How I became a childrens book illustrator | Illustrating my first picture book, getting book deals

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It's storytime! Today, I'm walking you through my entire picture book illustration career and how I became a childrens book illustrator. We're going project by project, starting with illustrating my first picture book to getting book deals with publishers like Scholastic! If you are an aspiring picture book illustrator, I think you'll find this an interesting listen!
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[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Would you like to illustrate picture books too one day? Telle me in the comments!

[@AnaPaolaGlz]

I'd love to do a book one day. I'll put all my effort

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@AnaPaolaGlz Yasss girl! And don't forget it's all about working smarter, not harder :) Work methodically through your plan, one step at a time, and you WILL get there!

[@carlamendoza3044]

Yes!

[@RaphaelAvant]

Hello Ness yes I would like to get into the picture book industry in the near future. I've been working on my art portfolio work.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@RaphaelAvant That's wonderful, best of luck with your portfolio! Don't hesitate if you have questions :)

[@jas_094]

What an AMAZING story to hear Ness. I can't express how amazed I am from your journey. CONGRATULATIONS. It does give us (people going after publishing opportunities, and who feel our work isn't good enough) a lot of hope. Thank you for sharing!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Awww thank you Jose, I'm glad you liked the video and found it helpful! During all of my journey I always felt like my work wasn't good enough either, so this is actually quite normal for artists to feel this way!

[@ActionCat2000]

This is so helpful and inspiring! It was very good of you to share actual dollar amounts, and it was nice to see your work, as well!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks for stopping by, I'm so glad it was helpful!

[@KristaFulbright]

Yes I am a fine artist (painter), but I would really like to learn to illustrate books! Yes I’m interested in the course!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Fine arts is a wonderful foundation for drawing picture books! If you're interested in the course, it will actually go on sale this week as part of my Black Friday event!

[@leilgarner1354]

Thank you for your lovely presentation and for sharing so much! I am planning on becoming a Childrens book Illustrator too!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm glad that you found it helpful Leil! I saw that you signed up for the PPP course and I'm excited that you're here

[@AnaPaolaGlz]

Thank you for this great video, I loved hearing about all the experiences you had with each book, it will be great to be on the course, and I look forward to it. 😍

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm so glad you enjoyed the video my dear!

[@saschaaaaaai]

Thank you! This was so helpful! I'm currentlu finishing up my portfolio to send out to publishers, fingers crossed for a first bookdeal in 2024 (we are manifesting!!)

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Best of luck for your submissions, you can do this!!

[@mainemoragriegaart757]

Thank you for the advices. 😉 And I can see the cat behind 😍

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You’re welcome! And the kitty is the star of the show! 😊

[@geoffreymegardon5624]

The watercolour project is very favourite :)

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks, it was my favorite too! Traditional media is fun!

[@akshatsharma6105]

first time seeing all of your books. It looks like you've had a lot of fun doing these. I am stepping into the world of freelancing. Why not give me some words of wisdom? You know, it feels cool to have a personal reply. Thank you for all the effort you put into it for us. I mean it, it's the most helpful channel on KZbin.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Yes picture book projects are very fun!! Best of luck in your freelancing career :) I suggest to specialize in a specific market of illustration, it seems counter-intuitive but will help you get MORE work. It is tough to get illustration work but never forget that it is more than POSSIBLE, you just have to figure out how! Research is your friend. You got this!

[@RegnaSaturna]

What an inspiring story! You must be the sweetest an nicest person on youtube!

[@bleh329]

Freak.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You are!

[@rohanaislamurmi6676]

I am thinking about starting my career as book illustrator. Thank you for sharing your experience and advice. It's really helpful.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Glad it was helpful!

[@PrettyKittyPaintings]

This was awesome! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences breaking into children's book illustration! Your experiences give me much to consider and look forward to while going through my journey!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks for watching hun, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@tebb19]

Wow, this video was superb. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@nooreyzahra]

Thank you for providing so much info about art industry i am excited to join your Picturebook course 😍

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it hun! ☺

[@littlepinkpebble]

wow 10k for 12 pages is great! you've increased my pricing horizons and being daring to ask for more haha

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Recently heard of a girl getting 60k for a book I was like "Heck I should ask for more still!" 😂

[@littlepinkpebble]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess wow haha i'm slowly making my way up, for me 10k for something i'll complete in a day is too mind boggling i should double again this next year i jus doubled after taking your advice

[@lenoxstudios]

You’ve motivated me fr ❤

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Awww I'm so glad! Thanks for stopping by!

