Professional Practice

There are many roles involved in book illustration, such as cover art and designs as well as internal illustrations. Most often these are tackled by a team with illustrators, designers, editors and people overseeing the whole process such as an art director. An illustration will be made for a cover then edited and changed over time until the desired outcome has been achieved.

Many kinds of books are illustrated, notably children's books however all genres can benefit from having images to support the text. Ben Hughes, the deputy art director at Puffin is someone whose job it is to find illustrators and says that "When searching for something particular or new, we tend to search Instagram, Twitter and sites such as Behance, we also attend degree exhibitions". Getting involved in book illustration, like most all art-centered jobs requires a portfolio that should showcase your skills and a range of different examples.

As a book illustrator, you must work with the company to successfully fulfill the brief and suit the tone of the text you are working on whilst also bringing your input into it as that is why you specifically were picked to approach the illustration. Book illustration isn't the most lucrative job until you have built up a backlog of previous work since there is a long period before a book is published and brings in any money, though initial sample works and such should be paid.

References:

1. job roles in book cover design and production (2022) Penguin Books UK. Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/company-article/job-roles-in-design-and-production



2. Horne, N.S.S. (2020) How to become a book illustrator, Penguin Books UK. Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/company-article/how-to-become-a-book-illustrator