oh god this lady wants me to help her with her children’s book by doing the illustration.
I have no idea how much she’s even going to pay me yet but
apparently she wants to have this book published by the end of this month
and she is needing 28-32 pages all with an illustration on them.
by the end of this month.
and she’s treating this pretty casually it seems.
I BETTER BE MAKING BANK IF I TAKE THIS JOB.
oh god what do I even do??
Hi Bonka! Just giving my two bits on the subject, if that’s okay. It seems like a lot of people have replied with the same opinion that I have. That is, that this might not be the “best-case scenario” for you as an artist. I’m currently working away at becoming an illustrator, and I can tell you that most books take several months to a year to illustrate. This seems to be another one of those situations where someone (in this case the author) doesn’t realize just how long it takes for this amount of work to be done. As artists, we know that it takes time to produce quality work, especially when it’s up to 32 illustrations. If you know how much time you think you would need to complete this project (say a couple of months), suggest a longer time frame to her. If she really appreciates your artwork, she will wait to have it completed. If not, then I would politely decline the offer. It is better to have a project where you are given time to work on your illustrations. Rather than feeling a time crunch and just pumping out pictures that might not be your best work. You want to have something that you are proud of in your portfolio when showing it to potential employers or clients. And I’m sure there will be more of these offers to come to you. The fact that this author has approached you is a testament to your talent and I wish you all the best in your future projects! ~ Emily B.
P.S. Sorry this was so long winded!
