  59. Fav Nevada quote (paraphrasing)

    “We won’t need the siege team. My sisters will be coming.”

    Having 3 older sisters, this one hits home for me ????

  60. If this comes to fruition, I humbly ask for the Luther shirt: KNIGHT IN THE STREETS, WIZARD IN THE SHEETS 🙂

  61. Ooooh, such lovely ideas.

    My hand is raised to vote support for “From a Red Cleaver Kitchen” recipe cards, “From the Desk of Lord Submarine” post-it notes, and pretty much anything HA snarky quotes on a tea towel! Oh, and a flaming sword/Angel of Death design for oven mitts 😀

    The BDH is poised to become the HAMDH (House Andrews Merchandise Devouring Horde)!

  62. YEEEEHHHHAAWWWWW!! im so excited and i just cant hide it!! gimme gimme, i seriously was just going to start a couple shirts for christmas for my mom and i with fav quotes from all the different series or main character names in a ladder like ive seen of some popular series. cant wait im going to spend all the money. also itll save me from buying random science posters from my night school classes which i positively have no where to put and just love the graphics and colors on them. yes to book goodies instead, now i shall save my mad money. Thank you!!

  64. Technical Instructor in Media from UK here! (sadly to many hours away to apply) just double check you’d be able to own all rights to anything that is produced in Canva!

    Also, for anything sent for bulk printing they’ll more than likely request it in a format such as pdf ‘with printers marks’ so photoshop is not the best choice. A familiarity with photoshop is good for photograph/drawn illustrations but for printing and text you’ll need someone with a good understanding of Illustrator as the documents will need to be created in CMYK with bleed marks. (Final photographs should be processed in illustrator document).

    Hope this helps!

  65. Dear lords, yes, to the stuffies!

    Plushies in the forms of lion, wolf, jaguar, hedgehog, hyena or whatever else you wish… but please, please, please include a bunnycat.

    • Artistically a little more difficult…but, on a shirt, a bunny shape made out of dust, as in a living dust bunny…”They were still trying to catch it when I left.”

  66. Oh, yeah! Great timing for me, I need more tshirts – literally searched etsy and redbubble for Ilona Andrews tshirts last week! But I didn’t like any of the designs … so very happy to know this might be happening!

    Please make sure it can be shipped to Australia! ????

    Right, I’ll get some tshirts from op shops to keep me going till I can get the Ilona Andrews tshirts of my dreams ???? – Proud member of the BDH and Ripper Cushions are right up there on my list of most desired quotes ????❤️

  67. Take my money too! Would totally buy a hoodies with logos of the House Krahr, Gertrude Hunt, or Office of House Records. Or any of the tons of great quotes.

  70. If you do end up doing t-shirts it would be awesome if you had some in the extra sizes (3x-6x) for women like me who are extra. Very extra. 🙂

  72. There are so many possibilities – and I want one of each! This is such a great idea. Ripper cushions, attentions, and bring all the donuts, and the sisters instead of the seige team.. just too many great lines to choose from.

    Sadly, I do not have any graphic artists skills. But I look forward to buying the goodies.

  73. I’m so excited for a ripper cushions pillow cover. I’ve never wanted to spend money faster in my life.

  74. I would kill for jute bags with House Andrews quotes and maybe chibi illustrations. I have tons of cups in the house, but my 3 jute bags have seen the world. ????

    • There are no plans at the moment, but as soon as a new project is confirmed and settled, it will be announced ????

  77. “ We don’t know if the merchandise shop will pay for itself or not.”

    I think the BDH just answered that question. Now then: where do I send my check? ????

    • There isn’t a store yet ????. First come the products, and for that a graphic designer is needed…

      But hopefully not too long now, ofc the links will be shared asap ????

  83. Have merch, will buy.

    I hope there’ll be international shipping ????????

    Soooooo many good suggestions on merch types and what to print in the comments!

  85. If you do ANY kind of shirts or hoodies, PLEASE make them to go to size 4X! Us folks who are large are often heart broken when we can’t get a size. Even 3X would help!

  86. I want the Roman quote about coffee and serial killers on a hoodie. I can then wear it to my coffee shop and get my frappe every stinking day!
    Also want a BDH tee and hoodie.
    Must have a hoodie with “there will be Ripper Cushions”.
    It got down to 20 degrees here last night I wear a lot of hoodies.
    I think you can tell your “horde” is ready to spend spend spend!!
    I also would like choice of xx and xxx sizes.

  88. Ok, our family has a long-standing coffee mug problem, as in we now have a moratorium on purchases so they don’t take over our house. But I hereby declare an exception to that moratorium for a “Ripper Cushions” mug.

    • I feel your pain.
      We’re at the piont where we made a rule that you have to trade out a mug (of your own) in order to keep the new mug. Now I’m wondering which former favorite I’ll be giving up for the HKK mug pictured above…

  89. will buy any goodies you sell. Purchased

    three hard back Ruby fever
    two soft cover
    kindle book
    audible
    game for more house andrews

  91. Ummm…I think the merch store will go over extremely well. Stuff will sell out before anyone blinks.

    Good luck to the graphic artist who’s chosen.

    I can see a book with bite marks on it with the caption “book devouring horde” underneath it. ????

