Branding & Creative · Illustration design services
Custom illustration that becomes your brand's visual language, and stays yours
Brand and marketing illustration, characters and mascots, icons, editorial and product art, designed as one consistent, documented system by a dedicated illustration team. Human-led, AI-accelerated, and 100% owned by you.
HERO-ILLUSTRATION-SYSTEM · 16:9 App state
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The plain-language version
What "custom illustration" actually means here
Custom illustration is original artwork created for your brand from a blank canvas, drawn to your message, your audience and your colour world, not pulled from a stock library or prompted out of a generic model. It can be a single hero image, or a complete visual system of characters, scenes, icons and spot art.
It's different from logo and identity design, that's a separate craft (see our Brand Identity & Logo Design capability), and different from arranging existing assets. Illustration creates the assets. Done as a system, it does what photography and stock can't: it explains abstract ideas, gives your brand a recognisable personality, and stays perfectly on-brand at any size, from a billboard down to a 24-pixel app icon.
Stock looks like everyone else, and a generic model hands your competitors the same smooth, unownable output. Custom illustration is the opposite: a look that is yours, drawn for your story, and protected as a real brand asset.
IMG 05 · CONCEPT · 4:3- Brand & marketing artCampaign visuals, hero images, social and ad illustration that replace stock and make feeds stop scrolling.
- Characters & systemsMascots, icon sets and a documented illustration style your team can extend forever.
- Product & editorial artSaaS UI illustration, isometric/technical art, infographics and editorial pieces that explain the complex simply.
Stock library
- Looks like everyone else's brand
- Rarely matches your exact colours
- Licensed, not owned
Raw AI output
- Generally can't be copyrighted
- Drifts off-brand between prompts
- Reads as "AI sameness" in feeds
Custom illustration
- A look that's unmistakably yours
- On-brand at any size, every channel
- Full IP, you own every file
Not sure which of these your brand actually needs?
Discuss your project, free auditServices
Original illustration made for your brand, from one piece to a whole system
We create illustration across styles and uses, from 3D and characters to icons, infographics, and product art, all drawn to fit your brand. Pick the capability you need below, or start with the AI-assisted page if you are weighing AI against custom work.
Product & Web Illustration
Hero, spot, empty-state, and onboarding illustration for SaaS, apps, and marketing sites, built to fit your interface.3D Illustration for Brands
Custom 3D illustration for websites, social, ads, and packaging, modeled and rendered to your brand style.Custom Icon Design
Custom icon sets and full icon systems drawn on one consistent grid, from a single icon to hundreds.Infographic & Data Visualization Design
Infographic and data visualization design that turns complex data and processes into clear, standalone visuals for web and reports.Character & Mascot Design
Brand mascots and characters with a persona, pose set, and usage guide, ready to use across every channel.Editorial Illustration
Concept-driven editorial illustration for articles, blogs, reports, and covers, giving your content a recognizable visual voice.Brand Illustration System
A brand illustration system: a defined style, reusable asset library, and rules so you can scale on-brand.AI-Assisted Illustration
AI-assisted illustration: AI for fast exploration and variation, human art direction for brand-grade final work and clear ownership.The 2026 position
Human-led. AI-accelerated. Owned by you.
Feeds are flooded with smooth, identical AI imagery, and audiences scroll straight past it. The brands winning attention are leaning back into artwork that is visibly human and unmistakably theirs. There's a commercial reason too: in most markets, raw AI-generated images generally aren't eligible for copyright protection, because they lack the human authorship copyright requires, so they're hard to rely on as a fully protectable brand asset.
1Human-ledIllustrators own the creative decisions
Real art directors and illustrators set style, narrative and craft, so the work carries genuine human perspective and originality.
2AI-acceleratedAI earns its place on speed and scale
We use AI to explore directions faster, generate variations, and scale a settled style across hundreds of assets, never to author the work.