[@HAMNAHRIZ]

Amazing video! It's wonderful to hear about your illustration journey. You mentioned you have many self published authors contacting you a couple times a week for book projects. How were you able to gain that traffic towards your services? Did they see your portfolio through social media mainly, some other sites, or is your work listed in some sort of directory? I'm a beginner freelancer and always looking for ways to get my work out to potential clients.

[@2solid4tv48]

I need art for my kids books

[@2solid4tv48]

Insta?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Honestly it's better to work with publishers than authors, and you can contact them by email directly instead of waiting around for them to find you on social media :)

[@liyakuang8621]

thank you so much for sharing these! I am a college student right now, it very helps me to know more about this children book market! could you tell me how much the publisher paid you for the unicorn book and happy Jesus birthday? or maybe could you make a video about the price? thank you so much!!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

If I recall, it was around $5,000 for each of those projects. But Happy Jesus Birthday was more pages, so it wasn’t as good of a deal 😅

[@liyakuang8621]

thank you sososo much! @@ArtBusinesswithNess

[@marrylo842]

Same I thought being illustrator it was easy peasy to get a book project! Until I tried ...

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Illustrating is the easy part 🫣 Getting work is hard!

[@littlepinkpebble]

ill always comments so to help your channel to grow :)

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You're so kind!!

[@littlepinkpebble]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess you're kind too that's why we stick around and support you!

[@gulkixlife9870]

Can you make a video on the apps for android and software to illustrate

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I work mostly on my desktop computer or on my iPad tablet, so I wouldn't know about apps for android tablets unfortunately!

[@riopangestu2764]

You should try Ibis Paint

[@andrearevilla4354]

I wonder what were your portfolio mistakes that you fixed to finally get a contract? I'm working in my first children's book because the author contacted me... So it makes me a little bit nervous about not knowing much... 😭 Your videos are super helpful✨✨✨

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

It's always nerve-wracking when we do something for the first time, but we learn a lot too. You got this!! My main mistakes were: 1. Not showing actual pages in my portfolio, 2. Focusing on elaborate backgrounds instead of characters and story and 3. Only showing adult characters and no themes or topics appropriate for picture books :)

[@andrearevilla4354]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess these are really helpful to put together my portfolio, many Thanks! I'm watching your other videos about portfolio ✨🔥🔥🔥

[@Zeeshan_Toqueer]

Thanks

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

My pleasure!

[@mellodee6198]

Hi Vanessa! Thank you for such an informative and inspiring video🥰It's great that you share all of your experience, even with prices and all prons and cons. I'm really excited for this course, I've put my name in a waiting list! May I ask will there be a liscensing theme included?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the video hun! I'm so excited to teach this course, it'll be a blast :) And I'd love to do one for licensing/surface design too... in a few years! I've only been doing surface design since last fall and I'm still learning, so I don't think I know enough yet to teach it you see!

[@mellodee6198]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess So cool! Oh, no, I’ve meant licensing as a part of a picture book contract😊

[@mellodee6198]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess license included for illustration usage for a book✨

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@mellodee6198 Ohhhh I'm sorry, I misunderstood! I go over it in super detail in the Art Business Bootcamp level 2, but don't think I've talked about licensing in books yet on this channel. I need to make a video about that some day!

[@mellodee6198]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Thank you!💛

[@haneenrab92]

Thank you for sharing your experience.. I have a question, do I need any experience to be a book illustrator ? I am very interested in it but worried about that it would be a very challenging journey because I don't have any experience.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

We all have to start somewhere! You can gain experience by practicing with personal projects and portfolio pieces :)

[@Wonkyloo]

Are a lot of jobs remote? I imagine in this age of computers and emails it would be a lot easier to find remote work. I have the same questions about agents: do they require you to meet in person? Im sorta stuck in one place haha

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Freelance illustration work is all done by email, and you can work with clients all over the world :) Same with agents.

[@Wonkyloo]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Thank you so much!!

[@yfgyvffb1922]

Hello I love your channel very much, I have a dream to have a storybook of my drawings, I have this passion to learn, where to start How can I develop myself in this field, because to know something I just want to learn, is there a course where you recommend me to learn🙏🙏🙏

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I actually do have a picture book course that you might enjoy, it's called the Picture Books Portfolio Prompts 10-daqy course (or the PPP for short!) It has 10 lessons covering all the major skills you need to make picture books, like storytelling, composition, backgrounds, emotions, etc. You can learn more here: www.artbusinesswithness.com/PPPcourse

[@aimenmalik7013]

Hello, your video is really helpful. im confused that how to find a publisher to offer our services?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Research! You can Google to find publishers, or take note of the company names on the covers at the bookstore for example.

