When you have chosen the path of self-publishing your latest children’s book, you must need an illustrator. As we all know, illustrations are an integral part of any book written for the little ones. Despite the comics or children’s books, today, manga, inspired by Japanese animation culture, is also offering multiple job opportunities to illustrators. Your quest to find dedicated and talented book illustrators for hire can be achieved by studying the given ideas here.
Before you begin your quest to find and hire an illustrator, make sure you have a final edited copy of the manuscript ready with you to carry on with the illustration work.
Here are some ideas to find the best book illustrators for hire—
Before you start searching for a professional illustrator when self-publishing, be sure about a couple of things, and those will be—
What is the purpose of hiring the illustrator?
Start by focusing on the purpose of hiring the illustrator. Look for an illustrator who will perfectly match your purpose and blend with your team to offer the best illustration services with ensured ROI. You might need the illustrator before self-publishing the baby books or the book targeting the young adults or toddlers. Let the illustrator get a perfect picture of the characters and the storyline so that they can make the sketches following the given instructions.
Even if you are writing a comic book or for adults then also the illustrator must have accurate details, as you must agree with the fact that without the illustrator, it will be impossible to create any comic book or even a manga. So, keep transparency and work as a team from day zero to create a more fruitful venture.
Do you have some sketches or a storybook prepared to share with them?
Any children’s book writer maintains a sketchbook or a storybook where they do some drawings or create a plan of how the illustrations will be done on each page or in a maximum of 10-12 pages, which is a common account in every illustrated book for children.
During this time of discussing the storybook, you can talk to the illustrator about the types of illustrations that you desire to have. You can choose from flat illustrations, 3D illustrations, cartoons, comics, realism, retro or pop art illustrations, fashion illustrations, charcoal, water colour, line art or digital illustrations.
Make sure you also listen to the ideas shared by the illustrators after knowing your storybook. Their years of hands-on experience are a sharp tool for you, and by listening to their ideas along with blending your fresh ideas, together you can self-publish the book successfully.
Who is your target audience?
Determine your target audience and hire the illustrator who can serve you the best by catering to the iconic illustrations in the book. Know about the unique style of the book illustrator because it will be imperative when you give them the responsibility of providing book illustration services for your book.
Spend some time with the given portfolios to identify their versatile skills and specialised style of etching the lines when creating illustrations for their clients with unique demands.
Are you seeking any extra service other than illustrations?
Illustrators nowadays get requests to create book cover designs as well. The present-day book cover trends are more into illustrations and minimalism. So, if you are also seeking book cover design services, followed by poster creation or making several posts for marketing your latest book, despite the usual illustration services, talk to them in advance.
They will charge you extra or can provide a customised package service and quote a price accordingly.
Is this professional okay with the budget?
Ask the professional whether they agree with your budget or not. Shortlist the illustrators according to your budget in the first place to save time and energy for both parties.
Focus on some qualities of the illustrators—
Experience of the book illustrator
Not every illustrator is a book illustrator. So, make sure you are dealing with a book illustration design expert in the first place who is already experienced and has contributed to quite a few bestsellers so far.
Where to find the genuine book illustrators?
The self-publishing agency that you hire in the first place to receive end-to-end publishing services can also provide you with genuine book illustration services from professionals. However, you can find and hire a book illustrator from places like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer and other portals where many professionals are available to work.
Interview the shortlisted candidates minutely and even ask for demos as a final selection test before you absorb them into your project.
The ratings and reviews of the former clients should impress you and ensure they have an excellent work experience with them for being great listeners.
From these ideas, you can locate the ideal book illustrator and together create a successful self-published eBook or paperback.