My husband and I drove over to Ann Arbor last night to hear a group called Opus21 perform at the Kerrytown Concert House. The group consists of a violinist, a saxophonist, a clarinetist, a bassist, a pianist and 3 percussionists (see their site for more info...www.opus21.org). It was an interesting group and an interesting concert. The concert house itself provides quite the intimate setting with...
Do you have any animals?
One of the first things I learned when I went to take my portfolio around NYC was that I needed to have depictions of animals in my portfolio; Every art director said so. Reason being, when you use animals, you don't have to deal with the race issue...you don't offend any person by not representing them or by representing them in a "stereotypical" scenerio. Plus, kids love animals. Pigs are a favorite...
Sketching, Sketching
So, what does an illustrator do? The answer is sketch, sketch, sketch, sketch, sketch. I wish I had more time to do more of it. Whether you work on the computer or on paper or on canvas, the initial stages of an illustration start out with sketches. I usually start out with thumbnail sketches (tiny 2x3 inch drawings) to work out the composition. I ALWAYS do this for a book. But then my method sometimes...
Advertising
Every illustrator has to advertise or promote their work in some way or they'll never get hired for a job. Some have an agent, some send out postcards, some mail out portfolios, and some advertise in sourcebooks like Picturebook. I do not have an agent. I try to go to New York and shop my portfolio around to the Children's Book Publishers about every other year. I also just recently purchased ad space...
Changing Styles
After focusing on a style done with Acrylics and some drybrush technique, I decided to try something new. I sent out a Christmas mailer in December of 2001 of a little girl and received a great response from Michael Green, then a senior editor at Philomel Publishing in New York. He asked for more in that style...so I did more. And that was the beginning of my line and watercolor style. Check out my...
My Published Books (so far)
My first book "What Could You See?" was published by and educational publisher soon after I graduated college. It was a low-paying job but gave me a taste of what it was like. It was a good place to get my feet wet. The second book "Hip, Hip Hooray for Annie McRae!" was my first retail market picture book. I had done a mass marketing campaign sending out a box full of Jujubee Candies and promotional...
Trying this all out
This is a new post from Julie. We are trying blogger out to see if it is going to work. See my site at www.jujubeeillustrations.c...
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- Julie Olson
- I'm a freelance illustrator working in the children's book industry. I love kids and raising my own 4 children. They are the inspiration and the passion behind all I do in art and in life. See my website at JulieOlsonbooks.com