Where can I Find an Illustrator for my Children’s Story?

This should not be a problem as most publishers prefer to provide an illustrator for your children’s book. They do this because it can increase the quality of the book and improve sales. For example, a publisher may already have a great illustrator in mind and that illustrator could be well-known already. This being the case, the name of the illustrator could well enhance book sales considerably. Think of Quentin Blake for instance and how fantastic his work is, then think of how many more sales a publisher could achieve by having him illustrate an unknown writer’s work. People would buy the book because it had Quentin’s fabulous illustrations in it.

Known Illustrators are Less Risky for Publishers

Publishers like to use illustrators they already know because they feel it carries less risk. The publisher already knows, and presumably likes, the illustrator’s style, they know that they are reliable and can deliver what is required of them. So, you can see that it’s far less risk for the publisher than employing an unknown illustrator. A good illustrator is also capable of adding to the story in a visual way – adding in detail so that it does not have to be explicitly written down. For example, the text of a book may say ‘the weather was awful’, this could mean many things – maybe it’s too hot, too cold or very windy. The illustrator can convey how awful the weather was through the image by showing rain and thunder clouds in the illustration.

How to Find an Illustrator

However, if you need to get your own illustrator there are plenty of places to look for freelancers. You can:

• visit websites that are set up specifically for freelancers to contact one another.
• join a children’s writing group or forum and ask if anyone knows an illustrator.
• look for adverts in publications such as Freelance Market News and other writer’s magazines.
• use an internet search engine such as Google to locate freelance illustrators.
• get hold of a book such as Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market.

See what tutor and published children’s author Stephanie Baudet has to say in her video writing picture books for children. And if you fancy having a go at writing a children’s book request our Writing For Children course prospectus.