Guest article by Ink and Media

Instead of throwing away used ink cartridges have you ever wondered what else you could do with them? Wickford based ink cartridges retailer Ink and Media Ltd with the help of Midlands based artist Faith Pearson have fused a love of sci-fi and film with ink cartridges. The result is a series of recycled art pieces that recreate a range of cinematic moments - including King Kong, Godzilla and even a model of the Star Trek enterprise. The scenes were all created by hand and a series of background installations were designed before the final pieces were complete.

A friend passed this top 50 article along to me, it’s chock a block full of links to interesting websites featuring everything illustration from new and inspiring styles to marketing tips. Enjoy!

We might be reading Hera too many books (just two or three a day) as she has started narrating what she is doing! The last couple weeks, Hera has been ending most things she says with “said Mommy.” She says things like: “Have a glass of water, said Horton the Elephant?” or “I go to the library, said Mommy?” Hmmm, might have to crack the playdough out more often.

A fine-art student at London’s Croydon College recently approach me and ask some questions about working as an illustrator, I wanted to share them below in case they help anyone else out… (Read on …)

I was pleased to discover that the first four stories of Little Land Adventures, which I illustrated a few years ago, has now been divided into four separate books. Little Bird, Little Pig, Little Iguana, and Little Raccoon are now available on Amazon.com for $9.99 each. (Have a sneak peak at the illustrations inside.)

Came across this article on Successfully Marketing with Greeting Cards, it’s a good read and has some good tips for using greeting cards as a more personal way of reaching out to clients. As an illustrator, greeting cards are a fantastic format to display your work, get it out there and on the desk of art directors… and are far more personal than sending an e-card.

For tricks of the trade on designing and illustrating greeting cards, check out my Greeting Card Tips page.

Further to the question of how to show glitter on greeting card mockups, here is a real example of one of my greeting cards that has a pearly foil pattern in the background, on the text, and embossed flowers. When I created this card, I had four printouts from the layers in my Adobe Illustrator file…

1) The Print Only Layer shows what will be printed in ink on the card. (Click to see full-sized images)

2) The Foil Layer shows where glitter or foil stamping will be used. Note that when you go to send the design to a printer, if there is more than one colour of foil used, you will need to make separate layers in your files for each colour.

3) The Emboss / Cup die Layer shows the outlines of what shape needs to be created with the emboss.

4) The Mockup shows where the foil and emboss layers are meant to line up with the printed image below.

If you are sending a card design to a greeting card publisher and wish to show foil, glitter, or embossing, the simplest way to do it is to show it in black printouts separately from the design itself. You can find more of my greeting card tips here.

I was thrilled to snag this vintage Tala icing set at a garage sale last weekend for $1! I love the 1950’s era style illustration, just makes me want to paint my nails red and ice something. I think a lot can be learned from looking at what illustrators did during that era, from retro colour choices to the over-the-top perfection of the scenes illustrated. The illustrations from this era really capture the unreal expectations on house wives of that time to achieve perfection, right down to how elegantly they decorate cakes.

Question: How do you show publishers glitter throughout illustrations? Answer: Typically you would show this in a separate printout simply in black. If you have design software such as InDesign, the easiest way to do this is to create a layer for the illustration and text, and a separate layer for the glitter/foil. Then you just block in the area you want glittered in black on that separate layer. Otherwise, you can simply tell the publisher in your cover letter that you want the book to have glitter throughout. You can send a small sample of it with glitter hand applied on a copy of the illustration, but I wouldn’t recommend mocking up the whole book this way… if your book gets picked up by the Publisher, then you can discuss your ideas for the rest of the book. (I’ve posted screen shots with examples of foil and emboss on a real greeting card mockup here.)
Question : Who decides the shape of the book (square, landscape, portrait etc.) - the illustrator or the publisher? Answer : The publisher usually has specific sizes they work with, but there is some flexibility there if the illustrator has their own great ideas!

Question : I plan on approaching publishers with my finished artwork… what if they want a square book when i have drawn on a rectangular page, or vice versa? will i have to redo all my illustrations? Answer : I wouldn’t recommend submitting your manuscript with all the artwork finished… a potential problem with the size is the least of your worries, as most publishers don’t like to receive the illustrations and manuscript together. In most cases either the illustrator can’t write, or the author can’t draw! Occasionally you get a person who can do both, but it’s best if you submit the two separately. If you want to send one sample of your illustration that would go with the book that would be alright. Also… Publishers have a wealth of experience, and their tips and feedback can actually improve your illustrations, so illustrating the book after the manuscript is accepted is a great way to go.

Question: Does the publisher/ author tell u what media they want u to use? Answer: Usually publishers select an illustrator based on their style… so if they hire you, they already like the media and style you use! If you have more than one style, they will tell you which they were drawn to. Often there is flexibility there if you feel your illustrations would look better in a different media, that’s open for discussion with the publisher.

Just received an email from a fellow illustrator with some questions about sending samples to publishers…
Question : I have recently written and illustrated a children’s book that has been rejected across the board. But aside from, I am deeply interested in illustrating books that other authors have written. Would you be able to offer any advice as to how else I could go about getting recognized in the industry? I have sent illustration samples to almost 200 publishing companies and still nothing.

Answer : Thanks for your letter… Would love to give you heaps of advice, but am a full time mum now so haven’t much time on my hands…

The main tip I have is to make sure you are doing research so that you are sending samples to publishers who actually handle children’s books, and that you comply to the way they want manuscripts sent. (Publisher Catalogues is an extensive online database.)

Publishers don’t really want illustrations and manuscripts sent together… they often find either the illustrator cant write, or the author can’t draw! (See my notes from a meeting with Omnibus Books Editor here.) Try submitting your samples and manuscripts separately.

Also… Have patience! Sometimes your samples just arrive at the wrong time… It took me two years of sending samples out to get my first kids book job. Publishers often have their books planned for a couple years in advance, so they may just not have the work yet.

You can also include a response card in your samples, so that they can tick it’s been received, or even leave a comment if your work isn’t suitable for the types of books they publish.

I’ve also posted lots of tips for illustrators including ideas for how to send samples and approach publishers.