Since going freelance I have always formatted and designed any books I illustrate. As I primarily work with self-publishing authors, this means they are always left with a finished product, the print-ready files they require, all wrapped up in a pretty bow and ready to publish.
Whilst I do enjoy this and like to think I have a keen eye for design, I am going to step away from this end of things and team up with my ridiculously talented husband Ryan.
Ryan has been a professional graphic designer working across a selection of disciplines for over 11 years now. Like many people, he has used the pandemic to reevaluate his career and has switched up from dabbling in being a freelance designer and has decided to pour his heart and soul into freelancing full time. This won't be our first professional team up, a decade ago we created and ran an award-winning ethical and eco-friendly clothing brand, as well as running a regular not for profit music event, designed to revive a struggling town centre.
Our partnership is proving to be more successful than we anticipated (and MUCH more successful than our music events). As we share a studio he's on hand to input from an early point and really gets on board with the vision for the book which gives him plenty of time to come up with amazing ideas for the finishing touches. At a point in the project where I have been beavering away for weeks when it comes to his turn to take the reigns, it's great to have that fresh enthusiasm and perspective.
Plus I'm still just here if he wants any additional bits.
On a recent project on which we partnered, The Blomes and The Smooms and the Impossible Bridge, I had created some hand-drawn text for the main title of the cover. When he was formatting the book and the dust jacket he pointed out how great that would work for "Author" and "Illustrator" titles. And by Jove was he right!
It really helps finish it off and bring it together. In a similar vein, he's spread the distribution of text to an area I hadn't considered and it's really improved the overall design of a spread. Although I love design and I have a passion for the books I work on and truly making them as perfect as I can, it's a long process and, by the end, you can have blinkers to new possibilities. So I am very excited for our partnership to grow, and for our skills to come together to make your books even more magical.
Whilst I have always turned down formatting and design work for other people's illustrations we will now be opening our books to this and Ryan will be taking on those projects.
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