CHAPTER 9

Putting Pictures to Words

Many children's books rely on illustrations to help tell the story. But who draws those illustrations and how are they chosen to accompany a particular book? Whether you are a writer without the ability to draw a recognizable stick figure or a professional illustrator trying your hand at writing, this chapter will help you better understand the process of putting pictures to words.

To Be or Not to Be an Illustrator

Aspiring writers sometimes mistakenly assume that they need to provide illustrations for their picture books. Having looked at the variety of amazing illustrations in children's books today, you probably find this notion very intimidating. If you are a writer and not an illustrator, there is no need to worry — most often, publishers take on the responsibility of finding an illustrator for books they publish. If you believe you have the ability to illustrate your own work, you may well have the opportunity to do so, but you need to take a close look at your artwork before choosing to submit it.

It's a good idea to visualize illustrations to accompany your text while writing. This will help you see if you are creating a well-rounded story. However, just because you can visualize pictures to go along with your story doesn't mean you can draw them, nor does it mean that those images will or should accompany your text.

What Are Your Qualifications?

If you want to submit illustrations for your book, think about your qualifications. Because writing and illustrating are looked upon as two separate talents, you need to be able to prove that you are adept at both. Do you have a degree from an art school? Have you published other illustrations? Does your work stand up to professional standards?

Publishers often view writers and illustrators as separate people with separate skills, so if you are eager to illustrate your own book, you will have to convince the publishing company that you are the best artist for the job. You must realize that you will be in competition with other professional illustrators.

Assessing Your Skill

If you still believe that you are the best person to illustrate your book, browse through a variety of children's books from those publishers that may potentially publish your book and pay close attention to the illustrations. How does your artwork compare to these published illustrations? While these artists certainly have their own individual styles, they may also have a common quality that was imposed by the publisher. Can you pinpoint what that quality is? Will you be able to alter your style to fit in with the style of the publishing company?

It helps to get an outside opinion when assessing your skill as an illustrator. Consider showing your artwork to a critique group or hiring a professional illustrator to take a look at your work and provide feedback.

Aside from meeting a specific publishing company's needs, does your artwork suit children's books in general? For instance, consider whether you are able to capture exactly what is needed to move the story along. Do your drawings have too much action taking place, or not enough? Will your work appeal to children? Would you be able to illustrate a book other than your own? You will need to convince the publisher of your skill as an illustrator separate from that as a writer.

Presenting Your Work

If you decide that you are quite capable of producing professional illustrations and want to take a shot at illustrating a children's book (whether your own or others'), then you need to present your work in a professional manner to increase your chances of acceptance. There are a couple of different ways you can go about this.

Petitioning the Editor

If you want to illustrate your own book, you may decide to send samples of your artwork along with the manuscript to an editor. Let the editor know in the cover letter that you are interested in illustrating your own book. You will probably want to include both color and black-and-white sketches to show your range of ability. Remember, these are just samples. Of course you will want to present your best work, but do not illustrate the entire book at this time.

You can also create a dummy book to send in to an editor. A dummy is a mock-up of a real book. Be sure to create the correct number of pages (for instance, allow thirty-two pages for a picture book) and leave room for the front matter. Break up the text from the manuscript and paste it on the appropriate pages. This will also help you, as a writer, to see if your text flows well from page to page and whether you have too much or too little text.

Once you have the text pasted onto the dummy, it is time to add the illustrations. You should prepare a couple of finished pieces to show your ability as an illustrator. You can use sketches to represent the remaining illustrations. Keep a copy of the dummy for your files.

When sending in samples of your artwork, never send the original art. If you send in original art, you run the risk of losing it in the mail or never having it returned, plus you will look like an amateur for doing so. It's best to be on the safe side and send in photocopies instead.

A dummy not only shows your ability as an illustrator, but it also shows that you understand very well the concept and design of a picture book. However, keep in mind that you should submit a dummy only if you are confident that you have the ability to be both a writer and an illustrator. You certainly don't want an editor's opinion of your artwork to be less than first-rate, as it may adversely affect the editor's impression of your writing.

Contacting the Art Director

If you have a burning desire to illustrate children's books, you should send samples to the art director. The art director is normally the person who decides who will be added to the illustrator roster. As a professional illustrator, you should have a portfolio available should the art director want to see more of your work.

Submitting artwork to a publishing house requires just as much research as does submitting a manuscript. Spend a lot of time with current children's books. Can you distinguish traits that are specific to individual publishing companies? Can you tell what it is that they are looking for in an illustrator? Choose to contact publishing companies that produce picture books in line with your style of illustration.

In addition to the wealth of information the Children's Book Council provides to writers, it also offers information for illustrators. Contact this organization and request a copy of An Illustrator's Guide to Members of the Children's Book Council, which will provide you with information to help you get your foot in the door.

When sending in samples of your artwork, make sure you have the correct contact name, send along a self-addressed stamped envelope, include a cover letter, and above all, follow the publishing company's submission guidelines! If you want to become an illustrator of children's books, you need to distinguish yourself as an illustrator, not just an author who happens to be able to draw. The best way to do this is to approach the art department in a professional manner and present your very best work, leaving the author side of you at home.

Publisher's Choice

If you don't have the ability to illustrate your story, then who will illustrate it for you? Because the illustrations are very important to your children's book, you want to know that they will be a perfect match. Maybe you have a good friend who likes to draw and just know that the two of you will be able to work together to create an awesome picture book. Or perhaps you are considering hiring a professional illustrator to make sure the work is of the highest quality. Stop right there. Even though it may seem logical — after all, your book will need pictures, and who better than the author will know what needs to be drawn? — you do not need to submit illustrations with your work to an editor, nor should you. Submitting art (that is not yours) to an editor screams out “amateur” and will adversely affect the way the editor views your writing.

