A blast from my past
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I got a call today from a woman that I worked with 11 years ago. She had been writing little stories for her nieces and wanted to put them together into a book, and asked me to provide very simple black & white illustrations for the stories. This was waaaaay before SVS and all the things I learned here, so of course I did some things wrong (like working with someone who wanted to self-publish.) And the art was, um, I'll just be honest, pretty terrible LOL!
But she was so nice, and she loved the illustrations. She said they brought her stories to life, and that I made her dream come true - it was actually really wonderful to work with her.
But she never published the book.
Today she called me out of the blue, and she is finally going to publish her book. She asked me for a write-up as illustrator. But I'm NOT proud of that work! I've taken down my website and sort of withdrawn most everything online while I attempt to improve.
I want to provide her something. Maybe I just won't list any website or contact info.
Thoughts? Thanks, all!
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The books that I see with a biographical information about an illustrator usually list where the artist studied, some detail about work and family life and a humorous side note. Sometimes they include self-promotional information (website) but sometimes not... Maybe the book will sell like hotcakes and you will get an unexpected kickback...???
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@Kat in my opinion, it’s not bad to work with self-publishing authors. There are really good people out there who just want to publish their book but you have to stay away from authors who don’t value an artist’s work and just want to exploit your talent and skills for as little as possible.
As for your write-up, if perhaps you don’t want to be associated with your old work, you can leave out your contact info and keep it minimal. Maybe you can use a pen name?
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@Kat I agree with @Nyrryl-Cadiz - I'm actually working with a self-published illustrator right now for my current book! It's taken me over 2 years of freelancing full-time to come across one that had a good budget mind you, but they do exist once in a while haha.. As for the blurb, provide whatever you're comfortable with
If you don't want your name associated with this work, you can ask to be credited as simply "Kat" and write your favorite food and animal for your blurb. It's a children's books, it doesn't have to be all serious and you can go more unconventional and whimsy if you like! -
Thanks y’all, I’m probably overthinking. I doubt she will sell many copies, so I think I’ll do a somewhat minimal blurb without contact info.