[@shennaki8517]

Does anybody know if you have to be skilled in illustrator for book illustrations. Or do they also accept high quality pdf converted from procreate. I am skilled in procreate but not so much in illustrator.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You can use whatever tool you want - Procreate, and even traditional media like watercolor or coloring pencils. The important part is being able to produce a clean, high resolution file in the format they request (which is often PSD or PNG, but changes from one company to the next).

[@CloudPeaks]

How do you get an agent? Ive done books before but Ive never worked with a publisher. I cannot afford your course or else I would absolutely buy it :(

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You just send them an email to apply! All agents have submission guidelines on their website :)

[@Trina18]

Did u say 10k? Amazing

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Yup 10k! And that's not close to the numbers that other illustrators make on a single book! I think we all need to know that these kinds of budgets exist and they're not that rare :)

[@Trina18]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess I wish I was that good in illustrating 🙈 I’m really not but it’s so interesting 🤩

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@Trina18 If it's what you want to do, you can learn :) You should have seen my drawings a decade ago, it was nothing to write home about haha... You have the power to learn anything, but only if it's truly in your heart! Otherwise, it's a waste of time...

[@Trina18]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess true! I’m currently studying Media design and it seems I’m interested in everything all at the same time: graphic design, logo design, editorial design… brand identity and so on. Maybe it’s good I got two more years to make up my mind, haha. I enjoy drawing, always have. But I guess I’m just so lazy, if someone came up saying, draw 12 pages I’d be like, nah thanks 🥲🙈

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@Trina18 I feel you! I actually switched from picture books to surface design last year because I enjoy working on shorter projects better. Patterns and greeting cards are more my speed!!

[@aguacate-chan]

Hi Ness, I enjoyed your video very much. I have a question about the earnings you receive for each book. I mean, that's what you get as final payment or as an advance on the royalties for the sale of the book. If you could answer that it would be great!!! Thank you!

[@aguacate-chan]

Sorry if my English is awful.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I've done both! My panda and reindeer books were a 5% royalty with a (small) advance, but only the reindeer book has earned back its advance so far. My other books have been a one-time payment.

[@lila.livinz]

Hi there, I am an author with a children's book in need of an illustrator. I would love to work with you?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Feel free to contact me at [e-mail] to discuss your project!

[@TheCrusaderRabbits]

What accept does she have?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Do you mean accent? I'm French Canadian

[@littlepinkpebble]

haha this is a secret between us but it take me about a day to complete a book , can't let clients know else they think they pay too little and its bad for the industry because not everyone is so fast.. so its a secret haha

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

A day?? :o Omigosh how do you do that? Teach me senpai

[@littlepinkpebble]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess you are my buisness senpai haha.. like this was about 20 illustrations i think - singaporeillustrator.blogspot.com/2017/01/holly-and-magical-island.html took about 12 hours? client didnt require much revisions total 14 hours?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@littlepinkpebble This in one day?? Holy crap!

[@littlepinkpebble]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess maybe cos i'm asian , we do things fast and cheap haha

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@LittlePinkPebble Omg girl 😂

[@bleh329]

I bet that self-published tool either only has friends who aren't honest with him. Or the only person he had to show the proofs to was his mom.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

LOLLL you're probably right! Thanks for the chuckle!

[@TommyLikeTom]

Illustrating a children's book is usually day 1 of being a freelancer

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Not usually 😂

[@pat4005]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess I agree. Doing artwork for an entire children's book in one day, will look exactly like the amount of thought and effort put into each page, all squeezed into one day's time...

[@TheCrusaderRabbits]

How to: 1) spend years in school 2) spend years at work

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

That does help with most everything! But it's not obligatory to go to art school to become a freelance artist.

[@michaelwhite8031]

You are obviously not Christian minded.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I think a book has to be fun and there are hundreds of ways to show a lesson or teach something without it being ham-fisted or being so forced.

[@allisondavis5496]

Where's your email address? I need an illustrator for picture books. Thanks

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Hi Allison :) I'm currently focusing on my greeting card and pattern contracts so I'm afraid that doesn't leave me enough time for a long book project. But there are so many talented artists out there, I'm sure you'll find a great one! Best of luck with your book!!

[@allisondavis5496]

I probably would do illustrations but the few I do are still life and nor really appreciated by any so abstract for myself or I'll get someone to do it for now

[@allisondavis5496]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess you do courses in making greeting cards?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@allisondavis5496 Unfortunately not right now. I'm still pretty new at greeting cards myself and don't feel like I know enough to be teaching it, you know?