Just wanted to share my triumph!
Three years ago a self-publishing author found me through networking and we agreed on a contract involving 224 black and white drawings to head each chapter of a three book triology.
Having never done this before, but wanting to check "illustrate a book" off my bucket list, I took this project on with the greatest of naive intentions.
What I thought might take 3 months ended up taking 3 years.
I learned:
1. Self publishing authors are doing so because they want to be IN CONTROL of every aspect of their beloved project.
2. Self publishing authors are not artists and do not have an appreciation for fundamentals like composition and perspective, which is why they aren't doing it themselves, but they tend to be also not want to let go of the art creation process (see #1).
3. The better you do, the more challenging the author believes you want the drawings to be.
4. Face value - don't assume a drawing of a soccer ball is about the soccer ball - sometimes it becomes about the cloud in the sky behind the goal post of the soccer goal in the background soccer field.
5- Authors have great imaginations and pictures in their heads that go with their imaginations. They are not necessarily very good at expressing what they see in their head but they certainly recognize when you have NOT achieved it.
6 - Sometimes your first attempt is exactly right - but the author doesn't realize it until he has asked for several revisions.
7- Patience is a virtue.
8 - You won't get rich as an illustrator if you do it my way
Nevertheless, I'm very happy to say it's done and I'm glad I did it. Not sure I would do this particular project again knowing what I know now. But I'll be in a much better position to figure out if a new project is right for me or not!
Thanks for listening!
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