The Good Ship Illustration

Is this normal in publishing… or am I being taken for a mug?

22 min • 20 juni 2025

When your project goes a bit pear-shaped you might wonder if that’s just how the illustration industry is.

Well, this week we’re talking all about what's good, bad, and normal... and whether there are red flags you should look out for in your illustrator-publisher relationship.


Highlights:

  • Why it's never okay to get feedback on a Friday and be asked for a full redraw by Monday 🙃
  • What’s typical in the picture book process (roughs, colour roughs, final art, etc)
  • When changes are fine… and when they’re totally out of order
  • How to set better boundaries (and how to stick to them)
  • Our own early-illustration-career experiences, and what we'd do differently now


Timestamps:
00:00 – Is this normal? A horror story from an illustrator
02:00 – Unrealistic deadlines & being pressured to work weekends
05:00 – When publishers ignore your roughs completely
06:30 – What a healthy picture book workflow looks like
09:00 – Final artwork and why changing it is a big deal
12:00 – Bologna book fair: what gets shown
14:30 – When you can trust your publisher/designer (and when you really can’t)
16:00 – Agents behaving badly 
20:00 – Why this doesn’t mean all of publishing is bad! 

#NotAllPublishers


Links an' that

  • Our picture book course doors are opening SOON! Keep yer eyes peeled and grab the freeebies here: https://www.thegoodshipillustration.com/PB
  • Got a question? Send it our way and we might answer it in a future episode!



Bye for now!
 x The Good Ship Illustration (Helen, Katie & Tania) 

Come and say hello!

✏️ @thegoodshipillustration
🌏 www.thegoodshipillustration.com

p.s. We love answering your illustration questions. Click here to submit your question for The Good Ship Illustration Podcast 🎙

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