Becoming an Art Director

How do you want your books to look?

When you become a self-publisher of picture books and you hire an illustrator, ultimately, you’re an art director. Your jobs as an indie publisher of children’s books includes author, editor, art director, layout designer, accountant, marketer, publicist, and anything else left over. Today, I’ll talk about how to work with illustrators as an art director.

I’ve already written about the importance of finding an illustrator and how to offer a contract. That post has some information dealing with problems as the project progresses. Here, I’ll talk more about evaluating the sketches phase, especially ways to enhance the story, help the illustrator reach for excellence, and find your own ways of working.

AND, I‘ll take you behind the scenes of a new project. I’m just working with a new illustrator on a picture book biography of an animal, book six of Another Extraordinary Animal series. I’ll include excerpts from emails talking about how to best approach the book.