Children's Book Illustrator for Mail-Delivered Interactive Mystery Series

About Us Pick-A-Path Letters is a subscription service that delivers illustrated, choice-driven story chapters straight to kids' mailboxes — twice a month, real paper, real envelopes. At the end of every letter, the reader makes a choice for the hero, and that choice determines which chapter arrives next. No two kids get the same story. Our stories are for kids ages 5–11. Art needs to make a kid want to tear open the envelope the second it lands. The Project We're building our next story: a Nancy Drew–style mystery for kids, currently being written by our author (title TBD). Think a young female detective (and her group of friends), a small-town coastal town setting, clues, suspects, red herrings, and a satisfying reveal — reimagined as a branching, choice-driven format where the reader helps decide how the investigation unfolds. The script is still in progress, so we're starting with style direction and character design now, then scaling into full-letter illustration as chapters are finalized. This is an ongoing illustration partnership across a full story arc — not a single cover job — similar in scope to a chapter-book or comic series produced in installments. What You'll Do -Collaborate with us on initial character designs (young detective/hero, supporting cast, key settings) before illustration begins -Illustrate key scenes for each letter as the script is finalized — richly detailed, full-color, story-driven art (not simple line art) that carries mystery/suspense mood: shadows, clues, close-up detail shots, suspicious characters -Maintain visual consistency for characters and locations across the full series and every branch of the story -Deliver print-ready files at high resolution, sized for a mailed letter format -Deliver transparent PNG versions of key character/scene assets for use in marketing and social content -Work from scripts/story text we provide, with room for your creative interpretation of mood, color, and composition What We're Looking For -A portfolio with children's book or middle-grade illustration experience — bonus points for mystery, detective, or suspense-toned work (think Nancy Drew, Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown–adjacent styles). Attached is an example of one of our other stories so you can get the idea of the layout and illustrations that will be required for each letter. -We are not looking for AI generated illustrations. While we use AI in other areas of the business, the stories and illustrations are real and created by people :) -Comfort developing consistent character designs and reusing them accurately across many scenes -An eye for mystery storytelling through art — using light, framing, and small visual details (a dropped clue, a sideways glance) to build intrigue appropriate for kids -Reliable communication and the ability to hit a recurring delivery schedule Please Include With Your Application Portfolio link(s) — prioritize samples closest to children's/middle-grade fantasy adventure Logistics -Story length: The series is 24 chapters long, but due the choose your own adventure nature of the story, each chapter has 2 or 3 versions making it 63 different letters or chapters — some illustrations will work across multiple path variants, which we'll clarify as the outline finalizes (for example the text in 2.1 and 2.2 might overlap in spots, so 1 illustration might work in both versions) -Format: Work-for-hire; all final art, including character designs created for this project, becomes property of Pick-A-Path Letters LLC Timeline: Looking to start as soon as we find the right fit Pay Structure: Our preferred pay method would be to pay per letter completed. BONUS: We use Adobe InDesign to format our pages and export them to PDFs for printing. If you can layout the pages, that's a bonus (and is very helpful in figuring out what illustrations need to be done so they are landing on the same page as the text). We're a small, hands-on team — you'll be working directly with the founders, not through layers of approval. If you love the idea of illustrating a story kids get excited to find in the mailbox, we'd love to see your work.