The rise of the authorstrator

Taking an entrepreneurial approach in illustration is something which I find very appealing. As the area of illustration I’m most interested in is children’s picture books, I’m going to be focussing on the term authorstrator quite literally by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of being both an illustrator and author. I will also be exploring examples of editorial illustrators who have taken the entrepreneurial approach and created sidelines to coincide with regular commissions.
My interest in this subject was triggered off by a quote which I came across on the Illustration Industry blog. "Why do people think the world owes them a job? This is definitely true in the creative world. That's not to say there aren't any jobs. It's just that proportional to the number of people graduating with dreams of being a designer, there are few. I think in this industry you have to create the job you want." Petra Storrs, 2008. The lack of jobs in such a competitive industry seems to be driving people to generate their own work. Even established illustrators with regular commissions are utilizing their free time to pursue personal projects which generate extra income. When meeting with Gillian Blease she noted that her personal work is much more enjoyable than regular commissions. Along side her “bread and butter work” Gillian built up an archive of pattern designs which she has recently had published as a Pattern and Palette Sourcebook.

Gillian Blease

Gillian’s work is a good example of another reason why illustrators are venturing out, that reason being the adaptable nature of design. Illustration often spills over into many other fields, like surface design, graphics and fine art. It would be a shame to ignore this fact and be confined solely to illustration, so when an opportunity arises to venture out designers are doing so and boosting their income where possible.
Another example of an editorial illustrator who is taking an entrepreneurial approach is Patrick Thomas. He is doing this by capitalizing on his regular commissions. As he prints his designs using the silk screen process he makes a limited number of these to sell as posters. So as well as being paid by the original client he is generating extra income from the prints. He has also brought out a book of a collection of his work and he has a series of postcards being sold in shops throughout Barcelona.

Patrick Thomas

Onto the subject of being an authorstrator of children’s books, I can see many benefits of both writing and illustrating picture books, the main one being the freedom of creativity. The text doesn’t necessarily need to come before the images. A book can be based around visual ideas with the narrative being adapted along the creative process. Oliver Jeffers wrote that “if something is shown it often doesn’t need to be said. This is a great advantage of both writing and illustrating stories, as someone who just writes comes up with the entire manuscript before it is considered visually and much potential for interaction has gone.” This effect can also be achieved by a close collaboration of an illustrator and author. The Picture Book programs on the BBC described the successful collaboration of husband and wife duo Allen and Janet Ahlberg. They have created a number of modern classics, including Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Christmas Postman. Allen wrote the books and Janet illustrated them, their close relationship enabled them to knock the books back and forth, both tweaking the images to better suit the narrative and adjusting the text to compliment the illustrations.

Allen and Janet Ahlberg

When an illustrator creates a book on their own they avoid the setback of waiting for commissions. Even established illustrators have to wait for publishers to come across stories that will suit their style, so tackling both prevents this problem. However it does not solve the difficult task of getting published, with so many books on the market this is the biggest obstacle for aspiring authorstrators. Oliver Jeffers gave some good tips on Getting past “the slush pile”. It’s important to carry out research on publishers to find out which are worth while approaching. Oliver was “methodical and logical” in his efforts to become published, he wrote that “Like most businesses, I had an idea, I developed it, then invested time, thought, and money in selling it.”
The business aspect of taking an entrepreneurial approach in illustration can be quite a drawback. I went to a seminar in January which outlined what needs to be taken into consideration when setting up a creative business. Elements like cash flow forecasts and marketing can be very time consuming. These business aspects don’t always come naturally to creative people.
However, on the whole personal illustration ventures appear to be very rewarding. Even if they do not create extra income they can be used for self promotion, and having a product entirely of your own creation seems to give a great sense of achievement.

Oliver Jeffers