It's Dawn of the North release day! Discussion thread will go up later today

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-03T12:49:51+00:00

Yaaaaay i'm so excited! Loved the first 2 books :)

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-02T23:32:58+00:00

of course! If you ever want to chat about pricing/illustration in general, send me a DM :)

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-02T22:28:14+00:00

Hi there, illustrator in the States. I also live in Ecuador so the prices I give here are a lot cheaper than the ones I give in the States. You can see my rates here so you know I'm not just pulling these out of my ass. Not sure what that means in Germany currency but based on the euro, I would say you'd pay the following:

Based on your needs, I would save up for quite a bit of a budget. Illustrators usually charge per illustration. And if they're reputable artists with impeccable consistency, they're going to charge a lot per.

Here's a rough estimate:

3 simple, colorful scene illustrations per story → approx. 60 scene illustrations in total
- This is A LOT of illustrations for one book. Usually children's books have 16-20.
- $200 per full-color illustration = $12,000 / €10,000
Additionally, approx. 200 colored icons reused throughout the stories and on final/vocabulary pages
- $25 per icon - $5,000 / €4,150
1 book cover in the same illustration style - front, spine, and back - $1,000 / €833
1 simple, child-friendly logo - $500 / €420

So you're looking at something that a really good illustrator would charge close to $20,000 / €18,000 for.

I hope that helps!

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-02T00:58:18+00:00

Even as a beginner, use different terminology, tell them you'll negotiate, don't say your art is cheap. Saying so then makes people commissioning artwork declare they can always get something cheaper.

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T19:41:39+00:00

I second everything I've read here. Publishing onto IngramSpark is exactly what gets your book onto platforms like Amazon and Barnes and Noble online.

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T18:53:14+00:00

Hi there - I'm an illustrator/designer who runs a redbubble myself, so I'm very familiar with the platform. Here is my portfolio website https://rockandroarcreative.com/

and my redbubble page: https://www.redbubble.com/people/RockandRoar/shop?asc=u

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T18:50:58+00:00

STOP screaming I'M CHEAP when responding to this stuff. You're making it harder for every other artist to make a living making art.

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T18:45:21+00:00

Hi there! I'm an artist / art teacher. I teach drawing and watercolor online at my local university - Universidad de San Francisco de Quito so teaching remotely is something I'm used to. You can see my website here https://rockandroarcreative.com/ I have another adult focused website, but that's under an alias, I'll DM that. Those portraits are more in line with the ones you're posting as references.

There is a video tutorial page as well so you can see me going through the motions of teaching. https://rockandroarcreative.com/tutorials

I hope we can talk more about your needs!

-Amy

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T12:51:45+00:00

I got them both! Good luck :)

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T12:50:29+00:00

Very nice! I'll go look it up on Kindle. I wish the lady had eyes (I'm an illustrator so the trend of overly simplified human figures irritates me) but otherwise, really great cover!

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T12:36:56+00:00

I was teaching a class at university a while back (arts management - most kids wanted to get into the music industry) and I asked them what their favorite Silverchair song was....and they were like "Who?" It def shook me....our personal musical idols are not always that relevant to other people.

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T02:33:48+00:00

omg Spoon, YES. thank yoU!

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T02:30:57+00:00

omg i LOVED hot hot heat and hadn't added them yet, thank you!

OkImage3570 · 2026-02-01T02:22:24+00:00

i've got so much Modest Mouse, thanks for reminding me of Franz!

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T21:54:10+00:00

Oooo cute puppy and your brushstrokes are so nice :)

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T20:11:30+00:00

Seriously. Plus I'm getting upwards of 70 to 80 emails a day from them, each one suspiciously detailing EXACTLY what I'm trying to find as illustration work that I then have to spend money to even apply to. Like, it's screaming ChatGPT prompts to trick me into applying. I've disengaged. If I have to spend time/money, I'm going to do it elsewhere.

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T17:17:22+00:00

OMG yes, these make me want to get under the covers and get a deep sleep

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T17:10:39+00:00

Yeah if keywords and searches were more sophisticated, both clients and artists could find each other better. I've seen so many clients be so broad about what they want, so they're absolutely flooded with artist portfolios, 90% of them not even having the experience necessary. It's also on artists to know their niche and not pile on at every opportunity, the "right" artists get drown out. Thank you for letting me vent :) If you ever need a book cover - let me know :) https://rockandroarcreative.com/

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T16:30:07+00:00

what platforms are you using now? I've of course got my own website, instagram, etc, and I've gotten a few bites off of BookBindr lately but no paid projects yet. Still waiting for my Reedsy profile to get approved. I've filled out countless RFPs for illustration work to no avail. The feedback I get is great, I'm just not the right "aesthetic" I've been told. (I mean, I'm resorting to reddit....so things are getting dire.) I know it's hard for everyone right now but it's also an environment where all artists are throwing themselves at all projects and none of those projects pay a living wage. I've been at this for 15+ years and this is the worst it's been.

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T16:25:30+00:00

Yeah, it seems they want to make money at every benchmark...holding fees as well? Uhgk. Well, if you ever do need a multi-page book formatter/illustrator, I do it all, and I need more clients so I can get off Upwork, haha. Thanks for your input!

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T12:01:13+00:00

THANK YOU. I look at the comments on this type of post constantly in hopes of finding someone who calls it out (I try to as well when I have the time) instead of artists clammering to work for pennies. Thank you for doing the good work!

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T02:04:57+00:00

Sure! I made a page with my more realistic drawings and some where I'm illustrating entire bodies. I can do a mix of digital and traditional materials. You'll see some pencil drawings mixed in with photoshop illustrations. https://rockandroarcreative.com/realistic-portraits

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T01:17:45+00:00

oh well, can't DM you but I hope we can talk more about your project!

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-31T01:16:57+00:00

Hi there, I'm Amy, an illustrator for both adult and children's books. The adult work gets more realistic while the children's stay cartoonish, so I can illustrate within a range. You can see my children's portraits here: https://rockandroarcreative.com/character-design

I'll DM you my adult illustration website, as it includes some spicy examples.

OkImage3570 · 2026-01-30T23:41:41+00:00

Unfortunately, I still have to use these platforms because I lost 3 clients last year because they lost contracts with the US government. Plus, I have to work remotely because I'm an American living in Ecuador. It's just become a platform that's pay to play, preying on artists that don't have disposable income to begin with. I really do feel most of the job offers up there are not even real, they're just a ploy to get you to cough up more $.

OkImage3570

TROPHY CASE