The big picture

A moving city by Han Dan

Legal protection

Zhang can recall few cases in which those who order illustrations from her have offered a contract for her to sign. In most cases the only communication is by email and without legal protection some illustrators have to fight to get paid even after their work has been used.

Apart from needing artistic talent and training, creating an illustration is time consuming and most illustrators who have not made a name for themselves struggle to survive on the meager earnings. In fact many of Zhang's illustrator friends say trying to make a living from their art is out of the question.

"They all love painting, but they have to live," she says.

Han Dan, 28, an illustrator who is known on the internet as Ghost Master, is an editor at Chemical Industry Press in Beijing. The lethargic growth in the publication of original picture books in China is partly the result of a dearth of picture book editors in publishing houses or elsewhere she says.

Zhang says: "Apart from illustrators, most people do not know about illustrations, or know what kind of illustrators they need, or what kind of creative styles they want. People in other fields know little about art and painting."