Choosing an illustrator

There are lots of posts about how to choose an illustrator. The only thing I’ll do here is to tell you how I did it. Tell you about my failures and my success in the hope it’ll help you make the best-informed decision for you.

So I’ve written three picture books. They’ve been professionally edited. So I know my text is the best it can be.

Now I don’t know how to draw to save my life. I’ve stopped my capacities at about the age of nine. I’m the queen of stick characters but not much better.

When I thought about hiring an illustrator, an option opened itself to me. I had a friend who was trying to get into this world, and was hoping to make a career change. I knew you were not supposed to ask for illustrations before, as it is work and every work should be paid. So to me this was a real leap of faith as I didn’t really know what type he did. But I wrote to him explaining what I wanted. I stated that I wanted his rights. Now I know many illustrators will jump at that, because for them, rights should never be relinquished. But on my part, I needed these rights for clarity and for my personal business plan. He was thrilled that I offered him this opportunity and started working on the illustrations straight away. He enjoyed his work but after a few exchanges, I stated we really needed a signed contract. And this is when things got difficult. He did not agree to giving away his rights. I respect that, but didn’t understand why he had said yes in the first place. So after feeling really bad – it’s a friend after all – I decided not to work with him.

So my advice is that if you’re going to be your own publisher and therefore paying the illustrator, don’t work with a friend. Unless you have a strength of steel and energy to spare. Of course, if it’s a project you are both being paid for by a third party, than go ahead, it should be fun.

After that, I looked for illustrators online. I had a set budget, which wasn’t rocket high, but still wasn’t something so little it would be insulting to the illustrator. I looked at Fiverr but it was all digital, cartoony art and not what I wanted. I looked at Upwork.

I found someone I liked, but I forgot that in some countries, bargaining is the traditional sport. So I offered her what I thought was a fair price. She said she wanted 50% more. I managed to get it down to 25% more, than she asked me to pay the fee for the site every illustrator has to pay. So this is when I said enough is enough and moved on.

I kept looking and found this lovely illustrator who lives in the Ukraine. So far our exchange have been cordial and lovely.

I’m still waiting for the first proper sketches. She only did one for my main character, so to make sure we were on the same level.

I’ll let you know how the sketches are. Can’t wait to see them.

There are lots of posts about how to choose an illustrator. The only thing I’ll do here is to tell you how I did it. Tell you about my failures and my success in the hope it’ll help you make the best-informed decision for you.

So I’ve written three picture books. They’ve been professionally edited. So I know my text is the best it can be.

Now I don’t know how to draw to save my life. I’ve stopped my capacities at about the age of nine. I’m the queen of stick characters but not much better.

When I thought about hiring an illustrator, an option opened itself to me. I had a friend who was trying to get into this world, and was hoping to make a career change. I knew you were not supposed to ask for illustrations before, as it is work and every work should be paid. So to me this was a real leap of faith as I didn’t really know what type he did. But I wrote to him explaining what I wanted. I stated that I wanted his rights. Now I know many illustrators will jump at that, because for them, rights should never be relinquished. But on my part, I needed these rights for clarity and for my personal business plan. He was thrilled that I offered him this opportunity and started working on the illustrations straight away. He enjoyed his work but after a few exchanges, I stated we really needed a signed contract. And this is when things got difficult. He did not agree to giving away his rights. I respect that, but didn’t understand why he had said yes in the first place. So after feeling really bad – it’s a friend after all – I decided not to work with him.

So my advice is that if you’re going to be your own publisher and therefore paying the illustrator, don’t work with a friend. Unless you have a strength of steel and energy to spare. Of course, if it’s a project you are both being paid for by a third party, than go ahead, it should be fun.

After that, I looked for illustrators online. I had a set budget, which wasn’t rocket high, but still wasn’t something so little it would be insulting to the illustrator. I looked at Fiverr but it was all digital, cartoony art and not what I wanted. I looked at Upwork.

I found someone I liked, but I forgot that in some countries, bargaining is the traditional sport. So I offered her what I thought was a fair price. She said she wanted 50% more. I managed to get it down to 25% more, than she asked me to pay the fee for the site every illustrator has to pay. So this is when I said enough is enough and moved on.

I kept looking and found this lovely illustrator who lives in the Ukraine. So far our exchange have been cordial and lovely.

I’m still waiting for the first proper sketches. She only did one for my main character, so to make sure we were on the same level.

I’ll let you know how the sketches are. Can’t wait to see them.