(AMA) Everything I know about becoming a Children’s Illustrator at 40 and attracting earning 432 True Fans.
Your questions answered!
Author Note: This is a living document, and I will continue to add more questions and answers over time. Every single one is born out of an actual correspondence, either from a DM, and email or a 1-1 Mentoring session. I do some light editing for privacy and clarity and occasionally combine questions and answers to make this resource as useful to you as possible.
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From Drew:
I find the markets for children’s books very confusing ie: I can readily differentiate between picture books and say black and white chapter books, but then it feels like there is a whole cross over market where chapter books are presented in full colour, or graphic novels that seem to be for younger audiences, or say comic book style books.
My question is if the book doesn’t neatly fit into an existing market is it worth pursuing or should I rather just create portfolio pieces that easily “fit”? Is there a way that you categorise the picture book market that is simplified and/or with corresponding publishers so that I would know where to pitch this?
I’d also love to hear your thoughts on digital versus analog. I love using traditional media but the ease of digital for edits, touch ups etc is just totally different! I can image over a longer book project it just being WAY easier to produce things totally digitally. Do you sacrifice style (ie build your style digitally) for the long game of being able to do it more efficiently?
Hello Drew,
Your questions are about Markets and Tools.
I’ll start with the Markets question, but I want to reframe it to the point of view of the customers, both the parents and kids. I’m going to answer by telling you what I think a picture book is. My philosophy of picturebooks if you like.
A Picturebook is more like theater or a toy, then it is a book.
In order to experience a picturebook, a child needs an adult to read it to them. The book serves as giving the adult a script to perform and it gives the audience (the child) a multi sensory experience of the story.
They see characters. And objects. Brought to life by the performance.
In many cases the child might be seeing objects and environments for the first time. Other times the recognise familiar object and might reach out to grab them like a pretend play subject.
They might reach out and eat a slice of cake or strawberry from inside the book, or interact with a character like it was alive. This behaviour is age appropriate, and the device that enables the experience is the picturebook.
Because the child is getting to know the world through this experience there is a specific way things need to be communicated to them. For example if a fire truck or a museum is to be depicted, it will need to be depicted in full like an object, like a toy, completely in view and in context.
Contrast that with a graphic novel for older kids, you can hint at a museum just by showing a statue, a roof line, or a plaque with words, these options work for older readers who read books more like an emersive experience directly.
In the case of a picturebook, the story is invited into the kids environment, older readers are invited into the authors imagination.
A fairy story for kids is one where you bring the fairy story to the kid into the room they are in, that’s why I say it is like a play set or like theater. A fairy story for older readers is one where you bring the kid into the fairy story.
This thinking relates to the tools we use.
A book is a physical object, and it works best when the pages look like physical objects, a page that looks like in contains all the grain and smudges and powders and liquid and thinkness of a physical artwork looks and feels more like a toy or theater and therefore achieves it’s aim more easily.
Digital art is great, and works best when it is consumed digitally, on a website or in a game, obvious digital art on paper, seems off in my opinion, but digital art that simulates physical experiences looks great!
You mention easier to produce, ultimately, I think the pain of the art making is what is most valuable in the end. My own process involves doing as much of it physically and finishing digitally. I paint a lot digitally, but I draw and work things out in real life.