Hiring An Illustrator - Not as Easy as I Thought

After writing the book in January of 2020, I spent a year trying to book meetings with local illustrators. I had a very clear picture in mind of what I wanted Chirp’s Large Day to look like, and because of that there was only a handful of people I knew off hand could bring it to life in the way I saw it in my mind’s eye. Artists said they were interested, but nailing down a time to meet proved next to impossible. From the confines of my two-full-time-jobs schedule, to unanswered messages, I wanted to make progress on the project but felt stuck between the words and the pictures.

And on Aug 21, 2021 I gave up chasing. I asked Andrew from Black Panel Press to put a call out for test drawings. Here are some that he collected:

One of those should look most familiar. While the first two were gorgeous, the artist of the third, Shobaru, completely nailed the vibe and energy I envisioned - clean lines, bright colours. He would go on to capture the city perfectly, even though he was illustrating all the way from Indonesia.

I’ll do a separate post about the process we used to make sure the details I had in mind made it to the page, but you can also watch a quick reel I did on it on Instagram @rmgladney.

While I provided a lot of artistic direction, Shobaru’s skills and talent really made this book what it is. I’m so thrilled with the final product, even if it was harder than I expected it to be off the hop.

xo RG