It was close to midnight and my eyes were blurry. I’d spent hours reviewing portfolios and clicking through illustration after illustration, and nothing was right. Not wrong, exactly. Just not it. I closed my laptop.
Why I opened it again, I don’t know.
I didn’t go back to the portfolio sites. I opened Facebook. And the very first post in my feed was an illustrator responding to someone else’s inquiry. There was a single illustration attached.
I saw it and said, out loud to no one, “That’s it. She’s the one.”
I was so tired I had to wait until the next morning to email her.
The Search
I should back up. Finding the right illustrator for The Hallway of Doorknobs was one of the longest, most frustrating parts of bringing this book to life. I knew what I wanted. I could see it in my head. I just couldn’t find it in anyone else’s hands.
I started locally. I reached out to an art school in my area to see if a student might be interested in the project. A coordinator connected me with one candidate she thought would be a good match. But when the sample came back, the style wasn’t what the book needed. No other students came forward.
So I moved to Fiverr. I placed an ad and the responses poured in. Weeks of sorting through profiles and portfolios. I narrowed it down to several people who seemed like potential matches.
The first offered a paid sample. Her portfolio had pieces in the style I was looking for, but the sample she created didn’t match. When I asked for revisions, she didn’t take it well. It didn’t work out. I got a refund.
A second illustrator offered a paid sample, and when I asked for a revision, she cancelled the request and refunded the money.
I widened my search to Reedsy, Behance, and SCBWI. I found several potential matches but either they were not taking new clients or they did not respond.
Back on Fiverr, I found another illustrator and paid for a sample. I actually liked what he sent. I asked for revisions and then waited. Weeks went by. No response. He just disappeared.
Then came the Facebook groups. I joined several, and the responses flooded in. Most people didn’t read what I was looking for. They responded with what I’m pretty sure were AI-generated messages. My own request restated back to me, assuring me they could do the job. Then I’d look at their portfolios and see nothing close to what I’d described. Week after week of this.
There was one illustrator during all of this who was genuinely persistent. He offered a free sample and kept working on revisions. He was getting closer, and I thought he might actually work.
Around this time, Maya Bairey, founder of Lingua Ink Books and my publishing partner on this project, told me I might have to relax my standards. She said I was never going to find someone who could make the illustrations look exactly the way I saw them in my head. I jokingly said, “Never.” But I knew what she meant. I had to find someone who was quality, not perfection. Someone whose vision could meet mine somewhere close enough.
Then I found Justyna.
That First Email
The morning after my late-night discovery, I emailed Justyna Nowosadko. Her response came quickly, and it told me something important. She didn’t just say she could do the work. She understood what the work was about.
“Your book concept is beautiful,” she wrote. “The IFS model is such powerful work, and I love that you’re creating a resource that combines therapeutic insight with emotional storytelling for children, especially in underserved communities.”
After months of generic responses from illustrators who hadn’t read my brief, this felt different. She went on to describe her approach: painterly, emotionally rich scenes with attention to realistic lighting and diversity in character design. She offered to create a paid sample based on one of my characters or scenes.
I’d been through enough paid samples by then to be cautious. But I also knew what I’d seen in her work. Maya and I talked it over, and I agreed to pay for a sample of the opening hallway scene. Her eye matters. I’d spent a long time perfecting my own reference image for that scene, and I gave it to Justyna as the basis for her illustration.
The sample came back. The revisions went smoothly. She was prompt, professional, and didn’t flinch when I asked for changes. After everything I’d been through, that mattered.
The Zoom That Almost Wasn’t
We set up a Zoom call with me, Justyna, and Maya. There was a scheduling mix-up and I started the call with just Justyna, terrified of losing the illustrator I’d spent months searching for. A few minutes in, Maya texted: “Where are you? I’m here in the Zoom.” We got it sorted. The call went well, and a contract was signed.
Behind the Sketch
Justyna Nowosadko is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Llanelli, Wales. She works with clients around the world, blending digital art with traditional drawing techniques. She’s created book covers and illustrations for Dressler Dublin House Publishing, and her broader work spans branding, packaging, and visual design. You can find her portfolio at justynadrygas.wixsite.com/justyna-nowosadko, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Instagram at @justynanowosadko.
What I love about working with her is something you can see even in the early sketches. Look at the image below. This is a sketch from the book’s hallway scene, where the children first discover the doors and their different doorknobs. The energy in it, the kids leaning forward, reaching for the doorknobs, the curiosity on their faces. That’s the feeling I wanted this book to have, and Justyna captured it before she ever picked up a color palette. And then a peek at what that sketch becomes in her hands.
The illustrations are finished now, and watching these pages come to life has been one of the best parts of this whole process.
What the Search Taught Me
I spent months looking for the right illustrator. I scrolled through hundreds of portfolios. Paid for samples that didn’t work. Waited for responses that never came. I read so many generic “I’d love to work on your project!” messages that the words stopped meaning anything.
And then, on a night when I was too tired to keep going, I closed my laptop and opened it one more time.
What I can tell you is that I almost stopped looking that night. I’m glad I didn’t.
The Hallway of Doorknobs: A Journey to the Feelings Inside launches May 4, 2026. Next week, you’ll get to meet one of the parts from the hallway.
Pre-order here: The Hallway of Doorknobs – Lynn A. Haller
- Finding Compassion in Healing: The Child Who Asked for a Hug - May 11, 2026
- When a Children’s Book Shows Up at a Professional Conference - May 6, 2026
- Launch Day - May 4, 2026
Lynn, when you offered your thought that if someone is working on a creative project and hasn’t found the right collaborator yet, you don’t have a shortcut to offer, but you do offer the wisdom that you’ll know it when you see it. And you say to trust that feeling, that it’s worth the wait.
That really landed with me in my process of transitioning into the final third of my life. Not knowing if I’ll find a partner to accompany me, but trusting that if it is meant to happen, it will happen. And that it will truly be worth the wait.
Thank you for sharing this. I’m really moved by how deeply it resonated with you. There’s something brave and tender about allowing space for what hasn’t arrived yet while still trusting your own knowing.
That is a very beautiful cover. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for taking the time to look at it and comment! I agree! It is beautiful!
I’m really glad you didn’t give up that night. The illustrations for the book are truly beautiful and worth the wait!
Thanks! I think Justyna did a fabulous job!!!