PK 177: Becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator – Interview With Matt B Lewis

Becoming a children’s book illustrator is a dream for many artists, but how can you turn this dream into reality and actually make a decent living from it?

In this week’s podcast, Australian children’s book illustrator, Matt B Lewis, reveals how he eventually decided to take the plunge and go freelance after 18 years as a civil servant – a totally unrelated career.

Although he never went to art school, Matt has always drawn every single day. And, one day in 2017, he decided to see if he really could turn his hobby into a viable career.

Having enrolled in the Illustration Lighthouse program in September 2016, he’d already realized how important it is to find the one thing you love doing most and concentrate on that.
So that’s exactly what he did. And, by October, he’d already written, illustrated and published his first book, Monsters in the Garden – a gift to his young daughter.

Another picture book for his son followed in February 2017, by which time Matt felt ready to start taking his new creative career to the next stage.

But how exactly did he go about doing this? You’ll find out more about becoming a children’s book illustrator in this week’s inspiring podcast interview.

Becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator – How Matt B Lewis Did it

“You have to be true to yourself, you have to have 100% commitment. If you’re gonna do it, you’ve just gotta do it. You can’t half hit the mark.”
~ Matt B Lewis.

Highlights From This Podcast:

  • Why being self-taught needn’t be a barrier to your art career
  • Why concentrating on the one thing you love doing most is so important
  • How to find out about networking events in your local area
  • Why determination and putting yourself out there are key factors in your success
  • Why having a portfolio to show to prospective clients is crucial
  • How to study and develop your skills as an artist
  • How to quit the day job and finally start doing what you’ve always wanted to do.

We hope this week’s interview with Matt B Lewis gives you lots of inspiring advice about becoming a children’s book illustrator.

And, if you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like to listen to this interview with artist Oliver Kriel on how to publish your first children’s book in just three months.

Have you got any ideas for illustrating a children’s book in the near future? Tell us about them in the comments box below this post – we’d love to hear from you!

People on this Episode:

Links From This Episode:

Subscribe via iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher Radio.
Android users can grab our RSS feed here.
Right-click and “save file as” for direct download.

Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Mitch

PS, there is also Pencil Kings content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest

2 thoughts on “PK 177: Becoming a Children’s Book Illustrator – Interview With Matt B Lewis”

  1. This is really inspiring!!! I am leaving this podcast ready to achieve my dreams that seem impossible. Thanks!

Comments are closed.