Don’t be Stock Up!

Several months ago, I had emailed one of our important editorial clients when I saw a full-page stock illustration grace the page of their magazine. I could not believe it and asked for a full explanation (nicely of course) I was told that they were in a hurry and did not have a lot of money. The Ad confessed that he did not like using stock illustrations, but used it anyway. This is a client that we regularly work for and they had not used any stock in the past. Was this a new trend for him? Would he consult stock houses in future? I sure hope not.

I know this subject has been discussed over and over again. I have been an advocate against selling work to big stock houses and royalty free companies for years now, but it doesn’t seem like anyone is listening. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, but the more we talk, blog, discuss this serious problem the better. I recently opened the latest issues of Communication Arts, Applied Arts, HOW and several other industry rags, only to find pages and pages of adverts for stock photography and also stock illustration. This was definitely not the case a year ago. Stock photography has been slowly taking over for years now, but I believe its just a matter of time before stock illustration does the same thing with regards to commissioned work.