Abbey

Children’s Book Illustrator And Character Designer

Upwork • Selbstständig

Jan 2024 - Present • 2 yrs 9 mos

I work with authors, publishers, educators, and self-publishing creators to develop original visual storytelling for children’s books. I build characters and scenes that communicate personality, emotion, action, and story clearly. My expertise covers middle grade books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, educational stories, and character-driven publishing projects. I create hand-drawn children’s book illustrations, storybook scenes, character concepts, character sheets, expression sheets, pose sheets, turnarounds, and visual reference artwork. For character development, I focus on recognizable silhouettes, facial identity, body language, age-appropriate proportions, costume details, and repeatable visual features. I develop characters from descriptions, sketches, references, or existing designs, then establish consistent views, poses, expressions, and acting moments. For story illustration, I translate manuscripts and art direction into readable compositions with expressive characters, environments, props, and visual continuity. I focus on character interaction, visual continuity, and how each image advances the story. I prepare artwork for publishing workflows, including print-ready layouts, book covers, interior illustrations, and Amazon KDP projects. I understand dimensions, resolution, bleed, composition, file organization, and character consistency. My workflow is structured: I review the brief, clarify the direction, develop rough concepts, refine approved designs, produce finished artwork, and apply revisions carefully. I communicate clearly throughout production. Strongest areas are children’s character design, expressive character acting, visual development, story-driven illustration, character consistency, hand-drawn aesthetics, and publishing artwork. I adapt the visual treatment to a target age group, genre, tone, and story while maintaining a cohesive visual identity.