It’s inevitable. Eventually, a client will approve concept sketches and give you the go ahead to proceed with the finished illustration only to reject the final piece. Their rationale doesn’t matter. Your pride over your solution doesn’t matter. Whatever opportunity the work meant for you is suddenly gone—No potential breaks and no potential doors into an exciting new market will be opened. All gone, because your client changed their mind.
Rejection is part of the business of illustration.
If you’re smart, you minimize potential outcomes by getting concepts and sketches approved before you even begin final art. If you’re even smarter, you always use a contract or work agreement. And if you’re truly a pro, you always, always, always, get a downpayment BEFORE you put a single mark on a piece of paper or charge up your stylus.
Nevertheless, despite all of your preparations, you will have work rejected after you’ve spent countless hours hunched over scratching detail into a drawing that you believe the client will be excited to see finished. So you obsess over the tiniest details, perfect forms and layout, and work through a half dozen color palettes before you feel good enough to present your masterpiece to your client only to hear the words, "Yeah, it's great, but it's not what I had in mind."
None of your efforts matter and that’s the hardest part to accept. You just wasted 20, 40, maybe 100 hours on a piece that will be nearly impossible to adapt because it was solution-specific for a certain client. It won’t be published and you may have a difficult time collecting the remainder of the contract fee. Did you get a downpayment and include a “kill fee” in your contract?
This business is very hard and I still wouldn’t have it any other way. Shit happens. Not everything works out and most of us will never get a “lucky” break. Rest assured, you will get screwed over at some point along your creative journey. That’s the job. Be happy you aren’t pushing paper under fluorescent lighting.
Why is rejection so hard to handle for most illustrators? Simple, because what we do is literally an extension of who we are as people. When our work is criticized, we take it as a personal attack. Our brains don't hear "I don't like the art", but rather, "I don't like you." For many professionals, maybe even most, separating ourselves from our work is all but impossible, but it's the single most important skill you have to learn in order to survive with your sanity intact. Illustration is a business, not a popularity contest, no matter how many followers you have on social media. You may have twenty thousand followers who sing your praises for every single mediocre piece you post to Instagram, but all it takes is one comment to bring you down. That's what client's do and if you aren't comfortable with change requests or rejection, the life of a professional illustrator may not be the right choice for you. Paid gigs are not popularity contests.
There is only one inviolate rule of being a professional illustrator:
Act like one: Don’t be a dickhead if things don’t work out.
It’s really quite simple, be tactful, be professional, and be honest. Be honest with your client about where things stand and, most importantly, be honest with yourself. Don’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of and don’t be a prima donna (your work isn’t that special)—There is always someone out there more talented than you. Don’t burn bridges because you’re upset your work was rejected, you never know if they may come calling again in the future or pass your name along to someone who loves your work.
Rejection is hard. Not because you’re work isn’t great, but because you just lost an exciting opportunity you thought would open new doors.
You chose this career, never forget that.