MAY (2016)

"Children's publishing is great right now and the publishers are hungry for good content to come their way," said children's publishing art and art rep Nicole Tugeau in a great critique session we enjoyed on May 24.

Children's publishers are "content hungry and visually hungry for the next great team of artists and writers to come their way," she added.

She was recently back from the 2016 BookExpo America conference in Chicago and feeling upbeat about what she heard and saw at the annual conference that bills itself as North America's largest publishing event and "the #1 book and author event for the book industry."

She talked about the 15 rough sketch and final art pieces she had asked for in April.

Like many children's publishing agents, art directors and editors, Tugeau feels that an aspiring illustrator's 'best foot forward' is a portfolio showing strong original characters. Human or animal. Robots, monsters, extra-terrestrials and ghosts are good, too, she says.

What follows are some of Nicole's quotes that especially struck me during our evening with her. (You can watch the whole session in the above video replay.)

"If you are an illustrator, it behooves you to write."

"[to query her] A short e-mail stating your interest. Typically you direct me to your website, or you share with me five pictures – your favorite pictures – that are specific to children's publishing. Letting me know you write is a plus."

"I don't make decisions based on one book dummy. I'm going to take on an illustrator or an author-illustrator based on his or her body of work and full [self] presentation and consistency of style and personality on the page."

"I really look to portfolios shown me being ready and specific to the industry. The portfolio should be such that we can start working together immediately."

'Show Notes'

You'll find Nicole's submission guidelines and contact info here.

You can 'like' Nicole's business Facebook page here and see the work of some of the artists and author-illustrators Nicole represents here.

While you're on Facebook, join our special closed Facebook Group for Guest Group Critiques to visit with your colleagues here and upload any artwork you'd like reactions on.