Eeeeee! So excited, my copies of Riley’s Lost Tooth (Written by Diane Cantrell, Illustrated by moi) arrived in the post! Hera was right into them, opening up each one up, flipping through the pages, then declaring “The End.” I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out, Brown Books did a great job. Riley’s Lost Tooth now available online at Amazon.com. Book launch party in San Antonio is planned for March 27th… I’ll post details later!

Reading books with my toddler is one of the most satisfying things as a mum… and she quite eagerly hops off my lap after each book to grab another, asking “read a boop?” There are five books on my bookshelf that make me cry every time I read them they are so touching.

Love You Forever, Written by Robert Munsch and Illustrated by Sheila McGraw. This one’s a classic, and I’ve actually yet to make it through reading it to my daughter without getting choked up. My grandmother bought it for Hera, who thinks it’s funny seeing the “mama” in the story peeking at the baby over the edge of the bed. It’s the story of a baby from when he’s born to when he’s an adult, and shows the change of the mother caring for the baby son, to the son caring for the elderly mother. It makes me cry because it’s just so beautiful seeing the relationship change, and seeing how that cycle of life continues from one generation to the next.

Mutt Dog, by Stephen Michael King. I first loaned a board book copy of this one from the library, and Hera loved it, and I loved it so much I went out and bought a copy. It’s a heart warming story of a stray dog in the city, and how he finds a new place to belong. The parallels between the stray dog and the homeless are really touching, and it makes you conscious of the charity of halfway homes and very generous individuals. The illustrations are just beautiful… and another book by Stephen Michael King, “Leaf,” is well worth a read. And also makes me cry, but not every time I read it :)

The Leaf Men, by William Joyce. This is a book I fell in love with at college, both for the beautiful illustrations and the way it’s written. The story is about an older woman who has a beautiful garden that she loves… when the woman falls sick, the Leaf Men in her garden go searching for a way to make her well again. It makes me cry because that act of kindness rekindles hope in the older woman.

Santa Calls by William Joyce. It must be something about William Joyce’s work, but again it’s the beautiful illustrations and the wonderful way the story is written that makes it so beautiful. The story is about a brother and sister who go on an adventure to the North Pole. It makes me cry because (spoiler alert!) at the very end of the story, you discover the little girl has forfeited her Christmas present wish for the sincere desire for her brother to be her friend.

The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, Illustrations by Donna Green. This is a timeless classic story of a little stuffed bunny who believes he is real, and no matter which version I read I end up in tears. It is about a little boy who falls sick with scarlet fever, and all his soft toys have to be burned to avoid spreading the disease… the little velveteen rabbit manages to escape and with some magic, becomes a real rabbit.

I stumbled across this interesting discussion on Amazon.com, where someone asks “Is there a chance that the physical books will become useless use because of Kindle edition digital books?”

I’ve wondered the same thing, whether children’s picture books will become obsolete in the new wave of digital book readers. I’m all for novels, newspapers, and magazine content being digitized, and think it is an excellent way to reduce paper waste. (I also think it would be awesome reading in bed at night, too, as the book acts as its own night light :) I do love paper books, but think that paper novels will soon become collectors items (or print-on-demand) for those that love that smell & feel of old paper, as the digital copies are just so practical and sustainable.

But for children’s books I think digitizing them to read on a screen is a horrible idea!

Being a children’s book illustrator I’m just a little biased… I love picture books, and think there’s something wonderfully tactile about turning the pages with anticipation of what’s on the next page. I tend to cringe at books with added bells & whistles like electronic noise and lights, as I feel there is so much creativity to be enjoyed in the 2D illustrations, subtle textures, and die cuts. Not to mention where will the line be drawn in the future between static digitzed illustrations and animated books? It would be SO tempting for publishers to animate parts of children’s books, and essentially turn digital books into tv.

