When should I look for an art rep? Will a literary agent help me get my stories and illustrations published? How should I look for representation? These are just a few of the challenging questions that artists and illustrators may face as they attempt to develop their careers. Anna Olswanger is a literary agent with Liza Dawson Associates in New York, where she specializes in illustrated work, both fiction and nonfiction, for young readers and adults. She has sold to Balzer & Bray, Bloomsbury, Boyds Mills Press, Marshall Cavendish, Chronicle, Dutton, Greenwillow, McElderry, and Random House Children's Books, among other publishers. In addition to being a literary agent, Olswanger is the author of the children's book Shlemiel Crooks, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Koret International Jewish Book Award Finalist, and PJ Library Book. Having worked as both an agent and a creative, Olswanger is in a good position to address some of these pressing questions regarding representation.

Artist and illustrator Carlo LoRaso met with me for this interview wearing a nicely draping button-down shirt, the sort any man might wear to the office, except that his was emblazoned with cartoon images of The Incredible Hulk. His basement studio is a bright and creative space that looks like it was decorated by a very organized child. Built-in shelves climb the walls, filled with toys and packaging that he has designed over the years. Pinned to his spacious bulletin board are renderings of current projects: caricatures, new toy designs, and book illustrations. And on his desk is a curious and absorbing drawing that is part of a personal endeavor, a children's book that he is writing and illustrating himself. His work is varied, but there are distinct elements of exuberance and whimsy that seem to inhabit all of his creations; it's very easy to imagine him thriving at Disney.

The word "timeless" is a curious choice to describe a series of clocks, but when the works are those of Michigan-based artist Eric Freitas, "timeless" begins to make sense. Described on his website as "dark mechanical curiosities and horological contradictions," his work hints at a universe where machines assimilate the traits of organic life.

James E. Lyle (aka "Doodle") was fortunate enough to discover his passion for art early in life. "From around the age of three, my family started noticing my artistic aspirations and encouraged them," says Lyle. "I can't recall a time when I wasn't drawing things, and I get very cranky if I go more than a few days without drawing something. So by sixth grade I'd settled on 'artist' as a life's work."

Maggie Barnes never planned on being an artist. But that's what she's become, through a series of serendipitous events, and now she can't imagine her life as anything else. With a bachelor's degree in English, and a master's in Secondary Education, this Cincinnati, Ohio, native was (or at least seemed) destined to be an English teacher. And that's what she was for a few years-until she had children and became a stay-at-home mom. "I was originally planning to go back to teaching when the kids went to school fulltime," she says. "And while I very much enjoy teaching, I'm so grateful that my career as an artist sort of took off on its own."