Book Illustrations

I am seeking an illustrator for my Christian memoir of about 150 pages in length. I need a series of seven illustrations, with no use of AI image generation. The artwork required includes one human (a middle-eastern shepherd) and one animal (a young lamb) in each image. I will provide guide images to the artist or artists finally selected. I have attached a single sample of the sort of art style that has appealed so far.

The only variations in the images are the expressions, positions, and poses of the two main characters. There are a few very minor props or scene elements in a couple of the images, but the main thing is the shepherd and the lamb. The strong need is to maintain continuity and to provide the proper mood and intensity in each.

I would be open to some variation in style once I have settled on the final artist team. If there is variation, I think I would be most open to any movement closer to realism, even including photo realism. This is not a requirement. The current style is quite pleasing. But it could be an option for those who wish to offer it.

The illustrations will be used in these places: the front cover (in some composition with other cover items such as book title) and the same image after the title page; thematic illustrations for the book’s five sections; and a last-page image.

The book is intended currently for a 6x9 publication format.

This is a single job with the possibility of further follow-up work.

I am open to your timeframe suggestions, ideally within a month or two, and I can provide sample images as a reference, beyond the one already attached to this project.

As of today in the last week of April, I am awaiting word from my publisher as to book release timing and other details. This word should come within 10 days or so. This will definitely affect the project. I won’t select the final artist team before then.

Here is what I hope for from the selected team:

High resolution electronic masters for the images created of at least 4000 x 6000 pixels.
Full commercial rights to reproduce the images, to use them in the book, or to copy, print, or sell the individual prints independent of their use in my book.

The artist team members will retain rights to use the the images in a portfolio or other standard artist practices, but not the right to resell.

If the final artist team includes more than one artist, I will expect fully independent activity and submissions. In other words, I am not asking anybody to work with other artists - only with me.

Beyond the above, if any artist on the team wishes to create physical media art, I would be very pleased to discuss further payment for them and their shipment to my offices.

The next event after initial team selection: a short sketch/sample from each selected artist on the team, which could be at a separate fee as we negotiate. The exact contents of that sample are open to discussion. My guess: a few concepts taken close to completion, but still not full depictions; a portion of a face or hand or body of the shepherd, a limited view of some part of the head or muzzle of the lamb, or something similar. That will help me get a feel for initial capacities without you giving away too much.

After this, I will make the final selection of the team. Then we will move to final pricing negotiations on fixed price bids for the project as a whole, along with firmer delivery schedules.

After finalization of pricing, I will provide all the rest of the guide images and the work begins in earnest. There are a few inaccuracies even in the guide images. I will explain them to the final team.

I am highly responsive and will be glad to hear from you at every stage of the project. My hope is to maintain consistency of the series and faithfulness to the project goal, which is to illustrate the book.

I would be pleased to make an electronic copy of the book available to any artist on the final team that requests it.

I would also be very glad to provide artist credits in the book to those on the final team, with details to be determined and subject to negotiation.

Budget range:
Small project ($750 – 1,500 USD)

Examples:
The characters are shown in the guide example image below. A middle-eastern shepherd and a young lamb.

About the client
This is a Christian memoir, fairly small ( about 150 pp) and I am the author. I work as a software consultant in the commercial fitness industry and in health science as well.