I wasn’t sure how to
go about locating an illustrator. There's not way I could illustrate it myself; I'm pretty thrilled if someone recognizes that the deer I've drawn is an animal. There’s probably a book or checklist that
would be helpful; out there somewhere… A google search left me overwhelmed. Places with illustrators for hire I found particularly helpful:
Ultimately, though, I decided to go with an old standby:
Craigslist.
I know what you’re thinking. Craigslist?! You’re going to
experiment on publishing a book and you’re using Craigslist?! Except, I live in
a wonderful college town with incredibly talented and artistic people, and
illustration jobs are hard to come by (technically, I first offered to hire my
sister who, unlike myself, is a fantastic artist, but she shot me down), and
all I was asking for were simple line drawings. Besides, I only had $100 total
set aside for illustrating. Within 24 hours I had over a dozen responses, many
accompanied by beautiful portfolios. And one guy who told me that he charges
$100 per page, so if that’s what I meant, he was my guy (it wasn’t what I meant).
I finally decided on one illustrator for two reasons: because
she had attached her elance.com profile, which had glowing testimonials from
previous clients, and because her portfolio was bright, fresh, clever and fun. We
emailed back and forth a few times, before I decided she was my gal. She gave
me a two week timeframe to have the illustrations I’d described completed, and
one week for making any adjustments I’d like. Now, I guess I wait.
How do you go about finding an illustrator? Has anyone else
used Craigslist before (or are my methods horrifying and barbaric)?
