I love lists. Grocery ones. Art supply ones. ‘To do’ ones. Sometimes, I just write comical ones.
This list came about after the many inquiries I have had to illustrate a children’s book or comic book for someone who has finished one. First of all, KUDOS to you for finishing writing your book! Now, you want to hire an artist and don’t know where to begin. Well, I can help.
These are suggestions and best-practices, but hopefully they will help you navigate your way through seeing your baby (your book) come to fruition! For this post, I will concentrate only on children’s books. Comic books will be a separate post.
So, here are the first five of ten things to consider when you’re ready to hire an artist (the next five I’ll post tomorrow):
- Are you self-publishing? If you’re self-publishing, you will want to hire the artist for the full book: from concept sketches (loose ideas) to finished sketches (once you and (s)he have discussed and edited the sketches) to final illustrations. This may cost a bit, but if you’re prepared, you can have the illustrations you want.
- Allow the artist to guide you. You have your ideas. An artist has a style: that’s why you hired him. Somewhere in the middle is your finished book. Try to find an artist whose work most looks like what you want. It is difficult for an artist to go too far away from their style, and the result can look stiff.
- Do you want illustration, graphic design, or both? Just because you’re hiring someone to illustrate your book doesn’t mean they will choose the fonts (typefaces), lay it out, and all of the other things you need. I will do a blog on self-publishing later. There’s a lot to consider, but it is a fun way to publish, and many authors are doing it! But be sure to hire a graphic designer to lay out your book. They will take your illustrator’s work in digital form and put it into the document for print. If your illustrator does both professionally, great! But be sure to ask for some samples of their graphic design work first.
- Count the cost. Illustration is just one cost. There is printing which, if you go with Amazon’s printing service, only costs you a handful of dollars each time you request a proof, or each time after approval, you want copies for yourself. There is also graphic design, the ISBN (depending on where you get it), the print run itself (if you’re going with a print vendor) and marketing and everything after publishing. Again, more to come in the ‘self-publishing’ blog. My point: illustration won’t be your only cost.
- Do you want the originals? Your cost is usually for illustration services. Illustrators usually keep the originals. Make sure you come to an agreement as to who will own the originals. I charge 100% of the fee I charged to create the image(s), for someone to own the illustrations.
Stay tuned for my next blog, with the last five things to consider when hiring an artist!
