Job Summary

The Learning Team at Bristol Museums is producing a children’s picture book based on the fossil of a pliosaurus (a marine reptile from the Jurassic period) in the museum’s collection. We want to commission an early career illustrator of children’s books to bring Doris ‘to life’.

Job Description

The aim of this book is to provide an attractive, engaging and informative storybook for children aged around 4-7 years. The content is intended to showcase some of the features of animals living in the Jurassic period, in a way that is factually correct yet fun and accessible.

An original story was created for young children as part of a family-focused exhibition at the museum some years ago called Pliosaurus! Simple graphics were created to illustrate the story, but we want to develop these to be more suitable for publication.

A reconstructed model of the pliosaur is on display at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, suspended from the ceiling above the museum caf . The model was named Doris following public consultation. Image https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/ – Bristol Museums

We want to commission an early career illustrator of children’s books to bring Doris and the other animals from the Jurassic age ‘to life’ in a colourful and accurate series of images to accompany our original story.

As we are aiming to support local creative professionals this commission is only open to people living within the greater Bristol area (Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset)

The fee for this commission is a flat fee of £4000 (inclusive of VAT) to be paid in two instalments (one of 30% on submission of thumbnails), and 70% upon completion of the project). The fee includes an initial planning meeting, reasonable travel and expenses. Payments will be made according to the schedule on receipt of an invoice which includes a Bristol City Council Purchase Order number

Copyright and licensing will be agreed by both parties in a formal agreement

Job Requirements

We would like a wraparound cover design that would attract the target audience. The pages will be (roughly) A4 landscape in format. There will be about 20 pages in the book comprising:16 x single full bleed pages of illustration;1 x double page full bleed illustration and 1 or 2 pages of vignettes.

The text will be made available to the chosen illustrator and access to real objects or photographs of specimens from the museum’s collections to ensure accuracy. The text will be added to each page by the publisher who is compiling the book on our behalf.

Job Responsibilities

We envisage that the book will be published in November 2024, in parallel with the launch of a plush toy based on Doris the Pliosaurus.

The schedule for completion is as follows:

8 July Appointment of illustrator

26 July Thumbnails supplied by illustrator and signed-off by museum

16 August Roughs supplied by illustrator and signed-off by museum

13 September Final artwork supplied by illustrator and signed-off by museum

The dates given are the latest possible date for submission at each stage, earlier submission can be agreed between the museum and illustrator.