What qualities make good commercial illustrators for novel covers?Utsudo has worked with a dozen or two illustrators. She most admires those who carefully read the original work and precisely capture the characters’ essence — such as Xiaozi of Otaku Mage, Leila of Deadly Partners, and Xiyuzhong of My Roommate Is a Ghost and other titles.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Commercial illustrators I’ve worked with

　　After knocking around this industry for a few years, I’ve worked with so many illustrators, publicly or privately, that I can’t be bothered to count — at least a dozen or twenty or so. I suppose that counts as a bit of experience.

Xiaozi of Otaku Mage

　　Speaking of professionalism that impressed me, it has to be the illustrator of my first publication,Xiaozi, illustrator of the Otaku Mage series. Reportedly she was a big name in the doujin scene at the time (according to my editor), great at drawing all ages and genders, and amazing at fantasy or game-style armor and robes. My work happened to be classified as gaming literature, so naturally they searched for talent in that direction XD

　　A little secret: the editor originally wanted to work with the great Zhanbulu on this one, but waiting for her schedule would have pushed publication back a full year, so they had to give up QQ

　　Xiaozi not only read the work carefully, she drew several versions of the same character, with similar hairstyles and outfits for us to choose from, and even drew a few mood sketches to capture the characters’ feel. There was so much material that the editorial team compiled it into a little notebook bundled with the book XD

　　Since that was my first publication and first time working with an illustrator, I assumed all illustrators were this professional and dedicated. Not so. Illustrators I met later mostly submitted just one version to revise, and I even encountered some who drew only from the character sheets without reading the work… so sometimes the characters’ essence was way off, and we went back and forth on revisions several times.

　　Of course, it might also be that I didn’t write the character sheets well QQ

Leila of Deadly Partners

　　Later, I metLeila, illustrator of Deadly Partners。

　　She’s also an extremely dedicated illustrator who captures characters’ essence beautifully. Her exquisite, careful artwork is loved by many, and she’s gone international, very popular abroad too.

　　I still don’t quite understand why they invited a big-name BL illustrator to do the cover for a work of mine that wasn’t even BL — probably the publisher’s strategy, hmm XD

　　AndLeila is also an alumna of my university— I found out by accident. One day while tidying my room, I found a booklet handed out at university freshman orientation, and the art style looked familiar. When I checked the name, it was Leila! Curious, I asked her directly, and it really was her — so happy XDDD

The young and talented Xiyuzhong

　　The third illustrator I want to praise isXiyuzhong, illustrator of Meow Meow Magic House, My Roommate Is a Ghost and Alice From the Moon。

　　When I learned from the publisher that he was only in his teens, I was so surprised =口=

　　After all, he already had quite a few commercial collaborations back then, and his skill and dedication were very professional. I believe he must have read the original before drawing, because the character sheets I gave were very simple, yethe captured their essence precisely and depicted the characters even better than I’d imagined. Every time I received the artwork I was full of amazement — it really moved me QQ

　　I think he’s sure to become a wonderful illustrator, and I’m really looking forward to his future work >w<

　　To all you great illustrators: thank you for wrapping my stories in exquisite art, turning my words into images understood at a glance — the first impression readers get.

　　Working together on a work is fate, and every collaboration moves me. I get this feeling of “so this is the picture my story brought to the illustrator’s mind” — as if the story itself becomes real.

　　Thank you, all my past collaborators —these works are my treasures >\\w\\<​​​​​​​

　　Of course, my current collaborators are also amazing illustrators worthy of my respect, but I generally don’t write about ongoing partners, or I’d be suspected of excessive flattery XDDD

　　But thanks to her, I think I can write about my experiences and thoughts on dipping into game scripts, and share them with you all~

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #50 (in Chinese)
• Next: #52 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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