AOI Event
Hey!
So I went to the AOI children’s book industry conference on Saturday,
was really good although I felt like I didn’t hear loads of new things.
Illustrators work was inspirational and was great to know their different
approaches. Here are some of my notes from each talk! Hope it’s helpful in some
way...
1st Talk >
Chris Haughton and Claudia Boldt, Illustrators
Chris Haughton – ‘Oh no George!’ (think I’m going to have to
buy this book, story is really funny and illustrations are great too) & ‘A
little bit lost’
- Getting a contract can take a long time (it took Claudia a year)
- Story should start and end happily (in between something can happen as long as it is resolved in some way)
- Only 2 publishers at one time
- Can only publish 2 books a year
- Dummy book does not need to be professionally bound - can be quite rough showing black and white spreads/ layout, with 3 colour spreads to show finished outcome
- Enter competitions such as Bologna
Two Markets for Children’s books
1.
Trade -
mass market commercial stuff
2.
Educational – Education books for schools, based
on national curriculum (specialised)
Trade > Important aspects for publishers
- Characterisation – individuality of characters *very important* ( draw with different facial expressions & poses)
- Stories suitable for international co-editions (i.e Selling foreign rights at book fairs mostly within Europe and America)
- Author/ Illustrator is preferable to an illustrator for hire (easier for publisher) but try both options, illustrate for other people as well if you can
- Good drawing skills
- Characters in context (characters in a background)
- Able to draw children
- Good sequential skills – take reader on a journey
- Tell story in a fluid way from different vantage points
- Character studies and development
- Maintain consistency of character (recognisable from scene to scene)
- Illustrators passionate about children’s books who want to be in this industry!
Educational >
·
Specialised market – possibly tied in with
school curriculum
·
Characters are generic (if including children
- should be of different ethnic
backgrounds)
·
Educational Publishers more likely to take risks
on a new illustrators as there is always a shortage of illustrators in this
area
What the Market doesn’t want:
- Old fashioned – nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake
- More of the same – copies of others work
- Things in rhyme – because of Co-editions/ foreign rights (book has to rhyme in 16 different languages!) The Gruffalo is the exception...
- A happy ending every time - stories can be about serious subjects – for example bullying, racism, depression, death etc.
Portfolio
Always check submission guidelines from publisher’s website
Send publisher...
- detailed character studies
- ideas and concepts for stories
- some possible spreads
- story board or dummy book with some examples of finished character studies and finished spreads. (show visual variety and spaces within the pages)
- Submit work to children’s magazines – more likely to take a risk on new illustrators & lots of magazines use children’s illustrators
- Easier to start in educational publishing
- Research publishers – Children’s Writers’ and Artists’ yearbook and AOI publishing directory
3rd Talk > Deidre
McDermott – Picture book Publisher for Walker Books
Important aspects of a children’s book
·
make books children will enjoy
·
convey emotions in a simple and visual way
·
Pictures that aren’t necessarily in the writing
(adding something more to the story)
·
Importance of co-editions – will your story/
illustrations translate well
4th
Talk > Alex T Smith talked about his influences and his approach to
character design, which was very inspirational, have a look at his blog he has
a lot on there too!
5th
Talk > Philippa Milnes Smith, (LAW Writers’ and Artists’ A gents)
talked about some of her clients their work and how the agent helps the
illustrator, they filter work and commissions, developing work from
illustrations to t.v/ animation and web etc. She also said how important it is
to have an agent to negotiate a contract for the illustrator.
6th
Talk > Tony Ross. It was a really funny and entertaining talk. He’s
done so many books, I got the impression he does every commission that come his
way! He did say it takes him about 1 minute to do an ink black and white
drawing for an older fiction book like Horrid Henry. He also said he wrote and drew
the dummy for ‘I want my Potty’ book in a day!
