Advice for New Writers & Illustrators

I have always felt it important to pass on to aspiring illustrators and authors the experience I've gained over the years. The problem is, I am getting quite a lot of emails these days, asking for specific guidance. With the best will in the world, it is hard to give individual replies, let alone provide real feedback in the supportive, yet honest way people deserve.

Most of the advice people need has in any case already been covered by the many articles I have written here, or in the short films I have on my website. If you use the Hot Tips label of this blog, you will capture most of the specific advice articles, like how to build a children's book folio or what to do if you have written a book that requires illustrations. 

Under Hot Tips you will also find articles on doing school visits and on drawing in public. I have also included or ones I feel provide particular insight into the business of children's publishing: you just need to click the label then scroll down until you find what's relevant. 

Reading back through the blog generally though will give you a very good feel for how the business of writing and illustrating children's books works and help to give you an idea of what the relationship between illustrator / author and their publisher is like.

Please understand that I can't possibly look at your work and give feedback, there just isn't time, and please don't email me directly with a problem until you have read everything I have already provided. It's not that I am not interested, I just have to get on with my own work and life throws out enough distractions as it is.

Good luck everyone!

Illustrating Children's Books Part 3: a Foot in the Door?

Following last year's words of wisdom (!) about putting together a portfolio and initial contact with publishers, I thought this too might prove useful to new illustrators.

While I've been waiting for the go-ahead on my roughs, I've put together a few tips about what to expect if you are successful in getting an appointment with a publisher.


Dress code:
It's not like a job interview, so you can put away the suit. Dress normally, but just make sure you are neat and tidy (no ketchup stains on the T shirt...) so you look like you made the effort.

What happens?
Well, it normally lasts 10 - 30 minutes, depending on how busy and how interested they are. They will look through your work and ask you a bit about yourself. It's generally very informal, so try to relax and just be yourself. Be enthusiastic and friendly though. And remember to smile...

...sometimes shyness comes across as unfriendly. Most importantly: only say positive things about your work. If you don't have confidence in it, why should they?

Reminders:
You are still one of many illustrators they will be seeing that week, maybe that day. It is vital that you do not just become a blur with all the others. If you can think of a way to be memorable (in a positive way of course!) that's got to be good...

Another key thing is to have sample work to leave behind, something they can put in a file or, if you are very lucky, pin on their wall. They might make colour copies of your work - this is a good sign (and don't worry: they won't steal your stuff!!).

Agents:
People ask me if they should get an agent to do all this for them. My advice would be no, not yet. You can learn so much in the early stages from meeting art directors in person and listening to their feedback. Also, until you are published, it can be just as hard to get decent agent as it is to get a publisher - they too are swamped!

If you found this useful, there is also a fair bit of detail about publishing, from an illustrator's perspective, on my blog posts over the past 18 months. It's all hopefully interesting and relevant stuff, but if you want specific advice, here are my hot tips posts.

Plus, don't forget, there are also the videos on my website, talking about how I got started as an illustrator and showing some of what I do.

Now: go knock 'em dead!

Becoming a Children's Book Illustrator Part 2: Getting Your Work Seen

I'm getting more and more emails from people trying to get started in book illustration so, to save writing individual replies, here's some more general advice, this time about getting yourself noticed.

It's following up on my post about creating a children's illustration folio, sharing what I can about the next step, and what worked for me at least.

Firstly: spend some time browsing the children's section of bookshops. Familiarise yourself with what different publishers do. Bookshops are better than libraries for this, as it's all still selling, so never out-of-date.

Who publishes picture books? Who leans towards traditonal, beautiful, funny or off-the-wall? Who publishers chapter books? Which illustration techniques are used for which age groups? Note the websites of publishers whose books look a bit like what you do, then check their newest releases on-line to see what they're after right now.

Get a copy of The Children's Writers and Artist's Yearbook (or something similar - there are a few different ones). This has listings of all the publishers with their contact details, as well as more advice and guidance.

Make colour prints of maybe three of your best pieces, marked with your contact details or, if you have the necessaries, design an A4 flyer, like the one here. Post these with a short covering letter to the publishers you have researched.

Unfortunately, publishers get unbelievable quantities of unsolicited material, so you have to work very hard to catch their eye. Here are a few hot tips that worked for me:

1 - Make sure you contact a named Art Director or Commissioning Editor (never send a 'to whom it may concern': it will probably go in the bin).

2 - Ensure any samples you send are produced to high quality - first impressions DO count.

3 - Be funny or different or cute (I designed this letterhead for my covering letter, with the tied-up cat printed top-right and the fish swimming along the page bottom, with the header 'See me soon, or the pussycat gets it!' )

4 - Be persistent, but not boring: send a printed sample of new work (not just the same old stuff) once a month.

5 - Get on-line: set up a simple website, or a Flickr portfolio, to refer publishers to (but resist the urge to pad it out with your less-good work).

6 - Be proactive: phone the art director a week after they get your samples, to ask if they will see you.

7 - The scatter-gun approach: do all of the above for lots of different (but relevant) publishers.

8 - Don't give up too easily: take on board any feedback you're lucky enough to get, but don't be put off by lack of success - even if you're good, it might take a while for someone to bite.

Initial Contact:

If in doubt about which individual to contact, don't be afraid to phone the publisher's switchboard to get the relevant Art Director's name. In your covering letter, tell them you would like an appointment to show them the rest of your folio. This is important, even if you're not local: I have always found that face-to-face contact is the thing that works. For me, samples sent out and website links are all about getting publishers to ultimately let me visit them at their offices, to present my work in person.

