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For most authors, working with an illustrator for a picture book can be a thrilling yet stressful experience. Having created the imaginary world in their stories, authors often wonder whether or not the artist will be able to grasp the essence of the setting and characters—not only physically, but tone-wise as well. After all, it is up to the artist to bring the story visually to life. Sometimes the artist may have a different idea for the artwork than the author, and this can create problems.

When working with the big publishing houses, authors hardly have any saying as far as the artwork goes. The art department assigns the illustrator who they think will be better suitable for the book, and that’s that. With small presses, the author has more influence in the matter and often authors and illustrators work side by side. This, by the way, doesn’t necessarily lead to a better book. It’s okay for the author to indicate her vision for the book, but it’s also important to allow the artist to be creative and do her part. Likewise, an illustrator should keep in mind the author’s vision for the illustrations. Mutual respect and communication are essential in any relationship, and for authors and illustrators working together this is no exception.

Of course, an author has the most control over the artwork when she hires an artist for a self publishing project. This is how I found Amy Moreno. Initially I was planning to self publish my children’s picture book, The Doll Violinist. I had sent it out to dozens of agents and publishers, without success. I got some good comments on it, but apparently the editors and agents found the story’s tone too ‘quiet’. Nevertheless, I had faith in my project and set out to find the right illustrator for it. My plan was to keep submitting while the artwork was being done, and in the event that I didn’t have a publisher by the time it was finished, then I would publish it myself.

But to go back to Amy … I spent about three months searching online, studying illustrator’s styles and querying the ones whose work I liked to learn about their fees and work schedules. I found Amy via ChildrensIllustrators.com. I believe in the sixth sense, and I instantly felt a connection to Amy’s beautiful illustrations and renderings. I got in contact with her. To make a long story short, I sent her The Doll Violinist and she loved it. Amy’s background in music and the cello was a huge plus, as I really wanted someone who would understand the musical aspect of the story. After I described her what I was after and we exchanged ideas, I asked her to send me a sample illustration, which she did. When I saw it, I was spellbound—in that single black & white drawing, she had perfectly captured the essence of the story. This was in the fall of 2006. She’s still working on the illustrations, 24 in all. The Doll Violinist won an Honorable Mention Award at the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and was one of 12 finalists last year at the ABC’s Children’s Picture Book Competition. It will be released by Guardian Angel Publishing in 2009.

Working with Amy has been a thrilling and rewarding experience as we see the story, setting and characters come to life. Since the story takes place in Victorian Europe, Amy has done a tremendous amount of research for the fashions and architecture of the time. She spent a long time studying the postures of violinists and even bought a violin so she could get the violin illustrations perfectly right! Thanks to her skill and vision, I know the book will turn out a beautiful product, whether traditionally or self published.

In the case of The Magic Violin, however, it was my publisher, Lynda Burch of Guardian Angel Publishing, who assigned the artist, though she asked my opinion before a decision was made. As soon as I saw K.C. Snider’s website I was very impressed by her drawing and paintings, especially of horses, which are her specialty. So I accepted her suggestion to have K.C. illustrate my book. K.C. was wonderful to work with, even though I made a few mistakes initially. For one thing, I didn’t give her enough information about the setting and especially about the correct postures for a violinist. This created some delay as I found errors in the artwork which had to be fixed. I blame myself for this. If I had spent more time communicating, I would have made both our lives a little easier. She was very open to suggestions and wanted me to be happy with the result, so I’m really grateful to her for that. Part of the reason for this lack of communication was my hectic schedule, so this has been a valuable lesson—to always give my writing projects 100% of my attention. Fortunately, I’m happy with the results and especially with the cover. I think K.C. capture something special and even magical in that cover.

For CRASH! it was a totally different story. The illustrator, Anna Pylypchuk, is only 16 years old and I ran across her by mistake! I contacted a group of friends here in Brussels, asking if they knew of a local artist who would be interested in doing a children’s book. A friend of a friend of mine got in touch with me, saying she knew a girl who could ‘draw around anything.’ Now, at this point, I really thought ‘girl’ meant college student. To make a long story short, it was not until after the young illustrator and I had exchanged two emails that she mentioned her age. She was not trying to hide it, either—she just assumed the person had told me her age in advance! I was really surprised and concerned, as I had never worked with a minor and wasn’t sure what my publisher would say. But her art was simply amazing! And when she did a sample illustration based on my story, I was hooked. She had captured perfectly the style and flavor of my story. I talked things over with Lynda Burch, also my publisher for this book, and she decided to give her a chance. To say that Anna was thrilled is the understatement of the century. She plans to illustrate professionally in the future, so to be able to earn credits at this early stage in her life, is just awesome. We worked together for several months. In this case, I described in advance what I wanted for each illustration, but also made clear to her that she should let her own style and vision come through. For each scene she did a sketch first, then went on to color it once I had approve it. She was wonderful to work with, as professional as any adult could have been. When we finally met and she showed me the ‘real’ artwork, I was astounded at her high level of organization, neatness and skill. I certainly hope to work with her in the future. I believe she’s a young artist who will go far.

Every children’s picture book is an adventure and I can’t wait to dive into the next one. Finding the right illustrator can be difficult, but once you do, it’s really a worthwhile and exciting experience. The secret? Mutual respect and communication.

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I drove to Vancouver on Wednesday for the annual Hycroft Event hosted by The Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable and CWILL (Children's Writers and Illustrators of BC). Almost thirty local children's authors and illustrators presented their new books. What a great evening.

Each author and illustrator had just two minutes to wow us, and boy, did they wow. Such style, such variety, such creativity! (I'm still chuckling over the be-scarved Dan Bar-el doing his entire presentation as Libby Gaborchik, heavily-accented fairy extraordinaire from his book Such a Prince. “Laughing is good for your health. Trust me, I’m a fairy. I know these things.” is still running through my head.)

The evening concluded with an inspiring keynote from the Incomparable Nan Gregory (author of How Smudge Came and Pink) followed by high tea in the library and diningroom at Hycroft, an elegant, Edwardian mansion in Vancouver's Shaughnessy area. I can't think of a better venue in which to steep one's self in children's books.

I haven't made it in to the big city for CWILL meetings much in the last year, so it was great to catch up with everyone.

You can see photos of the Hycroft Event on the CWILL blog here and here (including the aforementioned "be-scarved Dan" as Libby).

Only 362 days until the next one!
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