Illustrator Spotlight: Stephanie Hider

April 1, 2020

We are excited to feature illustrator Stephanie Hider and her April banner design for Kidlit411.

Tell us about yourself and how you came to illustrate for children.

I used to draw and paint from youth until college but my Fine Arts degree didn’t get utilized at all. I was working as a designer for most of my career. Early on I was a print designer, then made the transition to web design and development. I decided after not even drawing as a hobby for over 20 years I was ready to make a switch. I started burning the midnight oil as I taught myself how to work digitally as an artist. My goal was to have 75% of my work be illustration oriented in five years and I am at 95% in less than three. I knew I wanted to work in illustration and in a section of it that was fun and joyful and as a book reader, it just fit. I have started writing my own books as well and one is releasing in a few weeks.

We love your design for the Kidlit411 banner. Tell us how you approached this project.

Thank you so much! I generally start every layout as a design first then an illustration so I considered how I wanted the words to form first and then drew around that open space so that it was more of a natural form. Changing the bird shapes and heights along this curvature was part of the design as well.

You are a designer, illustrator, and front end developer. How do wearing these different hats influence your illustration?

For the first year or so I did wear both hats and it was a bit much. I am 95% all illustration work at this point and only work on design/dev for my own sites and one or two clients. Far as influence my design background definitely influences and helps I believe my illustration work. Seeing the layout before the composition work helps tremendously I believe. As well as using type as a design form for the pages as I have incorporated quite a few of those fun elements in books.

What is your illustration process?

I first ask any potential clients to take a look at my “which hippo” page to determine which art style they are looking for. I noticed some miscommunications early on when doing estimates so this has helped a ton.

Once this is determined and we are moving through the project I start with character roughs first for the main characters then secondary character roughs and a render.

Then picture book dummy thumbnails are created to show composition suggested. Then each spread with a rough and text to show page turn and text placement.

Then a line art version then final paint.

]What projects are you working on now?

I just had 3 chapter books and 2 picture books go to print, and poem art for Ladybug in next month's issue. I am currently working on 1 chapter book, 1 Kickstarter package, 2 board books, and 10 picture books for self-publishing authors and one publisher. I have 3 personal projects going on as well. Pretty busy which is awesome!

What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

I read tarot for myself and others and I am working on doing a tarot deck as well.

Where can people find you online?

http://stephisdoodling.com https://www.instagram.com/stephhider

I currently live with my daughter, maltipoo pup in Oklahoma. I am a visual designer with a background in web design/development. My illustration style has evolved over the past few years. I love working digital and pushing it to look more like traditional work.

Random facts: I have an odd but great sense of humor, avid video gamer and sci fi geek. While I mainly read nonfiction these days my passion for books has made me a prolific reader. My favorite word is plethora, my favorite color is coral, I am addicted to procreate brushes and my biggest pet peeve is being read to.