How did I find Mousam Banerjee, the best illustrator there ever was?
I had received feedback on my book, had revised it, re-edited it, revised it some more, re-edited some pieces and then wound up with the final draft. I sat there for a bit a little confused - I had never written a book before, let alone a children's book. I knew that I wanted my book to contain illustrations. And with that I went where I go just about any time I need help - the internet. Someone at some point has been in the exact same position as I am and they figured it out, let's get sourcing!
I went online and was researching, "how to find an illustrator for my children's book." Within seconds, I had so many options in front of me from so many websites and it was a bit overwhelming. There were tons of sites that I could choose from and then there were additional ads about publishing the book and I remember being a little discouraged because I did not really know what I was doing and it was frustrating because I finally had the final draft, but no one to illustrate it for me.
I wound up on a site that I had used previously, Fiverr. It's part of the gig-economy and it offers work for hire on projects you never thought you'd be able to get help on. I went to the search bar and typed in "Children's Book Illustrator." I arrived at the search results and right at the top was an account, 5 Stars Rating, a featured image that looked incredible, and the account owner's name was Mousam Banerjee. I clicked on his profile and looked through his catalogue and it was an instant warm feeling of knowing that Mousam was going to be my illustrator.
I sent him a message and received one back a few hours later (time difference). He was just as excited as I was. I remember having a lot of questions for him and he was able to answer any and all of them. We instantly connected and got along super well. After we had initial discussions I asked him if he would be my illustrator and ecstatically, he agreed. He told me to look at a couple of different illustration styles he had and pick out 3 and he would create a new style utilizing concepts of the 3 I chose (I thought that was wicked cool!) He then sent me over some source files that contained what his vision was for how the scenery and characters would look and that was that! Once I saw the illustrations, even in just black and white, I knew that Mousam would make the book Pop!
While we did talk a lot about the illustrations and the nuances of the book, the best part about working with Mousam was the relationship I was able to build with him. He's a genuinely empathetic and caring individual... it's a plus that he's also incredibly talented! I found out that we were born in the same year and while we only communicated over chat in Fiverr, we forged a very strong bond amongst one another and it truly was the best decision I made in regards to decisions revolving around the book.
If you'd like to know more about how I found Mousam, what Mousam is like or any other Tyler related content, drop a comment on the blog and I'd be happy to discuss!
Soaring off for Now! - Matt Sidney, Chief Pterodactyl Officer
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