Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Illustrating a Children's Book

I received an email because I want to be a part of a Children's Illustrator Blog Ring. The thing is that I haven't included much here regarding that topic so I thought make mention of it today. First of all, I have always been told that my work would fit in that market because of the "style" I have. It's hard to describe "style" because it changes, but basically my work is colorful and the shapes are simplified.
I am the type of person who studies every aspect of a topic before jumping into it, so I read every book I could find about illustrating for children. Once I did my homework, my next step was to work on my own story. It took me over a year to write and illustrate it.
My sister is a first grade teacher and her input was valuable, so was the input I got from her class when I came to visit and read the story to them. After I fine tuned the story, I went to the library and pulled all the children's books that had the same kind of characters and story. I wrote down the names of the publishers and made an attempt to send my work but you know how that goes!
So it's been a while and I come back to the work from time to time. I have a drawer full of drawings, pages and pages of research and copies of letters I sent with a query. Will it ever get published? I wonder.
If anyone out there is reading this and came here through the blog ring, please stay tuned because I will dig out the digital files so I can post what I'm talking about.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's fabulous that you are working so hard at it!

Have you joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators yet? You can really jump start your career there.

Janee www.trasler.typepad.com

HOLLi CONGER said...

It looks like you've started on the right track. Keep it going. It can get so frustrating when you've worked so hard on promos and you get no response out of it. When I became bound and determined to become a children's illustrator I committed myself to do a monthly article (which has turned into my blog with extended information) so I was sure to keep my focus. My first 8 entries may help your promotional efforts: http://www.holliconger.com/create/cl_articles.htmlMy advice would be to learn as much as you can about the industry and continue to evolve your style. I am constantly evolving. I've started going from big eys to little eyes. That's such a change for me. Try to network with people. You already have one good way to do that...your blog. It's amazing how much networking I've done just by participating in Illustration Friday: http://www.illustrationfriday.com/ Just get out there and be creative. Start small if you have to. Good Luck!!!

Mick said...

Hi Name,
I found you thru Illustration Friday and read the entry regarding about your Children's Book. Publishing and Art Sales are quickly changing - much the way the music business has already changed. My thinking is that you might consider self-publishing via print-on-demand. Go to this URL and investigate...it might work for you: http://www.lulu.com/
- Mick Mather
Mick Mather's ARTblog
http://syracuseblog.com/syracuseblog/page/Mick