If you are an Author who has already finished writing a children book and now want to publish it and looking for an illustrator who can add beauty to your children book then you already know that its not easy to find an illustrator. The reason is simple, either you are not finding the right children book artist or you are too confused about who should be chosen. When you start searching online, you get links to hundreds of websites and blogs where you come across various pieces of information. At times such information helps and at times it also confuses you more of you don’t get what you are looking for.
You definitely want to contact an illustrator who can show some samples and help you build your confidence in him /her. For that you should be ready to pay for that sample because the illustrator will give his/her time to your work. In case you are not ready to pay for sample, then please be rest assured that you will only find new illustrators who would be willing to show you the work for free.
Before approaching the illustrator please make sure that you check his/her children book illustrations styles and also make your mind if he/she is going to be the right fit for your project or not. This way you will need to pay less for samples, because you will invest money where there are higher chances of success.
Once you choose an illustrator and finalize everything like the deadline, terms and conditions, price etc, its very important to establish a smooth communication process. It may be an email, or phone calls, or Skype etc because you can’t really expect the person to meet you daily so its better to make use of the technology. Make sure that there is a consistent communication and you never delay your feedback if the illustrator wants one. Also, if you feel that there is any communication gap, then you as an author must take the initiative and solve every issue.
You must give space to the illustrator for his/her creativity and then you can always suggest finer things and get it done. Too much interference may not be a good idea, so give your feedback after something has been shown to you. You should make your ideas clear to the illustrator and then give a freehand to the children book artist.
If you find a right illustrator then your project will get a big boost and you can be confident about the whole self publishing / Children book publishing / Kids book publishing / E-book publishing process which comes next.
You may try websites like the https://www.childbookillustrations.com/ where they have various illustrators and they charge very reasonable rates.
