One of the most commonly asked questions that I receive is this…. “Would you consider illustrating my children’s book?” and it’s always a great honour to be asked this. Whilst I can’t accept each and every request I am always happy to discuss your needs and requirements and if the project is something that fits in with my style of children’s book illustration as well as my busy schedule, then I will always welcome a challenge!

How to Find a Freelance Children’s Book Illustrator in the UK

If you’ve found my website, and more particularly this blog post, then you’ve probably found me on Google or via my Facebook page whilst searching for someone who will help to bring your ideas to life. As you will have seen, I adopt a child-friendly style and focus on ‘whimsical’ type illustrations. I only work with physical paints and inks (i.e. I don’t use Photoshop) or other computer programmes to ‘draw’ or ‘paint’ and whilst I admire those who can achieve such great results using these sophisticated computer programs, they are not for me, and in my opinion take some of the soul away from a piece of art to be featured inside a children’s book or greetings card – or at least it would if I was let loose on these software packages! The occasional uneven line or a blob of misplaced ink gives an illustration some character and charm.

So, now that you’ve found my website what should you do next? Well, I’d advise having a look at some of the samples of work that can be found in my gallery first as I may not offer what you are looking for – there are many fantastic illustrators out there offering different and unique styles, but if it is mine that you like then there are a few things to consider:

1. Will you be self-publishing? If so, then you will be in charge of choosing the illustrator for your book. If you are using a publishing house then as a general rule it will be the
publisher who appoints the illustrator – although I’m more than happy for my name to be put forward. When time permits I can offer a full service, including the printing of your book too - let me know if this is of interest?

2. How many illustrations do you need? Many Children’s books are set out in a particular way, and hence often require a certain amount of illustrations.

3. I will require a copy of your manuscript to obtain a feel for the characters - even more so if you'd like me to create the character(s) from scratch.

4. Your deadline – this is very important for both of us, so a clear deadline is essential.

5. Whilst I will always offer advice where and when possible, I don’t deal with the printing of the illustrations (unless I‘m asked to publish your book too) that I produce. I will paint/draw what I’m asked, so if there is anything in particular that you, your publishers or printers require then I need to be made aware of this before any work commences.

The above points are in no way an exhaustive list, there are of course other things to consider, such as costings (I’d love to be able to work for free, but sadly, like us all, I have lots of bills too!).

Illustrating a book is usually a long process, often taking weeks, or possibly months, so please bear this in mind when asking for a quote.

The next step is to drop me an email if you have any questions at all – and I fully appreciate that you may have lots of them, and rightly so as it’s important to make the right choices when hiring the services of an illustrator. I want you to be happy with your
choice, so there is no ‘hard sell’ – I love drawing and painting and whilst it’s fun to work on projects for others, there is never any pressure to make a quick decision on how you'd like to proceed with your project.