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Child Book Illustrator - Tips for Finding the Perfect Illustrator for Your BookIf you want total control of the look, content and feel of your children's picture book then you need to hire a child book illustrator. This means that you will be self publishing your book and will take all the financial risk, but reap all the rewards. Best of all, it will mean that the book will turn out exactly as you envisioned it. What to Look for in a Child Book Illustrator: You can find an illustrator by looking on the internet. Simply use the Google Search box at the bottom of this article. A good illustrator should have a book or web site with examples of their work. Although an artist may be skillful, you need to make sure that their work is appropriate for your book. Contact an illustrator whose work you like and give them the concept of your book. Ask them to do a sample sketch and fax it to you. A child book illustrator who is unknown should be willing to work with you in terms of what they will charge to create illustrations for your book. Watch out for artists who demand too much. While I was busy writing and publishing my first book, I decided to look for an artist for a children's book I had written. On the recommendation of an author friend who had recently published a children's book, I called her illustrator. The woman faxed me a sample drawing. She was good, but she also wanted too much for someone who was unknown in the publishing world. She demanded money up front for all the drawings, plus 50% of the profit. I consulted with another children's author friend of mine, who warned me that the illustrator was demanding too much. The great thing about hiring a child book illustrator is you can tell the artist exactly what you have in mind for each page on which there will be an illustration. If you have a strong vision of your book, then this is good thing. If you'd rather rely on the artist's interpretation of your text, you can go this route as well. A good author/child book illustrator relationship will have lots of interplay and pleasant surprises that will enhance the deeper meaning of your work. When you hire an illustrator, it is best to do it under a work-for-hire contract which means that you pay the artist for her work and then you own the illustrations. Although this will cost you more upfront, the illustrator will feel know that she is getting money for her book, rather than relying on you to do the kind of book promotion that will ensure a return for all her efforts.
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