Knowing The Score Process
Behind the scenes of my first book cover
Hi! It’s me, Catherine Fortey - an illustrator and artist, turning voices and stories into pictures. You’re reading a paid post from “The Quiet Blackbird”, where I talk about my illustration journey into children’s publishing, but often get sidetracked by the million other things my brain wants to share.
Hello Great Tits,
Back in November 2023, I opened the most exciting email. It was innocuous, sitting there quietly in my inbox, but it contained the most wonderful opportunity. As a mentee on Pathways Into Children’s Publishing, I’m lucky to sometimes have my work seen by very important people in the publishing world, and it was by this association that an agent who gave me a portfolio review, put my IG account in front of Art Director (and brilliant children’s book author in her own right), Charlie Moyler at Little Tiger.
Charlie wanted me to illustrate the cover for Ros Robert’s third book for 8-11 year olds. We agreed a plan - quick turn around and all finished by Christmas (hahaha!), Charlie picked out examples of the style she was thinking from my portfolio - thank you Steven Lenton for setting us the task to illustrate a page from Holly Smales ‘Geek Girl’ in our class - and sent me the book text, and a brief.