How To Work With A Book Illustrator
Find out how to work with a book illustrator in this post.
Book illustrators are incredibly valuable members of your team, if you are creating a children’s book or a series of children’s books. Paddington, Winnie-The Pooh, The Gruffalo, Peter Rabbit – the art in these books is as iconic as the stories themselves. Illustrators are not just creating pretty pictures. They are helping you create the brand of your books. Working with an illustrator is a collaborative process.
What does a book illustrator need?
- A Portfolio
A portfolio is vital. You will be able to see their style, as well as their ability to bring a story to life through their art. It will also be evident what kind of projects they prefer to work on. It goes without saying that every illustrator is different and is better suited to particular types of storytelling. Not every one can interpret your story in a way that best suits the story. So you need to make sure you choose the right one at the beginning.
- A Resume
The illustrator may have art or design qualifications or be self-taught. Their resume will tell you that. Being self-taught is not necessarily a disadvantage. You will be able to tell a lot from the clients they’ve worked for – publishing houses or self-published authors.
- A Website or Design-hub Space
Many illustrators can be found through sites and design hubs, such as Behance,
Dribbble, Reedsy.com, or Upwork. While sites like Reedsy.com have a thorough vetting system in place, Upwork is where you can find illustrators who are new to the game. It is valuable if an illustrator has a website. Whether you visiting a design hub or their website, discover as much information about them, their reviews, and the books on which they have worked as you can. Accessing an illustrator through design hubs is a very good idea as there will be examples of their work, reviews, and pre-prepared contracts.
- A Contract
A contract is vital. You want to protect your work but to also ensure that you have the correct rights to use the illustrator’s work in the way you would like – in the book, on marketing material, on activity books related to the storybook and on any merchandising you might create. - Publishing Experience
It’s very important that your illustrator has publishing experience. Page sizes, bleed widths, gutter depths, file types etc. must all be something with which your illustrator is very familiar.
How to choose an illustrator – mood boards and budget
- Mood Boards
While you are browsing through all the illustrators available, be open to new ideas, consider the target audience’s age, and the book’s size. When you see illustrations you like, copy and paste them into a document with the illustrator’s name and link. When you have a good selection, whittle it down to the three to five illustrators you prefer the most. - Budget
Take into account how much text your story has. A 1200-word story aimed at 3- to 5-year-olds may need 22 double page spreads. But for older age groups you may not need an illustration for each double-page spread. If budget is tight, consider if you could trim your story down, does it need each page to be illustrated? Don’t be afraid of white space. Have you chosen the right target audience? Are you laying out the book – front pages, legal page, interior pages and the text, review page, author page etc.? Or is the illustrator doing that? This will impact the budget. Is your budget realistic when you compare it to the illustrator’s prices.
What to do next
Once you have chosen your potential 5 illustrators whose work you like and whose fees fit your budget, contact each illustrator with a design request, include a book synopsis, what kind of illustrations you’re looking for – point them to illustrations they have already done for other projects as reference, let them know your delivery deadline, and ask for a quote. Request a quote from all five at the same time.
Once you have settled on the budget and the illustrator, that’s when contracts need to be signed.
Remember
Every illustrator works differently. Some will provide character concepts first. Others will go straight to first sketches of each page’s illustration. Most will have a layered payment requirement. Each stage will need to be paid for before they tackle the next. When you are sent sketches, the time to make changes is then. Don’t wait until the illustrator is at the colour stage. They will likely charge you for changes at that stage.
Don’t forget to credit the illustrator. It’s best to do it on the cover but must be on the legal page.
The Last Word
If you’d like to write for children, young adults, or adults, why not sign up for one of the rich and in-depth courses that Writers Write offers to learn how to write the best book you possibly can.
by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device Hunter, Elaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.
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1 thought on “How To Work With A Book Illustrator”
You might find your artist in an unlikely place. I found a webcomic that had a visual style that was perfect for my middle-grade series (Adventures of Gavin Greene, 2 books). The artist did the covers and also several interior illustrations.
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