Illustrators Paint A Horror – Part 1

Illustrator Horror Story 1 -March 2012

I approached a graphic designer buddy of mine and asked him if he could illustrate my book. He was excited and agreed upon a fee and he promised to do the illustration in two months. He said it was going to be a breeze.

My friend took the liberty of changing the book’s size from 8” by 8” to 10” by 8” because he couldn’t draw in a smaller space. He even took one month trying to draw a tomato for the title page. I sketched out a tomato in two minutes and showed him how it was supposed to look.

The two months stretched to 5 months. At this point I started to question my friend’s ability to illustrate. I knew the book would never be completed if I continued with him.

I also sensed he was not fully satisfied with his work, maybe he was afraid to put his name on the project. I wasn’t satisfied with his work, either. I only wish I had told him of my dissatisfaction and had both of us move on sooner

It was the end of August and the illustrations were still not ready. So I told him that I was going to find someone else. He wasn’t happy with the decision and said that he had put a lot of time into it. Well, that was the whole problem with him; too much time spent on illustrations, which were not ready.

—“You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you know how much time I’ve spent on this? I was doing you a favor. You’re kidding right?”

Well, I don’t think so, and you don’t get paid for doing your friend a favor. I am in fact paying you. I knew it would be the end of our friendship, but my dream was more important.

He didn’t understand or realize the extent of the damage done. I hope he learned his lesson in time management. Art can’t be rushed, but as professionals we all have to work within stipulated timeframes and deliver on time hence the saying, “burning the midnight oil”.

 

Illustrator Horror Story 2 – August

At this point my dreams were partially crushed and I almost gave up. However, I found a guy on the Internet. We agreed on the price and timeframe for the illustrations. He too was very excited to illustrate a book. He was supposed to be a children’s book illustrator. I sent him my manuscript but, instead of doing his job, he asked me for ideas and rough sketches. I immediately sensed that this guy was not as good as he said he was.

It was clear he was young and in it only for the money.

He tried to illustrate one single page and asked for more time to which I agreed. The next day, not to my surprise he doubled his fees.

—“You know how much illustrators are charging, for this price you would get only the concepts. That depends on the success you want for your book, how much did you plan to get from sales? 5k? 10k? And you are willing to spend only 800?…”

He kept insisting that I got a hefty advance from the publisher. I tried explaining I was a self-publisher. Obviously, he didn’t know anything about self-publishing. He boasted being a children’s book illustrator, but he didn’t know what a mock book was. He was also very rude, insisting his website address printed on my book. I wasted three weeks with him before letting him know I was not going to use him. I didn’t want to work with a fickle minded person.

 

Illustrator Horror Story 3 – September

In September I found another man on Guru. He belonged to SCWBI and said he was looking for some quality work to illustrate. I paid Guru as the third party.

This man lacked communication skills. He did not reply to his e-mail or answer calls. I sent him all the instructions for the illustration and he said he never received them. And here I am resending my material. He had a long list of excuses for not e-mailing, or calling back – from the death of his mum, family reunion, baseball game, to blackouts.

One thing he did regularly though, was that he kept asking me to send him my manuscript.

—“To streamline this process and save us each a bunch of time, please help me by sending the manuscript.”

At this point I was more cautious about sending my manuscript, especially after what I had gone through with the last two illustrators.

I gave this illustrator one last chance to deliver and when it was not done; I insisted a refund from Guru, which I received.

Later I found out from other sources that he was a con-“artist”. There had been many complaints and even lawsuits against this illustrator.

Can you imagine what could have happened if I had sent him my manuscript?

 

Illustrator Horror Story 4 – October

About now, I was a pro at choosing illustrators, or so I thought.

In October I found a woman on guru. She too was very excited at illustrating for a book. She promised the illustration would be ready by the end of December.

She wanted me to make the initial payment for the character sketches. I didn’t agree to it. I made it very clear that if she couldn’t deliver the entire illustration they were of no use to me. I needed illustrations for a book not some scribbles on papers.