Don't be too disappointed if the Art Director doesn't remember your samples when you phone - they get hundreds. Ask again if you can make an appointment to visit them with the rest of your work. Be ready with a simple website or Flickr page, so they can quickly check your work on-screen.

OK, now the bad news. Children's illustration is a very tough market to break into: there's so much competition and the standards are very high. My experience is that slogging round publishers and bombarding them with reminders about your work is the only way in.

However, if your illustrations are of a high enough standard, are interesting, clever and relevant (perhaps even a little bit different, without being too off-the-scale), you should eventually get your foot in the door, if you stick at it doggedly enough.


If you are successful in getting an appointment with an Art Director, you might want to read this post, to give you some idea of what to do and what to expect. Or why not read about how I got my first book?

There are lots of hot tips for new illustrators and demonstrations which you might find useful in the series of short films on my YouTube channel. Take a look - hope you enjoy them! Here's an example: a demonstration, talking you through how I create my pastel artwork:

Illustrating Children's Books Part 1: Portfolio Advice

I am often emailed by new illustrators, asking for advice on contacting publishers. However, it's really important that the folio you show is exactly right. So, before you consider your work ready to show, here are some fundamental things you should check:

Characterisation is paramount.

Picture books are always totally character-lead and those characters have to be ones that children can believe in and take to their hearts. 


Some illustrators specialise in either animals or children, but since you are starting out and want to maximise your appeal, try both young children and various animals characters. 

Remember though - the story must revolve around characters that are truly alive, with distinct personalities. Though cute and adorable is important, try all sorts, including 'baddies'.
You must also show a wide range of emotions, not just 'happy'. Picture book characters will go through adventures where they might need to be angry, lonely, jealous, miserable, cunning...

Draw them doing real things too, not just standing around. Try giving them everyday tasks that get them interacting with their environment and other characters.

Creating individual 'worlds' for them to inhabit is also very important. Look at the range of picture books that are being published at the moment for inspiration.

It helps to illustrate a specific story. This not only gives you ideas, but will demonstrate how you interpret text, which is just as important as your drawing ability. Traditional tales or nursery rhymes can be an easy starting point for experimentation; they will give you a subject matter to interpret, and will not be too hampered by existing illustrations.

A few other tips:

1 - Only put in work you are really proud of: quality is more important than quantity. You need between 10 and 20 pieces, but there should be no padding.

2 - Don't try to be all things to all people - decide what style of work you are best at and then perfect it.

3 - Put your best illustration at the very beginning of the portfolio, and your second best at the very end: that way you start with a bang but also finish on a high note!

Picture books is a lovely field to work in, but hard to break into and requires research, careful targeting of your folio and a lot of determination. Once you are certain your work is right, here's how to get a publisher to look at your new folio.

Getting My First Ever Book

A reader asked me to talk about when I first started illustrating children's books. It was a while ago, but I'll tell you what I remember.

My very first commission was The Show at Rickety Barn. There was definitely some luck floating in the air around me when I got it. Read on...


For 10 years previously, I'd been a freelance editorial illustrator, working in pastels for all sorts of clients: the one above was for the Times Educational Supplement, an article about excluded kids. Below was a piece for a doctors' trade journal about equal opps:


I'd started lecturing part-time too, just to get out of the house occasionally (honestly, there was no need for real human contact for weeks on end). But the teaching started to take over, and I felt the need for a change, so I resigned my lecturing post and took 9 months off, to build a brand new, children's book portfolio.


I developed 2 new styles, one in watercolours (below), the other a digital version of watercolours (above).


I also wrote a picture book text, which I roughed up and did sample artwork for. These are 2 pieces from that book, about a big flood. Spot the mistake though: at that time I had no idea that you should never include text on your artwork (because of co-edition translations).


I also added in half a dozen pieces that seemed appropriate, from my old editorial folio. Especially those featuring animals, like this one (can't recall the article now):

I set up appointments to visit a dozen London publishers, to show off the new folio. I got very encouraging responses, but publishers were almost unanimously interested, not in the new watercolour work, but in the editorial style!!

When I visited what was then David & Charles (and is now Gullane), it just so happened that Paula, the Art Director, had a text about a singing cat on her desk. She was in a bit of a pickle: the text had already been illustrated, but it wasn't looking right. They needed a different illustrator for a new approach to it, but were now way behind schedule.

When she saw the above editorial illustration in my folio (originally for an article about something to do with serendipity), the connection clicked into place: she could see from my singing dogs how my singing cat might look...

I got the commission, which was a delight to work on, and I have been illustrating books for Gullane ever since.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, the text on the poster was not part of my pastel illustration, but added later on the computer, using Corel Painter and Photoshop (here's how).

My Portfolio has Exploded!

I am out on my first school visit of the season today.

When I go to a school, I carry all my storytelling gear and my books in this little suitcase on wheels: it's like a tardis for cramming stuff in! It makes very heavy books easy and is perfect for nipping on and off trains too.

In case you're wondering, the snazzy fabric bag is the home of my Smudge hand puppet, made by my clever Mum (known to you bloggers as Granny Grimble - hello Mum!).

If I'm doing lectures or workshops, I also carry a big folder under my arm, full of artwork samples and roughs to talk around. Portfolios you buy are never the right dimensions for my artwork, so I made my own, out of cardboard boxes. It's not exactly posh, but it works.

Except, I got it out yesterday, ready to load up for today's visit, and found all the parcel-tape glue had died: the whole thing fell apart in my hands!

I had to spend an hour or so repairing it, this time with gummed paper tape, in the hope maybe that will last better. Luckily I found a big roll in the back of a cupboard, left over from distant paper-stretching days. I quite enjoyed myself to be honest!