Drawing stuff. It’s easy right.

Grab a pencil. Some paper. Colour between the lines. We’ve all been doing it since we were old enough to take a bite out of a crayon.

Finding Kayla wasn’t as simple as just picking the first artist who said ‘YES’

But from the earliest age, my daughter made it fairly clear what she thought of my attempted crayola masterpieces.

“Daddy. Your pictures don’t look like they’re meant to.”

To be fair, 4 year olds are usually wrong about just about everything in life. She once told me that if she ever stopped drinking milk she’d end up back in mummy’s tummy. I’m not convinced about that, but on this occasion, however, I decided to heed her advice for a change.

As it says on my website — “I write like a scholar and rhyme like a pop star, but I have the illustrative talent of a newborn baby.”

https://medium.com/media/cb30bc46dbcd19cea7efcca2c4841e8a/href

So I took to the internet in search of a partner. And I knew exactly where to look. Instagram. I’ve worked with illustrators before. On websites, apps, novels, and other projects. So I was already following a wide variety of artists. There had to be someone amongst them who could bring my work to life.

I spent days scrolling through my feed and consulting my brain trust (my wife and her bestie) over which artist to choose. There was so much to love, but also plenty to avoid. My characters needed life. No dead eyes, twisted limbs, or banana feet.

I wanted bold colors. Solid lines. And that special je nais se quois, that could elevate the story beyond just its words. So even after I finally narrowed it down to the artists I thought fitted the bill, I realized that I didn’t just need someone to draw the hell out of my words. I needed someone who understood them. Someone who found similar meaning in them. And someone who was going to challenge me and themselves to push the book as far as they could.

So I wrote up a pitch and sent it to each of them. I got two quick responses.

The first was:

“Looks great, when can we get started?”

The second was:

“Here are my rates.”

The third response took a little longer to arrive. But here’s a little snippet:

I’ve been thinking about your email and if your offer still stands I’d love to be involved in your book. The emphasis on adventurous young girls and their relationships with their dads sounds fantastic, and the mix of professions/outfits would make for an incredibly exciting project as an illustrator.

When I was a kid my dad read me bedtime stories too and it was my favourite time with him (I still remember all the voices he’d do when reading ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’). I think your book has a great message and I would love to know more about it

Clearly, a connection had been made. They’d read the text I’d sent. And it had resonated. If there’s one thing I want to make sure I pass onto my kids, it’s that they should do what they love. And if they find the thing they love, they should put all their passion into it. And I could tell straight away that this artist loved what they did and could pour that passion back into my book.

Her journey from scientist to illustrator was uplifting in itself. And the passion and emotion in her work was infectious. The fact that she could also draw some pretty damn amazing characters was a tidy bonus. It only takes a quick flick through her page to realise just how talent she is, and how much time and effort she puts into learning her craft and getting better and better.

And I don’t want to call myself a talent scout or anything, but when I met Kayla back in 2017, this was how many followers she had:

And now she has this many.

So when Simon Cowell retires, I’m totally available to find the next big thing.

https://medium.com/media/d5e93d58350ed4ec1b2d12d831ee9d97/href

After that. It was all systems go. And time for the fun part. Bringing these characters to life!