How to Hire a Children’s Book Illustrator And How to Find a Real One
By Shiela Alejandro | Buckets of Whimsies
Authors, before anything else, I wanna commend you for reading this. I wanna thank you. Thank you for still choosing real, human artist in this day and age where authenticity is scarce. Thank you, for writing your book. The future is uncertain but with authors and artists pushing back and providing actual helpful material for developing minds matters now more than ever. So thank you for your passion and being a patron of the arts. ✨
There is something happening in the children’s book illustration industry that nobody is talking about loudly enough.
Authors are being scammed.
It is bad enough that these ai companies targeted art and literature industry to get people to use their technology but using it as a weapon to scam authors who are still deciding to choose real art to represent the story they passionately wrote? It’s evil. Scammers presenting themselves as professional illustrators, collecting deposits, and delivering illustrations that were never drawn by a human hand at all. AI generated slops presenting as original artwork, sold to trusting authors who had no idea what they were looking at.
Why is this happening?
A bad actor can generate a number of illustration and present them as “portfolio” in minutes and approach authors online with prices so low it’s too good to be true. It is genuinely difficult sometimes to tell the difference as the technology progresses. When the deposit gets paid, the “illustrator” disappears or worse, they deliver generated images that the authors can’t even use to legally publish and sell without risk. I have been a children’s book illustrator for 15 years. I have seen it all. Here’s how you can avoid getting scammed by these vultures:
What to Look For: The Red Flags 🔴
1. The portfolio looks perfect but has no personality
Ai generated art tend to look so polished but lack personality. The color palette has the same boring “piss” yellow overlay. Genuine illustrators have a quirk in their art, a consistency in their overall look and sometimes, imperfections can also seen in their styles. Ai images are boring, monotonous and too perfect. It lacks soul.
2. They cannot show you their process
Ask to see sketches from their past work. Although sketches can be faked, you can ask for a timelapse of their art, artists have access to this if they work on procreate or other drawing softwares. If they make an excuse and can’t pull out random sketches from recent works, this is the first alarm.
Process should look close to this:
3. They cannot talk about their work as an illustrator in depth
Ask them about a specific piece that caught your eye, what story is it about? Is it published? How did that certain piece, created and planned? Where did the inspiration came from? A real illustrator can answer everything coz it takes weeks working on a book, they should be able to remember each book like the back of their hands.
4. The price is suspiciously low
A professional children’s book illustration takes months of skilled work. It is not cheap. Personally, a page takes me 2-3 days to finish. From concept sketches, outline to color, not counting the changes from rounds of feedback. On the other hand, if an illustrator is offering you $10/page, they might be a beginner looking to build their portfolio, which means the portfolio should show amateur illustrations not polished images, so be alert.
5. No client history
A working professional children’s book illustrator should have a trail. A book or two they’ve worked on, published books on amazon you can buy, and a real online presence. Ask for their socials, go over their website, when was their earliest post? Does the feed make sense? Sometimes you can even see the progression of their skills through their old post to new.
In summary, ask these before you Signing and Pay:
-Can you walk me through your process from one of the pieces in your portfolio?
-Can I see sketches/work-in-progress/timelapse from a past project?
-Can you show me a published book you have illustrated?
-Are these illustrations entirely your own original work?
-Who retains the commercial rights to the final artwork?
These are non aggressive professional questions. A real illustrator should be able to answer you without sweat. I will post an updated article in case these vultures get more savvy in their scams.
Why This Matters Beyond the Money
Losing a deposit is a set back. Imagine being excited in finally being able to confidently look for an illustrator after months of saving only to be scammed, I don’t want this to happen to anyone. You wrote your story passionately, you deserve to work with an equally passionate artist who’s not just in it for the money but for the love of art too. Story and Art in children’s book is like a marriage and real art made by humans isn’t all about aesthetic preference but an ethical one, as authors you have the right to demand it, so choose wisely.
A Note From Me ✨
I am Shiela Alejandro. I have been illustrating children’s books for 15 years. Every single illustration in my portfolio was drawn by my hand and created in conversation with the author whose story I was trusted to bring to life. I welcome every question. I will show you my sketches, my process, my history, and my published work without hesitation, because I have nothing to hide and I am more passionate now more than ever in fighting for real art in this ever changing landscape of art and literature. If you are looking for an illustrator you can trust, I would love to hear about your story. Send them over at: shiela@bucketsofwhimsies.com
