How to Hire A Book Illustrator
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When the right illustrator is paired with the right book, they can create magic that brings a writer’s vision to life. And while there are many artists out there with a wide range of experience who could all create something you’ll like, it isn’t sufficient to simply admire their work for them to be the right fit. They must also possess the technical skills to create files your book designer can then effectively use to assemble your book for print.
An illustrator is not necessarily a designer — although there are some with training in both disciplines. The illustrator is responsible for creating the images, while the designer uses those images to lay out your book. The right illustrator will know how to optimize their files so that the designer has more flexibility in how they’re formatted with the text for a seamless finished product.
When hiring a new illustrator to our team at FriesenPress, we consider certain qualities of experience and expertise. Here’s how you can find the perfect illustrator using those same qualities as markers for your own hiring process:
Art Styles
Each artist has their own style, one as unique as a fingerprint. Even if they’re able to perfectly reproduce the whole gamut of artistic styles or emulate any well-known artist, they’ll still leave an imprint of their distinct perspective. (In fact, one big advantage of hiring an illustrator is avoiding potential issues of copyright infringement.) While you can’t ask an illustrator to plagiarize another artist’s style, you can use references as a guide to determine if they can provide your desired art style.
People say “art is in the eye of the beholder,” and they’re right. So we hire artists of many different styles and techniques to cater to all varieties in author tastes. In your case, you’ll probably have a good idea of what you want the end product to look like — or at least the effect you want the images to create. A basic understanding of style and techniques is helpful, and referring to specific works can be the clearest way to convey what you’re looking for. Whatever that happens to be, an experienced professional can find the best way to accomplish your goal and perhaps show you an approach you never would have thought of.
There was once a time when traditional or digital media would limit the style and quality of your end product. Today, the sophistication of software programs allows for such finely detailed “brushes” that illustrators can create images indistinguishable from traditional media. It can be beneficial to work digitally (particularly for “layering” images so designers have more freedom in how they’re used), but it isn’t always the right choice for all authors. Start by reviewing the work in your potential illustrator’s portfolio, and then determine which artistic mediums they (and you) prefer.
Background
While you can find great work done by talented, self-taught artists, it’s ideal to find someone that has completed formal training in storyboarding, life drawing, character design, or specialist training in illustration programs or traditional media. This training is a strong indication that they understand the technical needs of professional artwork (such as page layout, bleed margins, composition) and the guiding principles of art and design (such as complimentary colours, distinctive silhouettes, how to lead a reader’s eyes across the page).
No matter what sort of training the artist possesses, their craft will have been honed over years of tireless practise. A professional illustrator has spent a considerable amount of time refining their skills, studying techniques, and pushing themselves to broaden their capabilities before ever starting their career in the arts. Each artist is on their own journey; their unique experiences might end up giving them an advantage on a particular project. That’s why when we recommend an artist for a project, it’s based not only on their portfolio but also on other books they’ve worked on in relevant genres.
In the event that you are truly captivated by the work of a self-taught artist, take the time to thoroughly review any work they’ve done for books specifically. If their work has mostly been within other print mediums, it may still demonstrate many design principles, but you’ll likely have to be more specific with the technical requirements than if you worked with an experienced book illustrator. To avoid expensive revisions to the artwork, you should prepare the necessary technical specifications before the artwork begins.
Technical Specifications
A publishing services company, like FriesenPress, manages all of the technical specifications for you. This includes knowing that book printers require a minimum of 300 DPI resolution, an average bleed for interiors of 0.25” and an average bleed for casebound covers of 0.625”. Also, while most images used for web and digital display are in RGB color format, physical books should be in CMYK format to avoid unwanted colour shifts in the finished product.
With FriesenPress, you make the decision on the preferred trim size for your book, and we inform the illustrator of everything they need to know in order to ensure the designer can do their best work.
If you decide to instead manage things yourself, you’ll need to coordinate with the illustrator (and printer) and understand the necessary specs for the book you want to produce. First, you need to define the “canvas” on which your artist will work. This is made up of the book trim size, as well as how the artwork is presented on the page (or pages), either in square, portrait, or landscape orientation.
If all these terms and numbers seem overwhelming or confusing, not to worry, your professional illustrator should have a firm understanding of these specifications and prepare their files appropriately. Even so, you might have difficulty imagining what the finished format will look like in the end. To remedy that before you go ahead with publication, you’ll likely want to print a proof copy for your review. If you’re only looking for a preview of the colours, margins, and paper type, you’ll want a Contact Proof. If instead you want a completed and bound copy of your book as a final review before it’s released to the public, you’ll want a Full Content Proof Copy.
As you can see, the task of hiring a book illustrator is an involved process, and even more so if you want to do it all yourself. You’ll assume the role of an artistic director carefully perusing any portfolio of merit, a negotiator working out how much you should pay for such a service and what rights you are acquiring, and a project manager making sure it all comes together in an effective and timely manner.
To make sure you’re focused on the creative process and not the logistics or administrative aspects of developing your book, we have a suite of services that take care of everything for you. Our publishing specialists fill the roles of artistic director, negotiator, and project manager. You work closely with them to consider the curated portfolios provided, review the layout of your book, request revisions to coordinate visual storytelling with your text, and approve your finalized artwork for print.
If you’re looking for some support in hiring the right illustrator or in managing and developing the artwork that will bring your writing project to life, we’re always here to help.
