Did you know? Every book market has their own preferences and characteristics! That’s one of the things I’m learning about after having joined forces with an illustration agency.
My agents evaluate my illustration style and they give me some feedback with regard to which international market it’d fit!
There are countries that are a bit more conservative for example, like the German picture book market. Those guys really love more “old-school” illustrations, with more of a hand-drawn soft feeling, like the classic “Conni” series, that my daughter also has:
And then there are other markets that are very open to newer digital styles, like the Polish market. I was lucky to spend some time this summer back home, and I used this time to go the our local bookstore and to research new Polish illustrators that I’d like to find on Instagram and to see their body of work. Those are some of the cool covers I found and photographed:
Gosia Detner btw is also a Polish artist represented by Advocate Art. I was excited to finally buy at least one book illustrated by her. She’s such a role model - the way she draws kids is really relatable for the young audience so she’s usually totally booked out for the year and busy with work!
Some other interesting covers were for kids’ books about emotions and about the body, very trendy now:
Are you doing your regular research?
It is so soooo essential do conduct such research on a regular basis! It will give you super valuable insights for your own portfolio. How do you do that? Think about your dream products that you would like to sell in the future and head to the shops that sell them. Take pictures, makes notes about anything that you notice would be good to add to your portfolio, discover and follow new artists on your social media. It’s a great exercise!
What about you? How’s your picture book market? Modern or classic? Where are you located? :)
Talk to you soon!
Wera
Hi! I’m Weronika Salach, a freelance illustrator specializing in children’s books, toy design and surface pattern design. Internationally I’m represented by Advocate Art. Over 35,000 happy students have taken my digital illustration courses and watched my YouTube videos. Let’s connect :)
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