Being a mum, I value reading and want to pass that onto my daughter. Paper books are also wonderful for helping a child develop their coordination… I’ve enjoyed watching my toddler grow from learning to turn the chunky pages of a board book to now carefully turning pages of regular picture books. The enjoyment I see her have in finding the ladybugs I’ve hidden in the illustrations, to even reciting bits of the stories we’ve read together is hard to imagine on a small digital screen. Heh, I can clearly imagine the blank stare she would have staring at a digital book… it’s the same stare she gets when the tv is on! Nowadays I think we parents rely a lot on electronics to entertain our kids, and I would love books for children to remain tactile.

Wow, I just watched the trailer for Riley’s Lost Tooth… I’ve never had an animated trailer made of my work before, is a bit weird and cool at the same time seeing your characters come alive and move! Here’s the Riley’s Lost Tooth trailer on YouTube. RLT is currently at the printer, am waiting eagerly to see how the finished product turns out!

I received an email from another aspiring children’s book illustrator with a bunch of great questions…

Question : How do you find publishers?
Answer : I look at the back of books that I like and note the name of the publishers, often there is a website listed there so I’ll go visit it to see what their submission guidelines are. But my “secret” resource is an online publisher catalogue I blogged about here.

Question : Do you use a contract or a non-disclosure agrrement (so they won’t use your work without pay you…I have heard horror stories from other artists…)
Answer : Yes, I always use a contract, I actually just recently wrote a post about children’s book contracts here.

Question : Do get get some pay up front?
Answer : Yes, as a rule of thumb I  ask for 50% up front when working with authors. Publishers normally have a set amount they pay in advance on your work.

Question : Usually low long it takes for all your part of the work to be done?
Answer : Before becoming a full-time mum it used to take me about 3 months from first contact to artwork / artfiles delivered to the publisher. You could easily add on another month or two if you’ve done the graphic design and are working directly with the printer. But now that I am illustrating part-time it takes me 3-6 months to complete illustrations for a children’s book.

Question : How long it takes to get the book published?
Answer : The books I’ve worked on seem to take at least a year from first contact with the publisher to when I receive the printed books in my hand. But that’s not counting the time BEFORE I am involved when the author and publisher are working together editing the manuscript, not to mention the author’s initial pen to paper with their ideas!

Question :  How long does it take to get “finally” paid?
Answer : When the work is done! In the final invoice I note at the bottom that payment is due 30 days from the date on the invoice… but it’s good to keep in mind that when working with publishers / major companies that 90 days is normal.

Question :  Do you use Photoshop?
Answer : I use Photoshop for touching up my illustrations (I’m an old-school illustrator so like to do the majority of the work by hand, and just use PS for stitching together scans and adjusting the colour for the printer.) But it’s a wonderful tool, there are many talented digital artists (like Jason MacKay!) who do things with Photoshop I can only dream about!

Question : It would be great if you had an e-book with all the details (how-tos) and sell them…to people like us.. I would love to see step-by step samples of work - drawing, color and photoshop in your e-book.
Answer : That’s a lovely idea, kind of you to think I’ve enough tips to share! At the moment I’m enjoying sharing my experiences (free!) through my blog, I keep the Tips for Illustrators page updated with a list of all my new tips :

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions, eh:)

Another good question from a children’s book illustrator…
Question : I have set up my artwork at the size of 17″ x 22″ so the artwork will be read as one whole illustration as each page is turned. I hope I am clear in explaining myself.  I am wondering if this is ok for submission when it comes time to print the book?

Answer : Yes, it’s ok to do illustrations that go across both pages (this is called a spread.) Many of my books have been made up of two-page spread illustrations (The Little Boy’s Smile.) Just make sure to consider the seam (gutter) when you’re working on your composition, you don’t want anything important getting folded in half or lost in the gutter!

A signed contract between the Publisher/Author and Illustrator is the very first thing that should be in place before delving into illustrating a children’s book. When you work with a Publisher, they will provide their own contract and terms tailored for your project. But when working with self-published Authors, it is even more important to have a contract. Most first time Authors aren’t familiar with working with Illustrators, and a contract both educates the Author and protects both parties from things going pear shaped.

