Hi there,
I was very happy to see your call. I would love to work on the book about the Yosemite bears. Your budget suggests that you might be interested in real, handcrafted (not computer generated) art, so please let me offer original, done from scratch illustrations in any of the traditional media.
I'm a traditionally trained artist and I've been working as an old-school children's books illustrator for many years. As I strongly prefer to work by hand, my work is always custom done and original. In the process of work, I prepare the storyboard, design the characters and prepare the pencil sketches. Only after this initial work is approved by the client, I proceed with inking/colouring/painting. I normally deliver high resolution scans, but is possible to have the originals sent as well.
You can see few samples of my commissioned work at https://www.freelancer.com/u/ddimitrovska. My most recent work (several latest books and book cover art) is not showcased yet, so please feel free to ask for more samples if you are interested. I would be happy to prepare a simple trail sketch or a completed trial illustration (the later for a rate that we can negotiate) if that would help you decide. Please note that both the quote and the timeline are only provisional and that I'd be able to give you an offer once I know more about the book. In any case, I'm available to discuss your ideas and all other details over chat and I'd be very happy to hear from you,
Kind regards,
Dusic