Award Winning Illustrator

An illustrator who is famous in the field of illustration and has been recognized by some of the popular bodies in the illustration fraternity can be called an award winning illustrator. There are many competitions held by many organizations like the SCBWI and many other associations which gives the illustrators a chance to show their work and the best of them are awarded with appreciations. It is not the only criteria to make an illustrator a good illustrator, if he/she has received an award. But if someone has been able to bag a couple of awards, then it definitely means that the illustrator has an understanding of the theme around which the illustration needs to be created. Moreover, the award also indicates the level of acceptance among the readers (kids or other audience). There are many types of awards, many of them are recognized where as many others are just held as a competition in which many illustrators participate and their work is judged.

While selecting an illustrator, an award winning illustrator may be one of the criteria but along with that also follows a higher fee and very selective approach of such illustrators. Your story may not be liked by the illustrator because he/she may not feel that her style will add any value to your kind of story. In fact as an Author, one must understand if a particular illustrator’s style will suit the story or not. Only a popular illustrator may not be a guarantee for success of a children book or other story books. Every children book illustrator cannot do all the styles and there are categories in which an illustrator may be excellent and the same illustrator may struggle to do justice for stories of different kind. You may want to contact a famous illustrator if you write the kind of stories which have been done by the illustrator and done with considerable success in the market. The things which make a book successful are more than just illustrations and story, the marketing makes a lot of difference and is of key importance.

While you start to finalize the illustrator, you must also know the kind of budget that the illustrator will bring with him/her. Any famous illustrator will definitely bring a lot of experience but also some cost will be involved. In case your budget for the book allows you to hire a famous illustrator, you can do so and if the budget does not allow you to hire a famous or an award winning illustrator, then you may try doing some changes to your marketing budget or other expenses related to the publishing of the book. If you feel that, there is nothing which can be done, then just drop the idea of an expensive illustrator, go for an illustrator who is experienced and who can understand your script and is a published illustrator. These illustrators can make a world of difference and there are very high chances that choosing a right illustrator may prove the best decision as there are no compromises made in terms of marketing budget or any other important function, important for book publishing.

There are websites like the www.blueberryillustrations.com, www.childbookillustrations.com , where you can find many illustration styles and the illustrators are very easy to work with. In case of any queries, do feel free to contact me shekhar.8384@gmail.com. Till then, wish you all the very best in finding the right illustrator.

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Freelance Children Book Illustrator

A children book illustrator is a professional who creates drawings or illustrations for Children books written by Children book Author. There are many children book illustrators and they can be found on the internet. Many illustrators work for agencies and many of them are freelancers who accept direct assignments from Authors. There are many aspects which need to be considered before deciding to choose a freelance illustrator.

• Portfolio of the illustrator: – While choosing an illustrator, you must have a detailed look at the portfolio of the kids book illustrator. The portfolio can be present in the form of website or some other website where illustrators can make a portfolio. There should be a set style of the illustrator and a set of samples to look at.

• Experience: – The freelance illustrator can be new to the children books but she/he must have good hands on the illustrations. There should be sufficient samples to his/her credit and if you can find reviews from other Authors/ clients, it really adds a lot of credibility. If you choose an experienced illustrator, it is always better.

• Language: – The illustrator must be comfortable with the Language you speak, because there will be a lot of difficulties if there is a language problem. There are freelance illustrators available from each part of the world and you must make sure that he/she understands your script and your expectations completely.

• Sample: – You can request for a sample from the illustrator so that you can see the suitability of the illustrator for your book. This so happens at times that the illustrator is really very talented but he/she is not the right match for the kind of story which you have written. It’s like “right person for right job”. You must be satisfied and completely confident about the abilities of the illustrator before commissioning your project to the illustrator.

• Pricing: – The pricing should be proportionate to the work and this must be decided between the two of you and you can also get a general idea of the pricing by simply asking the rates from the other illustrators. You will find that new illustrators charge a little less and the experienced illustrators charge higher amounts.

• Contract: – You should also sign a contract with the illustrator and the copyright discussion must be mentioned in the contract. You can also inform the illustrator if you want a :work for hire” contract under which the full rights belongs to the Author, or if there in anything else which you want or which the illustrator wants. But it is always advisable to have a contract signed, which clearly mentions the payment details as well as delivery details like the deadline for completion etc.

You can find illustrators by simply searching on the internet but you must not be In any hurry because illustrator is a very important part of your book and choosing a good illustrator will give you very high dividends. All the best for your search and I hope you find a good illustrator.

