Illustrations for Children's Stories

I am looking for an illustrator for two children's stories so that I can read them to my kids. I prefer very simple, cute characters in a modern, minimalist style. I am flexible regarding the media used, however, I do prefer pen and watercolors. Artist must be able to draw a variety of animals in various poses. The central figure of one story is a duck, however, there are a number of other animals the duck meets on his journey. The main character in the other story is an ant and there are many other ants and a spider as central figures in that story. For the duck story, I envision the characters less as anthropomorphic figures and more as closely resembling the animals they represent but with emotions expressed through subtle facial changes, body positioning, and simple animation lines. The same is true for the ant story, however, I do envision the ant as being a bit more animated and having a more illustrative personality. Copies of the stories will be sent to the illustrator once you have been selected. I have page layouts and illustration annotations for each story already, however, there is a lot of room for creativity with these stories. I am looking to move quickly with these projects as they have already been shelved for quite some time. Delivery of the illustrations from the illustrator to me will be determined depending on production methods. There is the possibility that I would try to self-publish the books at some point in the future. If that does come to fruition, I would assume the rights to the illustrations; illustrator would receive full illustration credits and a complimentary copy of the final publication. I look forward to seeing your work. Thank you for your consideration.