You own itOriginal, consistent, pixel-precise, and yours
Concept ownership, editable source files, and IP transfer in writing. You own every pixel.
HUMAN-LED-AI-ACCELERATED · 4:3That balance is also why we're a credible partner on both sides of the debate: we're a dedicated illustration studio and part of a one-roof agency with a dedicated AI team. We build on Anthropic's models as a partner, not a dependency. verify partner tier
Two ways in
Two doors. Same expertise.
Whether you're fixing scattered, off-brand visuals or starting with a blank page, you're in the right place. We're experts in redesign and redevelopment, and equally at home building a new illustration language from concept.
Refresh & unify
Refresh & unify what you have
Your illustrations came from three freelancers, two stock sites and a burst of AI experiments, and it shows. We audit every visual you're using, find the look worth keeping, and rebuild it into one coherent, documented system: off-brand colours corrected, inconsistent line weights unified, missing assets filled, and the whole library modernised for 2026. You get consistency without throwing away brand equity.
Audit my existing illustrations
NEW-ILLUSTRATION-LANGUAGE · 16:10 Start fresh
Build a new illustration language
No visual system yet, or the current one no longer fits who you've become. We start from your strategy and audience, explore styles, and design an original illustration language from the ground up: the style, the colour and line rules, a starter asset library, and the guide that lets it scale. A look that's yours from day one.
Start from scratch, free auditStyles & capability
Find the style that's a natural extension of your brand
The right style is the one that feels like a natural extension of your brand, not the one that's trending. Tap through the range below to see one emblem restyled, then explore the full capability beneath it. We help you choose, then commit to it consistently.
STYLES & CAPABILITY · 21:9Custom brand and marketing illustration replaces generic stock with original artwork built for a specific message and campaign. We design hero visuals, campaign art and social illustration that carry one consistent look across every channel and make crowded feeds stop scrolling, all delivered as editable, owned source files.
A well-designed mascot becomes your most recognisable asset. Think how a character can anchor a brand the way Mailchimp's and Duolingo's do. We design original characters and mascots with full expression sets and a usage guide, built for consistency across web, app, packaging and social so your brand always has a familiar face.
Editorial and spot illustration turns abstract or complex ideas into images people actually remember. Ideal for blogs, articles, reports and content marketing, these standalone pieces add personality and authority to your storytelling, drawn in your brand's style, not a stock look.
Custom icon design gives your product and site a precise, proprietary visual shorthand. We build pixel-aligned, infinitely scalable vector icon systems with consistent line weight and grid, so every icon stays crisp and legible from hero size down to a 24-pixel UI element, and matches the rest of your illustration system.
Website and SaaS illustration makes a digital product feel premium and easy to understand. We design hero illustrations, plus the empty states, onboarding screens, success confirmations and error messages that quietly lift conversion and guide users, humanising abstract software with on-brand custom art.
Isometric and technical illustration uses 3D perspective to explain products, workflows and architecture with clarity. It's the go-to for technical and B2B brands that need to show how something works, pipelines, platforms, processes, in a single clear, on-brand visual instead of a wall of text.
Hand-drawn and custom artwork brings visible texture and human craft, pen strokes, organic lines, real character, to brands that want to feel authentic in an age of AI sameness. Bespoke from concept, fully owned, and impossible for a competitor to replicate by prompt.
Infographic and data illustration turns statistics, processes and research into clear, shareable visual stories. Custom-designed icons and data visualisations make complex information easy to digest and far more memorable, ideal for B2B, reports, decks and content built to be cited and shared.
Built to last
We deliver a system, not a stack of images
A single illustration is easy to buy. The expensive problem is the one that shows up six months later: every new asset looks slightly different, nothing matches across web and packaging, and your team is back to square one each time.
Enterprise brands solved this by treating illustration like a design system, documented illustration languages let any designer create new work that still looks "theirs." That's what we hand over: the difference between renting art and owning a capability.
