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Marywood University Masters of Fine Art
Study Tour – New York – 11/5/15
Interview with Jim Hoover
Daryl Stevens
Viking Children’s Books
345 Hudson St 15th floor
penguinrandomhouse.com
Jim Hoover is an Art Director for Viking Children’s Books who gave a great presentation on the making of a children’s book. He talked about how the industry works and showed us several examples of books in process. Jim explained the printing process and how they use additional colors and varnishes on some books. Some of the examples were very unusual styles of illustration while others were more traditional. He explained how the style of illustration needs to match the story and how this can be difficult or take time to find a good match.
“Read your story out loud to get feedback.” –Jim Hoover
He also talked about avoiding the gutter area in your illustration and how one illustrator came up with the idea of a character that lives in the gutter of the book. Jim spoke about the need to draw things that are accurate for the time period that your book is written. He talked about the need for storyboarding your book beforehand. He said “the concept is the easy part, but implementing it is difficult.” The drawings affect the story and sometimes it has to change after you write it.
It appears that the children’s book market is still a viable outlet for illustrators to make some money. However it seems essential to be able to write a good story and understand character development. Jim explained that if you write and illustrate, you make more royalties than just illustration. Someone asked if you need an agent to work with him and he said no, but if you write and illustrate, then he might recommend you having one. Jim will take submissions and they are always looking for new book ideas.
My Takeaways:
- Creating children’s books is worth pursuing.
- Start writing the stories that I’ve been telling my kids.
- Children’s books seems like a rewarding path.
- Your stories and characters can have a lasting impact on kids.
- There are more bad children’s books than good ones.
- This is a good industry for illustration.
- You have to be more than just an illustrator.
- Read your story out loud and get feedback.
“If you write and illustrate your own story, you have a greater chance of getting published” – Jim Hoover
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