what to look for when hiring an illustrator

I think that this is what keeps children’s book authors from publishing most of the time— where do you find an illustrator you can trust? I used to volunteer in my church’s bookstore and we frequently had visiting authors who would tell me about their experience with publishing their books. And it was usually negative unfortunately! I thought I would give you my two cents on the subject, seeing as I am an illustrator and I’ve known a lot of illustrators and authors in my career and personally.

It probably goes without saying that if you want a professional looking book, you need to hire an illustrator who is professional. I’ve known many, many people who thought they could get their story produced quickly and inexpensively if they just find a family member, friend or art student who would be willing to make some quick pictures for their book. I hate to tell you that this almost always is disappointing! Either the artist doesn’t realize how long it does take to create a whole book of illustrations and ends up quitting before they finish, or it takes at least a year or so because they tried to do it around their regular life’s responsibilities. And more often than not, the pictures look like an amateur did them. I don’t want that for you!

First of all, the illustrator should have their own website. You should be able to see previous work to see if they’ve even illustrated a book before. You will also get an idea of how they render characters and if they can show consistency throughout a book. This is way harder than it sounds! They will be able to show you people and/or animals in settings and performing activities. Stories require communication visually— emotions and mood, atmosphere and believability. See if their illustrations show that. If there’s a bit of humor or an amusing bent, you can bet children will enjoy that book more, even if it’s just a tiny part of the drawing, and they’ll come back to that book again and again! They also need to know about the flow of the book and how to add variety to the types of illustrations (spot, vignette, full page spread) to keep it interesting. They should be providing thumbnail sketches in a storyboard so you and your book designer can see how it will all work together! (And they probably have a book designer they can recommend because they are professional.)

There is a lot of copying these days, which I hate to say, but you will see it. Characters looking the same as some of the better known illustrators. This is usually a sign that your book won’t be that creative. Look for uniqueness in the characters, as in unique outfits or variety of settings. If someone is drawing pretty much the same character, just in different poses, as in animation, that does not make for a good children’s book! It is actually boring. There needs to be more for a picture book to be successful. And don’t expect an illustrator to draw in a different style than what they present in their portfolio. Look for an illustrator who draws similar to what your story requires.

Color is a big deal! I tend to go with whatever color palette my author prefers, be it bright or maybe what they’ve suggested for the cover color palette. There are wonderful books that are bright and colorful… and wonderful books that are subtle and mostly neutrals in a classic illustration style. If the colors do not make sense to the story or they are very dark and dreary to look at, that may work for older children’s books but for young children’s books, that moodiness will not go over well with children. If the work looks really digital and like a clip art graphic, no one is going to want to purchase your book. And please don’t rely on AI! It is terrible at illustration as well as not able to be copyrighted. Tacky doesn’t sell books no matter how good the writing is!

The illustrator should be able to give you due dates in a Statement of Work, a solid quote of how much it will cost you per page or project (don’t do per hour!!) and a real contract. A true professional will license their illustrations to you with the ability for you to use them in your marketing and for anything related to selling your book. Expect to make a downpayment to enter into a contract. Illustrators who do not ask for a downpayment are too new to the business because it doesn’t take long for them to realize they are working for free without one! I have heard some people say that the authors should own the copyright to the art but I do not think this is true. The author can own the copyright to the book but the illustrator will always be the creator of the art and should be given the credit as such, and therefore own the copyright. To buy that out should be a very high price because you never know if something could go into syndication or be the next big animated movie!

Good illustrators can have a full calendar so you may need to wait a bit longer to get on someone’s calendar. It takes me about 4 months to do illustrations for a 24 page children’s book, a little longer for 32 pages. And depending on your response time to preliminary sketches and the amount of revisions, it may be even longer. But my experience has been that I usually only have one revision because sometimes the author needs to actually see it to know if that’s what they wanted. Some authors make practically no revisions. I allow for two revisions to character designs and to thumbnail sketches and final drawings. After that I do charge by the hour and if at the color stage we are making big changes (never has happened to me) then I will charge extra for the time to redraw and paint everything. I believe a good illustrator is a good listener and will take lots of notes and clarify a lot in the initial meetings, and also have good communication throughout the process so that redos are really far and few between. If an illustrator chaffs at the thought of changing things and it’s a reasonable request, then that isn’t someone who is good at collaboration. Or at least they should be able to explain why they’ve drawn it a certain way and why it’s better for the whole composition or story line so that you understand why it maybe should stay that way. If you were working with a large publisher, you would have no input into the illustration process so this is one advantage to self-publishing. Bring lots of references if you have specific ideas about what characters or scenery should look like. Don’t expect an illustrator to read your mind. A professional illustrator will actually make you think they can read your mind, though, and surprise you with more… at least that’s been my experience.

Here is a touchy one because working as an illustrator in self-publishing, they won’t be making enough to cover the cost of living. So your illustrator may have other work to do also. My view on this is that some people are good at juggling a lot of work, but the illustrations you get will not be as full of details or as well thought out, as someone who is just focused on your book. Some illustrators care more about the money they are making than creating a book that really stands the test of time and is special. I’m sorry to say that I’ve seen it a lot. So you need to get to know the illustrator you are interviewing to find out more about them and how much time they will really devote to your project. I’m at a point in my career where I just take on books that I think are meaningful and that I enjoy illustrating. I am fortunate to be married and that I don’t live solely on my income so I can focus on one book at a time. There are more illustrators out there like me so look for them (or hire me! Haha).

Generally you should like the person you hire to illustrate your book and communication should feel enjoyable. Your illustrator should be dependable, meet deadlines, respond quickly to email or texts, and be able to bring to life the story that is really important to you!

Thanks for reading this first post— it is long but I think important. Good luck in your search!