[Socar MYLES]

A few people have suggested that my art might work well for kids' books. Here's the embarrassing bit, though--I've applied for a grand total of one art job in my life, and that was after an invitation to apply arrived in my mailbox. Until now, I've just...taken whatever happened to come along, as long as it was interesting. Mostly, that's been fantasy RPG illustrations and pictures of people's pets. Now, I'm not complaining about that type of work: I love it. I wouldn't mind branching out a bit, though.

So, my question is--does anybody know where to look for this type of job (children's illustration), or, better yet, know anyone who's hiring? I've done some checking around on the Internet, but I haven't had much luck with finding any actual calls for artists (do major publishers even do this?)

Anyway, any advice you guys could give me would be brilliant.

(Disclaimer: If you are one of my current bosses and you are surfing this forum, don't worry...I will finish whatever I'm doing for you before I apply for anything else. Just getting an early start, I am!)

[eyewoo]

There are quite a few childrens' book writing resources on the web. They might be helpful.
Here's one...

[Socar MYLES]

Thanks, eyewoo--I'll check that out in more depth later....

Just to clarify, though, for anyone who's wondering, I'm not interested in WRITING children's books at all. I don't like children, don't understand them, and wouldn't be able to appeal to them with words even if I wanted to...I just want to draw.

[eyewoo]

Here's another one... more to the point

Top 100 Children's Illustration Sites

[ceenda]

TalentX has a children's illustrations area where you could put some of your art for potential clients to view.
http://www.talentx.com/creative/arts/new_browse/browse.html?category_id=3&expertise=179

[Torstein Nordstrand]

You would do great children's books, Socar - children need your mellow tone in these hectic times. May I suggest that you visit your local book store and browse their selection? Jot down some names, some publishers might even have a decent website going - if not, the phone is still a valid means of professional communication

Just make the call, and let them do the answering. They be wanting a good artist like yourself. Trust us

For luck,

[Derek]

Do you have any tear sheets or a book you can send off? Better than going through the web to track work down. You'll have to do some leg work to get the names of art directors and editors though. Also, for kids book, they prefer a team of writer/illustrator, so you may want to see if you can contact anyone who writes the sort of book for kids that you could imagine yourself drawing for. If you really aren't into working for the kids' market though, they'll sniff you out and it'll come to nothing.

[ June 01, 2002: Message edited by: Derek Smith ]

[Socar MYLES]

Yep--I've got tear-sheets, portfolio, resume, cover-letter--the works. I'm not planning on submitting my portfolio online--I've just been using the Net to track down potential clients.

Good idea about contacting writers, though--I do know a few of those.

I am interested in illustrating such books--not just pretending. I like the subject matter and style of some kids' books. It's kids themselves I'm not too comfortable with.

[Socar MYLES]

Good point about the palettes, Sumaleth--I hadn't actually thought about that as a problem. Right now, I am slowly working my way up towards more adventurous colours...I am doing a picture in bright green and yellow today.

[EDIT] Finished bright green picture-- . What do you think--do I need to go brighter still?

Anyway, I have until September to work on that--I have no jobs lined up after September, which is when I plan on trying to apply for non-RPG book jobs. I just figured I'd start asking around WAY early, so I don't end up going into the Christmas season with no jobs and no cash lined up. That's the one lousy thing about working freelance...you just never know what you're going to be doing when. (Of course, that's the fun part, too, so I guess I shouldn't complain.)

[ June 03, 2002: Message edited by: Socar MYLES ]

[Sumaleth]

I'm actually writing a children's book at the moment, believe it or not. One of the "picture book" style books, aimed at ages 2-8 age range or so.

I haven't decided if I'm going to illustrate it myself yet (I'd like to but I'm not sure my chops are where I'd need them to be), but i have been reading a lot about the industry and talking with a couple of friends who are doing them.

First thing to realize is that it's a very hard industry to break into. There are a million other writers and artists trying to get a foot in. Although it does sound easier for an artist.

The other thing I was told is that publishers like to put an established artist with a new writer, or a new artist with an established writer. It's apparently a very name-orientated industry, with parents buying books where they recognise the writer or the artist, so they wouldn't usually pair up a new artist with a new writer. In fact it has been recommended to me that if I don't plan to draw the book myself, I'm better off not presenting art with the story. Apparently having an artist already attached to the story makes it less appealing to the agents/publishers.

This is what I've heard anyway, although I'm sure there are exceptions. I mean, if they got a great story and great sample art, both from new talents, they would hardly say no.

Both writing and drawing for childrens books are surprisingly detail-oriented endevours, and when you're new you have no idea about the many rules and guidelines. Mem Fox, a popular writer, talks about how she sometimes spends more than a year reworking a single ~500 word story until it's absolutely perfect. And I expect the art side of things is just as picky. Everything needs to be perfect for the audience it's aimed at.

But it is a lot of fun. And I think it would be a genuinely worthy achievement getting a children's book published.

-

A quick search on google.com should find lots of sites about doing art for children's books (that top100 list looks interesting). There are also lots of books about it, although I haven't bought any yet. I'll probably grab one though.

I think you'd be a great childrens book illustrator, although there's a real emphasis on color in that industry and I'm not totally sure whether they'd go for your palettes. But I just tried a bit of saturation on your 'shell' image and it looked great, so maybe that's all that's needed.

Best of luck.
Row.

[Rinaldo]

I looked into this industry briefly a while back. I have to say I think your work would fit perfectly into that market.
as I understand, it's about getting a portfolio and just going around and showing it to publishers etc. I am in Australia so things might be different tho. I was given the number of someone who pairs up writers and artists, but I never went down the kids book road in the end. (there might be something like that in the states/canada).
there are prolly going to be a lot of different ideas about "what kids want" had by different publishers, you know, some think that kids like pics that look like a kid drew them etc. there are a lot of those photo-trace style books which are the opposite. so it might be a matter of sending out a lot of cards and see what happens, I imagine there would be a lot of subjectivity out there.
narative is really important. there is a lot of design in the Illustration in terms of eyeflow. but who knows if you will get any say in that kind of thing (proly just be put together by someone else). I recall hearing that Maurice Sendak would spend ages on working out the pages and the way they flowed into each other.
so in addition to just showing single Illustrations maybe have a folio with sequential/narrative images. and as suma says, colour is extreemly important, colour to influence mood.

*end rant*

that went OT a bit heh.

that pic is awesome btw. more yellow than green on my monitor tho:P

[egerie]

You could also check directly with the editors. I know some of them (mainly the big ones) like to match up illustrators with writers etc.

Good Luck Socar !

[lowlight]

My wife and I are actually a sort of children's book "team" of sorts; she writes and I illustrate. Lately, I've been working on illustrations for her poetry though (actually tried to post some of the work at Epilogue, but Ms. Law said it wasn't "fantasy" enough). Anyways, I don't know if anyone exactly mentioned it, but other than simply going to bookstores to see what's popular in the young reader's section, there is of course the invaluable '2002 Childrens Writer's & Illustrators Market" (ISBN:1582970742). It lists almost every major and minor publisher looking for new talent in this industry. Good Luck to you