Red HatSpotifyAirbnbGoogle
Named brands are illustrative examples of documented illustration systems, not 10Turtle clients. illustrative
ILLUSTRATION-STYLE-GUIDE · 4:3One roof
One accountable partner. A dedicated illustration team.
You get the depth of a specialist illustration studio, illustrators, art directors and vector/icon specialists who do this and only this, and the reach of one accountable partner under one roof, with a dedicated expert team for each capability. Your illustration doesn't get tossed to whoever's free; it's handled by people who live in this craft.
One settled
illustration systemApproved style, library & guide, owned by you
illustration systemApproved style, library & guide, owned by you
Puts the artwork live on your website and product, heroes, empty states and UI illustration shipped clean.
Extends it into identity, packaging and social so the look stays consistent across every brand touchpoint.
Scales the settled style across hundreds of assets, AI-accelerated production, never authorship.
No outsourcing, no hand-off gaps, no white-label markup. One brief, one standard, one team that owns the outcome.
How it works
How a custom illustration project runs
A clear, low-risk path from "we need something better" to a finished system you own. Most projects move in four stages; you review and sign off at each one, so there are no surprises at the end.
- 1
Audit & brief
We review your existing visuals (or your blank slate), audience, brand guidelines and goals, and agree the deliverables, channels and style direction.
- 2
Style exploration
Moodboards and sample directions. You approve a single style before any production begins, so the look is locked early.
- 3
Sketch → refine → colour
Concept sketches for sign-off, then refinement and final colour. Defined revision rounds at each gate keep it on track.
- 4
Deliver, document & support
Final source files + exports, the illustration style guide, full IP transfer, and ongoing support to extend the system as you grow.
Indicative timelines: a spot-illustration set runs days to ~2 weeks; mascot/character development typically ~3–4 weeks; a full illustration system runs several weeks depending on scope. Rush options available. verify standard turnaround
Pricing, honestly
What custom illustration costs (honestly)
Illustration is priced by complexity, volume and usage rights, not by the hour alone. To set expectations, here's where the market sits in 2026; your exact quote comes from your brief, and we put usage rights and ownership in writing every time.
What are you commissioning?
Market reference range~$100–$1,500Best for: Websites, decks, social and a starter library.
Market reference only, not a quote. 10Turtle prices per project after the free audit, with usage rights and ownership stated in writing. verify own pricing
| Tier | Market range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Spot illustrations / icon set | ~$100–$1,500 for a set, depending on count and detail | Websites, decks, social, a starter library |
| Character / mascot development | ~$2,000–$5,000+ (design, refinement, usage guide) | A long-term brand face and recognition |
| Full illustration system | ~$5,000–$15,000+ (style, library, documented guide) | Brands that need consistency across every channel |
Market reference ranges drawn from 2026 industry pricing data, shown for orientation only. verify own pricing/packages
Accessible by design
Artwork that's beautiful, and accessible by design
Illustration isn't exempt from accessibility, and getting it wrong is now a legal exposure, missing alt text and poor contrast are among the most-cited issues in ADA web complaints, and the European Accessibility Act has been in force since June 2025. We build artwork to be compliant from the start, and we treat it as both an expertise we offer clients and a standard we hold ourselves to.
In practice: informative illustrations ship with proper alt text and decorative art is marked correctly; text inside an illustration meets WCAG contrast (4.5:1 normal, 3:1 large) and icons meet the 3:1 non-text rule; palettes stay legible for colour-blind users; and character and scene work is designed for inclusive, representative casting. Accessible illustration widens your audience and protects you, at no cost to the craft.
IMG 11 · ACCESSIBLE DESIGN · 16:9 Alt-text ready (WCAG 1.1.1) Contrast-checked (4.5:1 / 3:1) Colour-blind-safe palettes Inclusive representation
By sector
Illustration that fits your world
The same craft flexes by sector. We tailor the style, the metaphors and the asset mix to your industry and your buyers.
