Jewish children's book - need illustrator advice

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Forum -> Hobbies, Crafts, and Collections -> The Imamother Writing Club

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Kiwi13

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 9:28 pm

I wrote a children's book and submitted it to a few Jewish publishers. I know it's an extremely competitive market, so I'm not expecting that my book will be selected. If it does that's great, but if not I want to have a backup plan. I looked into affordable self-publishing options, but in order to self-publish I would need illustrations.

Ideally I would love to hire a Jewish illustrator, or at the very least someone familiar with Jewish life. I have some ideas of the type of style I'm looking for, which I could show a potential illustrator. How would I go about finding an affordable illustrator? Also, once the illustrations are complete (and paid for) who owns the rights? This is a hobby for me, so I'm not looking to make a ton of money doing this - but I need to at least break even.

If anyone has any illustrators in mind (or if you ARE an illustrator), please pass that info along as well. You can also PM if you're more comfortable.

TIA!

singleagain

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 10:19 pm

One of my friends and her sister are amazing illustrators. If you like I can put you in touch with them. I believe they are flexible with price and copyright.

Bitachon101

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 10:22 pm

Not sure if the style is right for your book but I would be glad to get you info to contact Rabbi Yitzy Erps as he is a great illustrator.
Not related, just know him and have seen his work.

Kiwi13

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 10:55 pm

I hope this works, I'm trying to post a sample drawing. I made this, and I'm looking for an illustrator with a similar style.

*edited a bunch of times in an effort to get the image to show up*

lifesagift

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 11:02 pm

Before you get lots of women here invested (I like to scribble myself, BTW), I think you should know which route you are planning to take. Is the publishing option still open or not?

Kiwi13

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 11:23 pm

lifesagift - it hasn't been so long since I submitted the manuscript, so I don't know if any of the Jewish publishers will be interested. This is kind of a testing-the-waters step, in case the book is rejected or in case a publisher wants me to supply the illustrations. Still new to this, not sure how the process works.

lifesagift

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 11:26 pm

Do you known how much you're willing to pay? Very cute pic btw

Kiwi13

Sun, Apr 12 2015, 11:32 pm

Aww thanks. I honestly don't have a specific number in mind. Unfortunately I don't have a huge budget and like I said I need to have a chance at breaking even.

penguin

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 3:26 am

Your drawing is adorable. Why don't you illustrate the book yourself?

Kiwi13

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 7:04 am

Penguin - thank you. I did consider it, but honestly for every drawing that comes out well like this one, I have a bunch more that really aren't great. I also can't draw well from any other angle than just looking at a character straight on. I'm realistic about my skills.

Dolly Welsh

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 7:11 am

My humble opine is you should take a course in illustration, perhaps illustration of children's books and do it yourself. You do know how to draw. You haven't learned to draw something by looking at the thing itself. This is do-able. You can possibly teach yourself. There may be You Tube or E How videos that teach this. There are many how-to-draw books that are very good.

Take a familiar object that doesn't look the same from all sides. Put it on a table and think about what you see when you turn it around. It should be a simple object with little confusing detail.

I think you can learn this, judging from the drawing you posted.

Take that little girl.

If there is a little girl handy in your life, ask yourself what you see when you look at her head and not from the front.

If you take a good look at Dilbert, you will see simple line drawings like yours that show things from the back and sides. He is a very good artist. See what you can learn from him.

I think you compose and design well.

medola

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 9:13 am

I am an artist and would love to talk to you about potentially collaborating on your childrens book. I have my own body of work but I able to create artwork/illustrations in any style. Here's a link to some of my work:

https://www.pinterest.com/medola/art-by-leah/

5mom

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 10:18 am

medola wrote:

Just wanted to say that your work is lovely!

medola

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 10:20 am

5mom wrote:

Just wanted to say that your work is lovely!

Aww thanks so much 5mom!!

Rubber Ducky

Mon, Apr 13 2015, 10:32 am

I sent you a pm.

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