Local children book illustrator is one of the many searches done by children’s book authors across the world. One of the many reasons for this particular search is that the authors want children book illustrators who are easily accessible. Other reasons are easy communication and exchange of ideas with the children book illustrator but fact of the matter is that if an author is looking only for Local Children’s book illustrator then the author will miss out on a lot of talent which is available globally , not locally. It is good if you are able to find a talented and a local children’s book illustrator but if you compromise on the talent part only to ensure that you hire a local illustrator , then you are simply compromising with your dreams.
Selecting a suitable children book illustrator requires a lot of effort and hard work. It really does not matter even if the illustrator is not a local illustrator. If you talk about the past, it may have made sense to hire a local children’s book illustrator but those were the times when we had no internet, whats App or Skype. The communication was restricted to telephone only. But with today’s technology, not only a real time video call is possible but also exchange of digital files take place in a matter of seconds. When you are open to select a children book illustrator who is not necessarily local then you are open to a whole lot of new possibilities. You can get paid samples from illustrators who could be anywhere and also find affordable illustrators. It has become more easy than ever to work directly with people who actually work remotely from different locations. You can hire an illustration agency which is not in your city and still get amazing professional children book illustrators. Usually the agencies do provide a contract which covers important terms and conditions like the completion date, delivery process and payment process. It can also include other aspects like number of free revisions included and character designing process prior to beginning the illustration work. Copyright ownership, illustration credit and royalty sharing / one time payment are other relevant points which may be included in the contract. You can follow the same format even if the author hires a local children’s book illustrator . In fact, the process remains absolutely the same except one to one meeting in person which cannot be done when you hire a non local children’s book illustrator. With non local children’s book illustrator , you can fix a weekly meeting or bi weekly meeting through video conference or other tools . The important thing is to develop a clear exchange of ideas between the author and the children book illustrator. It really does not matter whether the illustrator is local or not. The author should be convinced with the ability and illustration style of the illustrator as well as illustrators terms and conditions mentioned in the contract. If the overall association is in the right direction, the author may hire the illustrator. If a local children book illustrator meets all the required criteria, there is no harm in hiring that person but if the local illustrator is not fulfilling the required criteria, then the author should expand his / her reach from local to non local children’s book illustrator.
