It’s been a while since we rounded up and shared some good resources here so this post links to some of the useful, fun, inspiring and motivating things that I’ve been collecting over the past few weeks and months…Enjoy!
Advice & Information
So You Want To Be A Children’s Illustrator?
A super useful blog by experienced Children’s Book Illustrator Alicia Padron. On the site she shares her knowledge and experience of working in the industry. We’ll be featuring an interview with Alicia in the December Children’s Book Special issue of the zero2illo Zine.
Becoming An Illustrator
I’ve previously featured this resource on zero2illo from Holli Conger about how she became an Illustrator, but it’s been re-branded and is packed with so much great information, it’s definitely worth a mention again.
The Dark Art Of Pricing
In this invaluable post from Illustrator and Typographer extraordinaire Jessica Hische, she unveils some of the mysteries about pricing for Illustration jobs, including examples of back and forth emails between Illustrator and Client.
If you find Jessica’s post useful, you may also want to read this post that we recently published on zero2illo about how I worked out the quote for a big name corporate packaging Illustration job I was asked to quote for. It’s based upon some information we snagged from inside the industry so the figures are solid.
Muddy Colours
A collective blog from the likes of Dan Dos Santos, Jon Foster, Greg Manchess and Donato Giancola…need I say more?
This blog is packed with process breakdowns, expert advice and beautiful artwork from all involved, along with some very special guest posts from other leaders in the Illustration field.
2010 Illustrator Income Survey
From the people behind the 3×3 Illustration Magazine, this overview of worldwide Illustrator incomes makes for an interesting read - it’s $5 for the PDF (I personally wouldn’t bother with the printed version). There’s one Illustrator in the US who apparently banked $980,000 in 2010 - who says Illustration isn’t a viable, profitable career choice, hey?
Note: This survey doesn’t breakdown rates for individual illustration jobs, it merely provides an overview of overall income from Illustration-related projects from those who took part in the survey.
Visual Inspiration
The Paper Fox Project by Jeremy Kool
This beautiful work-in-progress blog of an iPad-bound children’s book is a must-see for the breathtakingly gorgeous character illustrations alone.
Jeremy is currently trying to raise funds through Pozible to help him fully realise this stunning project - check out the video intro to the project here.
We’ll be featuring an interview with Jeremy in the December Children’s Book Special issue of the zero2illo Zine.
Audience Participation with Jonathan Burton
Jonathan Burton has been one of my favourite Illustrators for a while now and not only is he a great artist, he’s also smart too.
In the Audience Participation feature recently added to his blog, Jonathan started off a story with a single illustration and then asked followers to comment with the next line of the story. The next line is then chosen at random and illustrated.
The story only has 2 illustrations so far, but it’s going to be a fun ride seeing where it goes and is also a great example of how to engage with your audience and get people talking about your work.
P.S. Get ready for an announcement later this week about a new zero2illo challenge we’ll be running before the end of this year 