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Should I hire an illustrator before my book is finished?

Ideally, your manuscript should be in a reasonably finished state before you commission the final artwork.

But that doesn't mean the illustrator shouldn't be involved earlier.

Pastel Ship.jpg
In fact, involving an illustrator while you're still thinking about the book can sometimes be extremely useful. An experienced children's illustrator can spot visual opportunities in the manuscript that an author might not have considered.
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But there's an important distinction between developing a book and illustrating a finished book.
If the text keeps changing once finished illustrations have been produced, you can end up having to change the artwork, page layouts and sometimes the entire visual structure of the book.
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My advice is to get the story as close to its final form as possible before starting finished illustration.
If changes are still being made, that's fine. Just make sure everyone understands that changes to the manuscript can have consequences for the artwork.

This is a style I developed working in the animation and game industry used to iterate character designs. I use this when the project needs a touch of the 3 dimensional. Many a rolling hill in the background.

This is the style that I have been developing and improving since I was 16 years old. I’m working in a maximum of two planes wherever possible. Things in the background are only added when essential to the story. They are often drawn on the same horizon line as the main focal character and adjusted in size to create depth. This is how comics were done originally and is my favourite way to work. 

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