How to Find an Illustrator for Your Children's book (Pt Deux)

Use a Contract

After you've found your illustrator a contact is a must so that everyone is clear on the scope of the project. 

At minimum your contract should include the following components:

1. Payment
2. Deadline
3. Revision Policy
4. Governing Law
5. Severability
6. Termination/Cancellation
7. Non-disclosure
8. Credit of the work
9. Roles of all parties involved

For reference here's template that I use with author's you can tweak and add/remove sections as you see fit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT0QDG6rWWYbcHYmkwfQH7pPZKfVJCWqs0F6o0CMWUm99bmuAURqVgsNebqUuFoLh2bhuTt1ZwVH2qe/pub

But What if It's Not Working Out? 

This partnership is usually magical. Both you and illustrator are proud to work together.

No matter how well you plan, sometimes a relationship doesn't work out. 

If an illustrator isn't meeting expectations, you must let them go. 

You may feel tempted to settle for substandard art to avoid hurting or losing someone's feelings. Don't do this. 

As career and personal development partners, we must be honest.  For that illustrator to learn, grow, and improve, they need unbiased and honest feedback from you. How will they know if they're good if nobody's honest? 

We create more harm and postpone their career progress when we suppress feedback out of fear. Notice I said "kindly" and "lovingly" Even though they're not the perfect fit for your project, build them up and support them.

If they're struggling, don't give up on them.Is she coachable? Is she responsive to your feeback? Are your suggestions quickly implemented? Then they by all means try to work with them. 

Get Started Today!

By this point you've got:

1. A budget
2. A idea of what your want your illustrations to be
3. A platform on which to post your job request
4. A work contract which outlines the expectations and scope of the agreement

And that is all that you need!