Campus Book Festival 2024
We are just back from the Campus Book Festival held at the University of Malta and just wanted to summarise some points that were made both during Irish illustrator Karen Harte’s talk and workshop, as well as during the round-table discussion on Children’s Book Publishing.
Karen Harte is an Irish published children’s book illustrator. During her talk she made various excellent points and these are only a few of them. One thing she emphasised more than once is that Rejection is Redirection. Karen told a story of how just a few weeks after she was turned down for an Art Direction job, she was offered a book deal with a large book publisher in Ireland. This might have just been lucky, but I have dealt with this myself. Beating yourself up because you didn’t get what you wanted, a no from a publisher, rejection from a job or a course — no matter how disappointing this might be, it is definitely a sign that you must redirect your thinking. Good things might be just around a corner (although it doesn’t mean you have to sit still and wait for them to happen).
Becoming a part of a community and talking to your peers. Just as we have MCOI, Karen is part of something similar in Ireland. They have an email thread where they discuss anything from rates to licensing or any other question relevant to them. This is very similar to our MCOI Facebook Group. I do feel that we need to explore other options for communication given that the group is restricted to those who have Facebook. We are open to suggestions! One thing that Karen mentioned was that sometimes local companies approach several illustrators to find the cheapest quote. Her community then typically talk between them to make sure to stick to a rate that makes sense for all of them.
Refer to AOI Karen mentioned that she is a member of the AOI and a feature she has found useful is that of having them check client contracts. The AOI can go through an illustration contract line by line to make sure that you are not being trapped into a bad contract. This is all done as part of the membership so one doesn’t need to pay anything extra aside from the yearly fee. I’ve never used this feature myself but will definitely be trying it out.
Having extra skills and diversifying. Karen was a designer prior to becoming an illustrator. She explained that diversifying your skills and your illustration work can help get an illustrator more work. Karen does advertising illustration, book illustration as well as live-scribing among other things. I asked her whether she thought graphic design skills helped her along the way and she said they did.
Using a sketchbook. Nothing new here but good to hear it again. Karen emphasised how important it is to keep a sketchbook, to jot things down, to explore narrative, style and just to develop one’s work in a sketchbook. I know clients personally love to look at sketchbook pages, sometimes more than the actual finished work.
Putting aside time for social media. Karen mentioned that she has a more business-minded sister who helps her out with her self-promotion on social media. We mentioned social media in the round-table discussion as well, about how important it is to put yourself out there as this is the primary way for clients to find you when you are starting out.
Points from our round-table discussion:
Learning throughout one’s career: We all agreed how important it is to never stop learning new skills, whether they are related to learning something specific or even just researching.
Getting and giving feedback: We agreed that it is fine to ask professional illustrators for feedback and they usually reply back (unless they are HUGE illustrators, in which case a reply might not be expected). I also made a point that I prefer a more informal but still polite message from students or budding illustrators who need guidance.
Having projects rather than single artworks: Both Karen and myself agreed that posting projects rather than singular artworks on social media is likely to get an illustrator more work, it is also likely to help keep an illustrator keep motivated to finish said project.
It’s fine to fail: We’ve all failed at one point or another. Claudia had a plan A, B, C and D when she wanted to publish her first book (even though she got a quick Yes) but it’s important to be prepared for a ‘No’ and to have a plan B, and C and D…
Working with authors: We spoke about how important it is to give the illustrator space to be creative in children’s books. Claudia mentioned how when she gave Matt Stroud autonomy in ‘Bebbuxu Trumbetta’ the illustrations he did elevated her script, because he could see things she couldn’t even though it was her own story. In one of the spreads, he actually misunderstood the script and drew something different. Claudia then modified the script to match his illustration. This particular spread is wonderfully animated and was published in one of our MCOI Annuals.
Studying something that is not illustration (Q&A): Someone asked how to get into illustration if you are studying something else or if you are working. My personal opinion and this is what I said as well, is that it is sometimes better to have another degree that is NOT illustration because it just gives you extra knowledge and an edge over others who have just studied illustration. Karen studied English before embarking on her design career, I studied Graphic Design and later Multimedia and Technology. Eventually I did a Masters in Digital Arts but this was after I realised I actually wanted to do illustration. Karen also spoke about how important it is to consume ‘good’ media — films, poetry, books, art, and also how important traveling is not just to a different country but also experiencing different things in one’s own country. These can all feed into one’s illustration practice and make it more genuine.
Networking: I always tell my students that showing up is the first step to actually getting to wherever you want to get. Showing up to events, talks, workshops, art galleries. Just places where you are likely to meet people with similar interests. Talk to people not just online but even in person, is essential to getting a foot in the door if one is just starting out. This is something else we all agreed on of course.
This was a very, very brief summary of what we said given I didn’t take any notes, so it’s just what stuck with me after this year’s National Book Council — Campus Book festival. Thank you National Book Council of Malta for having us.
