FAQ
I wrote a picture book, will you do the illustrations for no pay upfront then split the profit when it gets published?
This is the number one question I come across as I search for my next gig. The simple answer is no. In brief, It takes anywhere from four months to a a couple of years to create 20 plus illustrations for a picture book and it can take anywhere from two - six months for publishers to respond to manuscript submissions. Publisher’s also don’t like to pair unknown illustrators with unknown writers. If you are interested in self publishing, the process can be faster but still costs a lot of upfront fees and then you do all your own marketing. I can't go through this process for free with no guarantees of ever making money. I would be happy to illustrate one or two paid illustrations for you in order to send along with your manuscript to publishers. They don’t require this but often publisher’s like to see what the finished look could be.How long does it take you to do an illustration? This is difficult to answer because there are so many variables involved. It depends on the amount of detail, what medium, client input, the subject matter, and the size of the canvas. The longest part of the illustration process is doing all of the sketches, research, reference and color compositions. This takes longer for children’s books because each character has to remain recognizable from one image to the next and all the images should look like they belong in the same book. This includes making a character map for all of the main characters and sometimes I make 3d models. While illustrating my own concepts I have much more freedom which enables me to do less in terms of re-touching and re-drawing. Some of my illustrations took as long as 100hrs and some took only a couple of hours. Most of the illustrations in my recent childrens books took around thirty hours to complete from sketching ideas to finished oil painting.
How much does each illustration cost? This is largely calculated on how much time I expect to spend on an illustration. I generally ask a potential client a few questions before starting to help me determine a fair price. Some things that effect pricing include, the size (often this is determined by the scanning process a client wishes to use), the medium (oil, acrylic, watercolor, b+w), The deadline, the method of sending work to a client, the rights a client wants to own (first time rights, full rights, web use, amount of years in use etc.), the amount of images required. Please contact me for a price quote on any project you would like me to illustrate. Magazine publishers generally use a flat rate and book publishers pay an advance and then a royalty in some percentage of sales.
Can I buy prints or original artwork? Please contact me for available landscape paintings. You may also check out my online zazzle store for some of my artwork printed on products like shoes, stickers, postcards etc. or just commission me for a painting or illustration to fit your needs. Most of my recent illustration work had full rights transferred to the clients.
What medium do you prefer to work in? My medium of choice is Oil. I transferred to a water based oil paint since I work in a home based studio. I also use watercolor, acrylic, and b+w mediums. I have also used adobe photoshop for the past three years for editing and some digital artwork. Check out my blog for samples of my sketches, digital art, and watercolors.
How large are your original illustrations? For picture books I worked on canvas 18”x24” for a single page and 36”x24” for a full page spread. My greetings cards are done on 8.5”x11” art board.
