Meet Our Seller – Eliass Al

Our next seller is Eliass Al is a web developer and graphic designer and a picture book author based in Morocco. To date, he has authored and illustrated more than 10 picture books and sells them on Kindle Amazon. Besides writing his own books, he also helps other picture book authors illustrate their ideas in a fine body of work. This is his story:

1) What made you want to write children’s books?

Ever since I was a child, I used to read children’s books all the time, I always loved the work authors put into their books and it inspired me to learn how to draw and create my own art. And when I grew up, I decided to implement what I learnt into making my own children’s book and helping other authors to illustrate theirs and it’s going pretty well so far.

2) How long do you take to complete one book?

To complete one book, it usually takes four to five days.

3) What are some of the processes that an author should take if they want to write a picture book?

Story is everything! To have a successful children’s book, the author needs a story that is short, captivating and sweet that can touch a kid’s heart and make him learn something new and on top of that, it needs to include some colourful hand drawn illustrations that will make the kid want to read your entire story.

4) How many picture books have you written to date?

I’ve written almost 10 books now, but I illustrated dozens of them for authors.

5) Do authors need to know how to draw before they can write a picture book?

Yes! Drawing is everything when it comes to a picture book, it can either make the book really successful or fail horribly. If the author can’t draw, then he can simply hire someone who can, and that’s when we- the illustrators come in, we help make their stories come to life.

6) Where do you get the inspiration to write all those books?

I used to watch a lot of cartoons so that plays a big part in my inspiration, I also learn and get inspired from other illustrators and artists and over the years I developed my own style.

7) Other than making children’s books, what else can you do?

Besides children’s books, I’m also an inspiring web developer and a graphic designer in general. So, I pretty much design everything and anything from websites, phone applications, packaging, logos, flyers. And I still want to learn more and I’m always striving to be a better designer.