Comic book artist vs Children's book illustrator
Children's books
Whilst researching different ways to get into the children's book industry i managed to make out a small list of things which will increase your chances of landing the job. The childrens book industry is hard to get into bacause of the vast competition, without an agent you will need to rely on your own organizational skills to promote your own work. You will need:
- A strong portfolio (both online and psychical)
- Innovative way of promoting own work (get people talking)
- The ability to write for a childish audience although not nesscecary will greatly increase your chances of getting selected for a job in this industry.
- Unique style
- Build up your contacts, the more people know about you the easier it is for you to get noticed.
Working in the children's book industry calls for a lot of visuals to be used throughout the book to help fully deliver the experience of the story. Children's books aren't as precise as most people think, as the age barriers change so does the initial content of the book, this industry accommodates to a wide range of styles. Comic books normally have a precise style, despite the unusual and unrealistic story line the images are anatomically correct and are coloured realistically where as children's books can normally bend the characters anatomy to appropriately fit in with the story. The styles that are traditionally used for comic books and kids books are just used as guidelines and you don't necessarily have to follow it for your work to get noticed. There is a point where comic books and children's books cross over, qualities from one type of book can be seen in the other.
Children's book artist's to check out. Children's book publishers
Dr Seuss (ages 3 - 10) Puffin
Chris Riddell ( ages 10+ Harper Collins
Children's book artist's to check out. Children's book publishers
Dr Seuss (ages 3 - 10) Puffin
Chris Riddell ( ages 10+ Harper Collins
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| This is a book by Dr Seuss, this one in particular was written for kids around the age of 3, note how simple the artwork is, also the colour palette is very restricted meaning there isn't too much to look at. Young kids don't want to be looking at the image for long, it needs to be simple to understand. This kind of illustration is very precise in it's field and will in turn only attract a certain audience. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wRENKwEYL.jpg |
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| This is another children's book illustrated by Chris Riddell, this book is for children who love a good story and have a good imagination to go along with it, the age range for this book would be about 8 and upwards. The illustration on this book cover is a lot more detailed than the other one and i think that is because there is a lot of descriptive text in this book so it makes sense for the images to match the detailed descriptions. Chris Riddell is a big player in this field and he survives because his style is so unique! |
Comic books
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| Art by Richard Isanove - The Wolverine graphic novel |
I researched the comic book industry and compiled a list of skills which are key to landing a job as a comic book artist.
- Good draftsmanship skills
- Good study of anatomy (not mandatory but useful)
- Sketchbook of real life situations and natural poses
- Good understanding of space and or the negative space
- Strong influence from other comic book artists and films to help refine style.
- Good practice and understanding of comic making
- Able to build up own narrative
- Not needed but some universities offer a degree in comic book art, would help a lot if you had the time and money to get this qualification.
Comic book artists to look at Comic book publishers
Whilst researching comic book artists i found out that there are two main types of comic book companies and both of them work differently.
Mainstream comic book publishers
Marvel and DC are the most popular mainstream comic publishers and a load of work goes into making their comics extremely neat, they are the best of the best. The company hire artists to draw characters form the Marvel and or DC universe, the characters stay the same but the adventures change. The company then break down the production into a load of job roles such as penciling, digital colouring and story boarding. Artists normally start of as free lance and can then gain a full time job working for the company, they produce hundreds of comics every week so they will always need someone to fill one of the many job roles that they offer.
Finding someone to publish your comic. This kind of publishing involves a lot more work from the artist, you and your team of writers produce the entire comic, you then try and find a publisher to invest in your comic and get it printed. This kind of job is a gamble as you would have to find funds to get your comic printed, penciling, inking and all of the other small jobs required to get the cimic looking crisp will have to all be done by the artist. This is essentially free lance work though this can be a stepping stone into big companies such as Marvel or DC.
Earlier in the post i mentioned that there is a point where comic books and children's books meet, comic books are normally incredibly detailed and usually kids books contain simple illustrations so they are easier to understand. Chris Riddell has an incredibly detailed style, he breaks away from the simple illustrations normally found in children's books. I also found an artist who works for Marvel but has also illustrated children's books so it is good to see how his style blends across the two genres.
Mainstream comic book publishers
Marvel and DC are the most popular mainstream comic publishers and a load of work goes into making their comics extremely neat, they are the best of the best. The company hire artists to draw characters form the Marvel and or DC universe, the characters stay the same but the adventures change. The company then break down the production into a load of job roles such as penciling, digital colouring and story boarding. Artists normally start of as free lance and can then gain a full time job working for the company, they produce hundreds of comics every week so they will always need someone to fill one of the many job roles that they offer.
Finding someone to publish your comic. This kind of publishing involves a lot more work from the artist, you and your team of writers produce the entire comic, you then try and find a publisher to invest in your comic and get it printed. This kind of job is a gamble as you would have to find funds to get your comic printed, penciling, inking and all of the other small jobs required to get the cimic looking crisp will have to all be done by the artist. This is essentially free lance work though this can be a stepping stone into big companies such as Marvel or DC.
Earlier in the post i mentioned that there is a point where comic books and children's books meet, comic books are normally incredibly detailed and usually kids books contain simple illustrations so they are easier to understand. Chris Riddell has an incredibly detailed style, he breaks away from the simple illustrations normally found in children's books. I also found an artist who works for Marvel but has also illustrated children's books so it is good to see how his style blends across the two genres.
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| Skottie has this wacky style which i haven't seen really anywhere else, he has worked on various comics for Marvel but his style is very playful and child like. |
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| Skottie illustrated a series of children's books based on the original Wizard of Oz film, they are beautiful and his style really brings out the childish features of what appears to be Dorothy. Skottie Young is a good example of how to stretch your work across genres. Children's books and comic books are quite flexible, it's all about finding a publisher who likes your style! |
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