IMG 12 · SAAS · 16:9SaaS & tech startups
Used to humanise abstract products and lift conversion on landing pages and in-app states, empty states, onboarding and hero illustration that make software feel premium.
Illustration for SaaS
IMG 13 · E-COMMERCE · 16:9E-commerce & retail
Used to stand out in feeds, on packaging and across campaigns where everyone else leans on the same stock photography, a recognisable look that travels from product page to billboard.
Illustration for e-commerceProof, in the wild
The same hand, everywhere your brand shows up
From the website hero to the app, the packaging and the campaign, one owned illustration system makes every surface unmistakably yours. Here is what that looks like in real projects.
See what we would build for you, free audit10In their words
What clients say
Platforms we build on
Peer partnerships across the platforms we build on
WordPress
WooCommerce
Shopify
Webflow
Wix
AnthropicStandards we hold
Compliance, security & accessibility
Accessibility and security are both an expertise we deliver to clients, accessible, alt-text-ready, contrast-checked illustration, and a standard we hold internally.
ISO 27001 verify ADA / WCAG 2.1–2.2 AA GDPR / CCPA / PCI DSS readiness QA licenses verify SOC 2 verify, list only if held
Real per-platform figures only, never a uniform 5★. The structured-data AggregateRating maps to one genuine profile (Trustpilot) until the others are verified.
Answers
Illustration questions, answered
Illustration design services are the creation of original, custom artwork for a brand, marketing and campaign illustration, characters and mascots, icons, editorial art, website and product illustration, isometric/technical art and infographics. Unlike stock or AI-generated images, the work is drawn specifically for your brand and, with 10Turtle, delivered as a consistent system you fully own.
It depends on complexity, volume and usage rights. As a 2026 market reference: a spot-illustration or icon set typically runs roughly $100-$1,500; character or mascot development around $2,000-$5,000+; and a full, documented illustration system roughly $5,000-$15,000+. 10Turtle quotes per project after a free audit, with usage rights and ownership stated in writing.
Yes. You receive full intellectual-property ownership of the artwork plus the editable source files (vector formats such as SVG, EPS, AI and PDF, with PNG/JPG exports). In most markets, images generated entirely by AI generally cannot be copyrighted because they lack the human authorship copyright requires, which makes them harder to protect as brand assets, human-led custom illustration can be.
Indicatively, a spot-illustration set takes days to about two weeks; a mascot or character typically takes around three to four weeks including refinement; and a full illustration system runs several weeks depending on scope. Rush options are available.
Both. We are experts in redesign and redevelopment: we can audit and unify a fragmented set of existing visuals into one consistent, documented system, or design a brand-new illustration language from concept. Each path starts with its own audit, of your existing artwork or of your strategy and audience.
AI is excellent for fast exploration and scaling a settled style, and we use it that way. But for a brand asset you can own, trademark and keep perfectly on-brand across every touchpoint, human-led custom illustration is the safer, more distinctive choice in 2026. Our approach is human-led and AI-accelerated, original work you own, produced faster.
Yes, that is the point of building a system rather than one-off images. You receive a documented illustration style guide (style, colour values, line weight, composition and usage rules) plus a reusable asset library, so every new piece looks like it belongs, at any size and on any platform.
It is when it is built that way, and we build it that way by default: proper alt text for informative artwork, correct contrast (4.5:1 for normal text inside images, 3:1 for large text and graphical elements), colour-blind-safe palettes, and inclusive representation in character work. Accessible illustration widens your audience and reduces ADA/EAA exposure.
Start here
Let's give your brand a look it actually owns
Start with a free illustration audit. We'll review what you have (or sketch where to begin), point out the gaps and quick wins, and show you a clear, scoped path, whether that's refreshing a tangle of inconsistent visuals or building a new illustration system from scratch. No obligation, no jargon, no lock-in.