In almost every child's heart is a favorite book that he/she used to read before bedtime, with a funny story and equally funny and colorful illustrations of talking animals and plants. In so many ways, the illustrations make the story even more captivating.

Work as a children's book illustrator is one of the most gratifying jobs in the creative industry. Your illustrations make the story and characters come to life and for the child, the story is so much easier to remember because of the drawings.

What It Means to be a Children's Book Illustrator
A children's book illustrator, like most illustrators, are expected to create the drawings that will make the story come to life. But while other illustrators sketch for digital and new media platforms, the children's book illustrator works mostly for the print medium.

Unlike a comic book illustrator who needs to provide a corresponding portrayal of every single scene of the story, the children's book illustrator need only to pick certain points in the story where an accompanying illustration is needed.

Your illustrations, however, should capture the setting of the story and the distinct features of the characters that will make them stick in the minds of your young readers. Your drawings should be colorful, fun, light, positive and most of all, appropriate for their age.

Starting a Career as a Children's Book Illustrator
If you wish to be a children's book illustrator, you need to possess not just the skills and talent, but also the passion and a genuine interest in children's stories. Most storybooks are about fanciful stories and animated characters-talking plants and animals, superheroes and aliens, moving objects, fairies and elves. You need to have enough creativity and enthusiasm for bringing such characters into life on paper.

Build a solid portfolio
Most children's book illustrators start out working on freelance projects, in other cases, even pro-bono work. These are easy steps to build your portfolio, gain contacts and expand your network.

As you build your portfolio, it's best to develop a single personal style that's uniquely your own. It will make your work stand out in the market and establish your niche as a children's book illustrator. Showcase action scenes, settings and scenery and consistent character illustrations.

Seek out publishers
Most children's book illustrators have a contractual or per-project arrangement with publishers. If you want to actively seek out projects, a good move is to attend publishing conferences where authors and illustrators pitch ideas. Typically, you submit your portfolio to the publisher and/or the art director who then matches you with an author and project.

Value deadlines
Working on illustrations for a children's storybook does not maintain a do-as-you-wish schedule. It requires working on drafts and securing a series of approvals, hence it also means having to work with deadlines.

For example, you may first be asked to submit a storyboard or a sketch of the key points in the story that need illustrations. Then, you’ll be asked to provide character model sketches. Often times, you will have to draw black and white versions of the scenes first before colored versions are made. All these stages of the design and drawing process should be done within a certain period of time. Keeping to the deadline will ensure that the progress of the book is within schedule.

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