I’ve been fine tuning my contract (or Illustration Commission Agreement) ever since my first book, and it is still a work in progress, always being adjusted to match the project I’m working on. Feel free to download a copy of my contract (by clicking on the image) and use it as a launching pad for your own contract. The main details I include are :

• • Name and Contact Details of both the Author and Illustrator
• • Title of the work
• • The number of illustrations to be commissioned
• • 1) Commission and Grant of Rights : this section describes that the Illustrator is selling the rights to USE the artwork to the Author… they are not selling the original artwork specifically, and it goes on to state that original artwork belongs to the illustrator.
• • 2) Sale & Purchase of Artwork : States clearly how much money the illustrator will be paid as well as exactly what the illustrator is selling to the Author. It is good to be specific about what currency you are to be paid in, especially when working with international clients.
• • 3) Royalties : establishes how much the Illustrator is to be paid in royalties for various types of sale of the book.
• • 4) Project schedule & delivery : including dates here both helps the author know when to expect the art and give you space during that time, and also gives you a deadline to be accountable to.
• • 5) Illustrator’s Copies : establishes how many free copies of the printed book you will be provided, typically between 10-20.
• • 6) Copyright : states very clearly that the copyright of the illustrations still belongs to the illustrator.
• • 7) Credit : How you as the illustrator wish to be credited in the book
• • 8) Promotion : says the Author can use your illustrations to promote their book free of charge.
• • 9) Failure to Deliver and 10) Cancellation : in the unfortunate event that the book is cancelled or you are unable to finish, these sections set out how much you will be compensated for the work you have completed, as well as what the author can expect from you if you do not deliver what you’ve agreed upon.
• • 11-16) Legal Stuff : covers a lot of legal jargon that is also important. Some of the points it covers are establishing that you are the sole creator of the artwork, stating you will not create competitive works, the Author has control over when/if they publish their book and details on assigning the agreement to another person.
• • Signatures of both the Author and Illustrator

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I’ve been receiving emails from my publishers with updates on the Google Book Settlement, and I’m not embarrassed to say that the whole thing had me feeling a bit overwhelmed by the detail and muddled as to whether it was a bad thing for me as an illustrator that Google was scanning books and making them available in digital format. I did a Google search (ironic) and found “The Google Book Search Case for Dummies*” by David Weir, which I found was an easy to understand (and funny) overview. So I’m left with feeling like there is middle ground to be had here… on the one hand I want the publishers, authors & illustrators to be compensated for their work, and on the other I think it’s wonderful to make books available to anyone around the world who mightn’t have access to them otherwise. Whether you opt-out or opt-into the settlement, you’ve got till March 2011 to get informed and decide.

“*That would include me.” –David Weir

Well, Spotty & Eddie have headed out for another adventure… off to Trafford to be published & printed! Was very satisfying finishing up the illustrations and layout right before the holidays, and then after having the author, friends & family put a fresh set of eyes on the book, made some minor improvements to make the book “just right” before sending it off.

I had a lot of fun working on this story… aside from drawing turtles which is so much fun, I like adding little personal touches like using my red sneakers and Hera’s top & necklace for inspiration for Trixie’s outfit. Trixie herself is inspired by a photograph of the author’s mum. I grew up watching the Ninja Turtles, so personalized the cab driver’s license plate to “TRTL PWR” for those other children of the 80’s who may read this book to children of their own.
Looking forward to seeing Spotty & Eddie’s second adventure printed and in my hands finished Here is a sneak peek at a few of the final spreads from the book (clicking on them makes them larger.)

As another year fast approaches its end, looking back I realize how busy a year 2009 has been! I kept my paintbrush and pencil busy with completing just under 100 illustrations… wowsers, that’s a new illustration every three days! The illustrations include three children’s books (Celebrate! by Rubicon Publishing, Riley’s Lost Tooth by Diane Cantrell, and Spotty & Eddie Visit Percé by Lisa M. Chalifoux), a collection of green themed illustrations for ImageZoo, and several more little illustrations for my illustrated diary of Hera’s outfits. Looking forward to 2010!