  92. Love this informal polling of the BDH for merch preferences. I’d love t-shirts, hoodies, and mugs. I’m wondering if (as a longer-term merch project) a 365 day calendar could make sense, with best quotes from across the IA worlds. And if that is too daunting to contemplate, then would monthly calendars or annual planners with artwork from your books make $$ ? Am not sure the break-even costs/ profitability of calendars but I am always searching for 1-a-day calendars as gifts and would love to share/spread the word about House Andrews.

    • The commissioned art for the various series is generally owned by the artist. Sometimes they put calendars for sale, like Luisa Priessler has done a couple of years ago with the Kate Daniels and Kinsmen art ????

  94. Also, is there a high school or university nearby? My son is taking a digital arts course as a freshman and I know at my U there are students in graphic design that would love to make merch for a smallish fee.

  95. There’s something that I’ve been wondering about for quite awhile, but wasn’t sure when to ask. It seems appropriate for the post though. Mod R, please delete this if it causes any upset.

    There are quite a few IA things (things with IA sayings or derived images) on Etsy, but I’ve never felt comfortable buying them because it felt like they were trying to profit off of your creations. I realize that quotes are generally allowed in reviews and whatnot, but without the source being properly stated, it feels like infringement.

    Now, with you possibly opening your own merchandise store, it definitely feels wrong, but what is the IA stance on derived products (that aren’t offered by them or just in general)?

    Thank you! This is something that has really bothered me and made me wonder.

  97. I would love to buy a at least 18 oz “whole hand fits inside the handle “with a slightly flared lip coffee mug with a a choice of sayings etc.

  99. Wonderful idea about the Gertrude Hunt robes, I wonder how difficult it would be to get “Innkeeper Style” robes?

    I would surely get one for myself in some fluffy fabric and standard format that said,” Gertrude Hunt, guest”

  100. honestly, i like the bit Kate says to ‘god’ in her head in the first book, just before she thinks she’s going to die from the ceiling collapse… boils down to i am what i am… lol

  102. I’m trying to fill out the contact form. I filled out the “Antispam question: Roses are red, violets are…* and even the captcha math problem. But there is no submit button?

    • Hi Rifah, the submit button should appear below as soon as you correctly fill the fields: please answer “blue” to the anti spam question and copy the captcha ????

  104. I want something with that “Wonderful Whatthefuckery” quote from White Hot on it.
    Something. Anything! I’ll take it! ????????????

  106. Oh, please let there be Ninja Ferrets!!

    Or Cornelius holding a frying pan. “I can’t believe I have to say this, but you there…dashing male secretary…put down the frying pan!” {not a direct quote; relying on memory}

  107. Can I have an Attura statue? Or Tee Shirt?

    Or whattheheck is the name of Kate’s Mule?

    Or Bucky the Stallion.

    Horsies!!!!

    • Are you asking about her Order mule, Marigold, that Erra killed…or the mammoth donkey jenny, Cuddles?

  108. Please…T-shirt or mug that says…

    “Yes, the princess you were expecting put on her armor and left to kill the dragon. So sorry.”

    Please….please

  109. So, back in the days when the Tower of Terror ride at Disneyland (CA) was the Tower of Terror and not this Avengers thing, it was supposedly set in the old Hollywood Tower hotel of Twilight Zone fame. And in the gift shop they sold a bunch of merchandise with the Hollywood Tower hotel logo: towels, robes, stationery/pens (like you would find in a hotel room), little boxes of hotel mints, those little hotel bells that sit on the front counter to ring to get attention when the staff is in back (no idea what they are called), etc. etc. And t-shirts/hoodies, of course. I would love any of those with Gertrude Hunt logo, except probably the bell, since Dina always knows when guests arrive, so no bell needed…

  111. So many great ideas looking forward whatever comes from them not sure if you were expecting quite so many. ????

  112. Long time ago, when HA asked for ideas for an Innkeeper book title, some genius came up with “Dude, where’s my Krahr?”. It absolutely cracked me up, so I hope this ends up on a mug????????

  114. Hi

    I wanted to reply to the ad “Need a Graphic Artist” but unfortunately, the contact form doesn’t have a submit button…

    • The submit button appears as soon as you answer the Antispam and captcha questions correctly ????

  115. I saw HA’s comment about Ripper Cushions and then came across “Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book” with his take on voodoo dolls and it just killed me. I had to share.

  116. It seems there it no way to submit a message via the contact form, and there is no email listed. How can we contact you about graphic design?

    • As soon as you correctly fill in the Antispam and captcha, the Submit button will appear ????

  117. I’ve been playing with Midjourney which is AI doing art. I’ve thought of you all lots. As a writer you could do prompts much better than me. Also, most of the descriptions in your books are almost prompts already. I’d suggest you have a look. Do the trial. do some minor editing. Pop your descriptions in there. I’ve been using art by vincent di fate, art by jim burns, at the end of the prompt. It’s similar to what you got going already. Seriously, it wouldn’t take you long. it’s like 10$ for 200 pictures used commercially or something like that. You’d have all the rights. The text is the problem. Just hire someone to do the text. Although it’s pretty easy with Adobe Express for text. it’s all templates. just add your photo, pick the template, change the words and voila. the templates are already designed by graphic designers.

Skip to content