My friends who were illustrators did warn me about some illustrators who do a sloppy job. They would do a great job on the first few drawings and then diminish the quality of their work on their subsequent drawings.

In November she started questioning me on why I would hire someone over the Internet for the illustrations.

Why would she advertise her services internationally, if she didn’t want to be hired?

I kept asking her repeatedly if she would be able to finish the illustrations on time.

By the end of November, after wasting seven weeks of my time she said she couldn’t finish my work on time. She was a student and had exams… and so on.

—“ I found out I have an important exam at the end of the month and I think I have no time … you live in America, which is pretty odd. I think you will succeed finding an illustrator around there to make your drawings.”

Actually, I live in Canada.

I gave her a piece of my mind and told her not to make promises she couldn’t keep.

I really can’t understand the work ethics of these people.

 

In between the above four illustrators I did interview eight others who were unsuitable for my project. I had to pay for sample drawings to some illustrators, which was all right since I had to see their style of drawing.

Illustrating a children’s book is not an easy task and it should not be taken lightly.

You either have it in you or you don’t.

I made a lot of mistakes trying to hire an illustrator for a reasonable price.

I was going to give full credit to the illustrators for my research, ideas and designs. I am very generous that way.

I guess it was destined for me to illustrate my own books, which I should have done from the very beginning. I shouldn’t have underestimated my own ability to illustrate.

The bright side to this learning process is not only did I learn from my mistakes; I didn’t have to pay a dime to any of these illustrators. Thank god!

However, valuable time lost.

 

Finally…

Finally, I decided to do the illustrations myself. I was running late by seven months.

I did give up at some point but I had this perfect picture of my book in my mind and I wanted it badly.

I wanted to sleep with my book next to me on my night table.

I had the sketches of each and every page and the descriptions. I knew the characters and how they looked.

I tried watercolor and didn’t like the look or it. I wanted to do something different, like drawing in Photoshop. We are after all in the digital age.

The only problem was I was not a pro at it. I wanted my self-published children’s book to look amazingly professional.

My prayers were answered. I found a company who could do this for me.

They were great. I didn’t have to credit them in my book, but I did it anyway because they were great to work with.

I didn’t have to send in my manuscript.

I was in total control of the entire creative process. I am so glad I did not use any of the other illustrators. Some random illustrator would have gotten all the credit for my work.

 

No matter how good an illustrator is, if they can’t imagine and be connected to the story, then nothing positive is going to come out of the illustrations.

If my collaboration with my first illustrator had been a success I wouldn’t have learnt form my mistakes, nor would I have decided to do my own illustrations.

I say – “Things happen for a good reason.”

 

Conclusion

To wrap it up, if you had gone through what I have gone through… you are not alone.

To self-publishers out there who are in need of children’s books illustrations please be cautious as to who you work with;

• Retain the copyright to your illustrations – it’s better in the long run
• Agree on a price and stick to it, don’t let your illustrator boss you around
• Agree on the timeline
• Ask for samples and make sure the quality of the work is the same quality as the samples provided
• Do not send in your manuscript to strangers
• Beware of the so called “children’s book illustrator” wannabes
• Make sure you are able to communicate with your illustrator
• Most importantly, bind the illustrator to an Iron Clad Copyright Contract; I must admit my background in Copyright law has come in handy.

Choosing illustrators for a children’s book becomes even more difficult if you are self-publishing so proceed with caution. You may have a limited budget available so please, maximize your resources. Don’t give up on your search for the perfect illustrator. You will find one that best suits your budget and style.

There are many great illustrators out there who take their work rather seriously

Great illustrations can be done at a very reasonable price.

For first timers don’t go above US$2500 for a book. You don’t have to spend $1500 for someone to do your book’s cover in watercolor.

$100 per page for a full-page illustration is a very reasonable price.

 

Ask me how I can help you. Keep writing and doodling.

Tune in to Part II on how I illustrated Bunica’s Tomatoes.