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How to Choose a Children Book Illustrator

Understand the need of the story:-

It is important to understand what will suit your story in terms of illustrations and what is the age group which you are targeting. Not all illustrations styles will suit every story. You must see which other books of your category (Genre) has done well in the market and what were the kind of illustrations. Will realistic characters suit your story or a cartoonist characters will help your story better. Should you get a water color style or should you consider a digital illustration. These are various issues which you will need to work upon.

Search various illustrators: –

You can look at the portfolio of various children book illustrators available online and you can filter a few of them whose style closely matches your requirements. Once you hear back from the illustrators, you can ask him/her to create a sample so that you can see if the illustrator is really a good match or not. If the illustrator is not able to make the sample of your liking in the first attempt, then give one more chance and also share your expectations once more. It happens that illustrator is not in sync with your expectations during the first attempt but during revisions the illustrator is able to read your mind better.

Select the illustrator: –

After your research when you are confident about the children book illustration capability of the illustrator, ask if he/she would like to work on your project and get a contract signed which must include all the necessary details like the number of illustrations,. Payment terms, illustration process, ownership of copyrights etc. You must also include the approximate deadline in the contract so that the project remains on track. Once the contract is signed, you may pay an advance if it forms a part of the contract. After this, the illustrator can start working on the illustrations and as an Author you must be quick in giving the feedback to the illustrator so that the project keeps moving.

Start working on next steps:-

Once you have selected the right illustrator, your planning for next steps like publishing/self publishing must start and you should start your research about what route you will be following. Also, you must work out on your budget, if you plan to self publish and you must start speaking with the self publishers in order to get the right set of services from them to make your book available for selling.

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Book Covers

This illustration is done in the water color and pencil color is also used to give it sharp effect. The colors used are bright and the characters are semi realistic. The scene is taking place on a hot air balloon and the main character is in the middle wearing a hat. All the characters are having distinct expressions and the general mood is of excitement and some of the kids are watching this action from the ground. The background used is not very deep and the attention is limited to the immediate action in which these seven characters are involved. This style of illustration can also be used for realistic characters with realistic expressions. This scene required me to show some excitement as well as lot of life and that is the reason such colors have been used.

The crew on the hot air balloon has taken off from the ground and headed towards another destination and they are happy because they had a good time here at this destination. Deeper background could be used but this particular scene demanded the focus to be present on the main characters and the action taking place.

As a children book illustrator it is very important to bring a scene to its full life by balancing the use of colors as well as placement of characters and the other elements of the illustration and expressions play a huge role in that. It was very important to show the crew as a happy team which is excited about all that is happening and also geared up for such events in the future. The old lady in front is also happy with the sequence of events taking place. This illustration belongs to a book series written on Good mannerism.

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Children Book Illustration Styles

This scene has been made in digital illustration and the requirement of the scene was to capture the frank behavior of the man which is making the counselor a little embarrassed. I have used colors which go with the theme and here I needed to show that the man is frankly sharing his concerns with the marriage counselor where as the woman is really not comfortable with the way the man is telling everything. The man seems to have a lot to tell and he wants to continue where as the counselor wants the man to finish his conversation as soon as possible.

 

I have made semi realistic characters and also wanted to give the look of the man as a non-caring, slightly selfish urban man and I tried to make the counselor look sincere and mature and someone who takes her job seriously.

 

The scope of this illustration is limited to a small counseling room where the visitor is in a comfortable position to speak up and that is the reason, a couch has been placed and the counselor is sitting on a chair so that she remains attentive and active. There are very few objects and the main attention remains on the expressions of the two persons in this illustration. Another reason to make the characters in semi realistic style was that the humor would have been lost if I had attempted to make the characters look real. Semi realistic illustration styles are better in case there is a fun element involved in the story line or the scene.

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Children Book Illustration

This children book illustration has been created in Manual coloring and water color has been used with pencil color. It was supposed to be an inside room illustration and I tried to limit the attention of the viewer in a closed and limited frame. A girl is reading a book as the teacher is listening to her, the colors used are very sober and simple and I tried to make this illustration soothing to the eyes. As a children’s book illustrator it’s very important to understand the scene requirement and this scene demanded an active set of people with a very realistic feeling and that is the reason, I made very realistic faces. There is a window in the background along with a notice board and a small cupboard next to the window. The teacher is dressed up in simple sky blue shirt and kids are wearing clothes of various colors.

 

Everyone is actively participating in the discussion which is taking place in the classroom and while on girl is reading it out, the others are also very eager to get a chance to participate in the reading activity. The kids are in the age bracket of 6-9 years and the teacher is a middle aged woman and accordingly everyone’s body language has been illustrated. This illustration was really loved by everyone who saw it and it was very satisfying for me.

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