In most cases, the publisher hires the illustrator. Sometimes a publishing company will have a select group of artists who are used consistently to maintain a house style. Other times, a publishing company will hire artists on a book-by-book basis depending on what style fits well with what book. You, as the writer, are not likely to be included in the choice of illustrator. This is something you will just have to accept. But take heart: publishers are in the business of creating and selling books, so they know what they're doing.

Even though the illustrations are an integral part of your story, try to think of illustrating as just another process your book needs to go through to reach the end result. You wouldn't want the responsibility of choosing the printer, would you? Trust the expertise and experience of the publishing company to produce the best results. It is the company's job to recognize what sells and to make its books (and yours) stand up to and surpass the competition.

Once your manuscript leaves your hands, it will be open to interpretation by others. An illustrator's vision may differ from yours, as may an editor's. Some elements of the pictures will be fresh ideas from the artist, rather than from your text. If you want to be successful in the field of children's publishing, you will open yourself to the opinions of these professionals. You may just be pleasantly surprised with the results, even though the pictures stray quite a distance from what you originally imagined.

Also keep in mind that if you create a fuss about not having any say in the choice of illustrator, it is likely that an editor will find you difficult to work with and think twice before hiring you to write another book. Publishing is a business, and in order to be successful you need to recognize that a team effort is required to sell a book. If you are a good team player and trust in the abilities of the professionals, you will be able to relax and find enjoyment in knowing your book will reach the hands of children.

Remember that regardless of who illustrates the book and what the pictures look like, the story is still yours.

Working with the Illustrator

When you write a picture book, you envision certain visual elements — some more clearly than others. For instance, because you need to get to know your characters intimately in order to make them seem real to readers, you must have a picture of them in your mind. If the setting is detailed and crucial to the story, you will certainly have a picture of this as well. However, most writers do not see the pictures in their mind transferred to the page. Maybe you can't possibly fathom that your book would work illustrated in any other way than what you have imagined. In which case, you should provide detailed instructions for the illustrator, right? Wrong.

Author-Illustrator Contact

It is unlikely that you will have any contact whatsoever with the illustrator. This may seem harsh and detrimental to your book, but if you can learn to accept this as standard procedure, you will come to see that it most often works out for the best. If you are not an illustrator, you don't have an illustrator's eye for what works well in picture books. They seem to just know from what perspective the picture should be viewed, how to create action scenes with just the right amount of action, and how to portray characters in a way that will enhance the text, not take away from it. These people are hired for a reason and you must learn to trust their intuitions and experience.

Sometimes publishers allow the author to see the rough artwork and provide input before the art is finalized. If this happens, consider yourself lucky and don't be nitpicky with feedback or you may lose your opportunity to view unfinished art in the future.

No matter how tempted you may be to make your opinions known, you shouldn't track down your illustrator to give him your impressions or to provide instructions for your book. Anything that needs to be known should first go through your editor. The editor will decide which instructions are to be kept and see that the illustrator receives the guidance needed.

Submitting Photos

The protocol for photos is different from that of illustrations. Sometimes children's books, especially works of nonfiction, will call for photographs. In this case, it is often acceptable for the author to submit samples and suggestions along with the manuscript. This issue needs to be clarified at the beginning of the project. Obtaining photographs can be a costly and time-consuming venture. The responsibility for locating photos, clearing copyrights, and staying within the budged allocated by the publisher for the book may remain within the art department, or it may be shared by the author. In any case, this will all be negotiated early in the project.

Consider this before submitting suggestions or samples along with your manuscript. Are you willing to put forth the effort to research and gain permissions for photos? If your editor agrees that your idea is a fantastic one, a clause may be added to your contract stating that you are responsible for researching and obtaining permission to use specified photos in your book.

Technical Art

Like photographs, technical art is often an exception to the rule. If you are writing a nonfiction piece, you may need technical art to better explain what you are saying in the text. For instance, if you write a book on how to build a kite using household materials, you may want to use technical art to illustrate step-by-step instructions.

What is technical art?
Technical art is used to illustrate and explain specialized, mechanical, or scientific subjects based on fact. Technical art can range from diagrams to maps to instructional illustrations.

Don't worry, this doesn't mean that you need to be an accomplished artist. Often a publishing company will hire an illustrator to render the technical art based on reference material. If you believe that the inclusion of technical art will better your book, you may want to either sketch the art yourself or dig up other materials that can be used to give the artist an idea of your vision. Of course, your sketches or reference materials aren't likely to be the only thing the artist has to go on. Often the artist will also require written guidance as well as a copy of your manuscript.

Of course, it is the publisher who makes the final decision, so don't trouble yourself with finding or creating reference materials for all the technical art you think should be included. You will, however, want to include a few samples of what you plan to provide and outline in a cover letter exactly those sections of the text you believe would best benefit from the inclusion of technical art.

While it is possible that the editor will decide to take care of the reference material on her end, it is best to be prepared if you plan to propose its insertion. Again, you will present yourself in a professional manner if you show that you are willing to do all that you can to aid in the production of the book.

If this is a nonfiction work, you will be considered the expert on the matter and will most likely know best what art should be included. If the editor does decide to take on this task, you may be asked for your input and guidance. You may also be required to look over the rough artwork to okay its accuracy.

While you normally should not correct an illustrator's pictures in storybooks or other works of fiction if those pictures differ from your vision, you do need to correct a technical artist if the illustrations do not meet the requirements of the technical art. Keep in mind that rendering technical art is not an easy task, especially if the artist is not familiar with the subject matter. Therefore, keep your criticism polite and professional and do not be discouraged if there are several corrections that need to be made in the rough drawings. Just remember that whoever is illustrating your book is doing his or her best to create a spectacular children's book.