As a first-time author, you may be on a shoestring budget. Your children’s book may somewhat require 28 or more illustrations. Outsourcing them from an experienced or skilled professional may get out of your reach. Learning the art of creating illustrations yourself is the only shot, especially if don’t want a loan or traditionally publish.
Your presence over here indicates that you have been looking for the right guide that help you look behind the scenes. While most posts are cluttered or have too much guidance, hard to navigate for beginners, we’ve enclosed straightforward steps in this blog. It will let you understand the items and roadmap you need to take to create stunning illustrations.
If not an author, you should still delve into it to pick up illustration as your hobby or side hustle. Let’s together dive in!
Things You Will Need to Illustrate Your Children’s Book
There are a couple of things you will need to start. Let’s take a look at them:
- Pencil + Eraser: Use a soft eraser to keep your sketches clean and smudge-free without damaging your paper.
- Paperclips: Use clips to keep your papers together during the tracing process. You can use any type, but we suggest you prefer a small clamp.
- Sketchpad: Get a professional sketchpad or printer paper. It doesn’t matter what you choose out of both options. You will digitize illustrations later on anyway. However, use a proper white sheet instead of a cream or off-white one.
- Ink Pen: Use a black ink pen, preferably a dual brush one, as it works perfectly for children’s illustrations. You can get a whole set of pens to get your hands on various tip sizes.
- Light Table: Get a portable and slim illuminating pad to effortlessly trace your artwork. Another option is to a clear Tupperware box and turn it upside down. Put a battery-operated lap or a flashlight underneath the sheet to effectively trace.
- Graphic Software or App: It is where all the magic happens. Use Autodesk sketchbook to insert outlines, color your illustrations, and incorporate your text layers. You can start with this software’s free version. The alternative option is Adobe’s program for creating children’s comic book illustrations in London. It is slightly pricier than the Autodesk sketchbook.
Step-by-Step Process to Create Illustrations for Your Children’s Book
There are typically two methods. One where you sketch out the entire scene, while others where you design backgrounds and characters separately. Both techniques are first sketched out by hand on paper and then finished with the graphic software program.
Method #1: Illustrating Together
- Draw with a Pencil: Sketch out the entire scene related to the story on the regular-sized sheet paper. Trim off some of the edges to make your artwork fit in your book’s size. The typical size is 5.2 x 8″. Make sure you don’t have anything important at the corners of your sheet.
- Outline Your Sketch with an Ink: Once you have sketched out according to the text, put the second paper on top of it. Secure it with two or more clips to make sure they both don’t get out of place while tracing. Carefully trace outlines with one of your ink pens. Draw outlines only and don’t fill or shade any of the bits at this stage.
- Scan the Illustration: After outlining the sketch with an ink pen, scan your illustrations into your computer. Go for the high-quality, which is 300 DPI in a black and white setting. Once you have digitized it, open it in the graphic software. Use the software you find the most suitable. We recommend you opt for the one that offers a layering capability. It will make things easier for you.
Final Verdict:
Layering is useful. It allows you to move and manipulate different parts of your illustration. For instance, you can use a layer for the outline and then develop a separate layer for every object you color. Having separate layers for the wall’s shade will let you change the hue of every object later without affecting other items in the image.
The way you handle this method is completely up to you. Using a myriad of separate layers will benefit you in the long term. And it is the best advice coming from our side.
Method #2: Illustrating Everything Separately
- Pencil Sketching: Sketch out all your characters first for your all scenes, including their different angles and poses. Many Childrens Illustration in UK create the background for each scene separately later in this method. You can also implement this technique. This will let you reuse each character and background setting for various scenes in the future. It is best when you’re aiming to publish a children’s book series. For this method, the paper size doesn’t matter at all. Use a regular-sized white paper.
- Ink Your Outline: Carefully ink each of your illustration’s outlines. Once again, avoid filling in or shading any areas at this step.
- Complete the Illustration: Scan your sketch into your computer. Don’t compromise on your artwork’s quality. Choose 300 DPI, black and white setting. Once digitized, open your illustrations in your selected graphic software. Increase the brightness of your image and enhance its contrast settings so that you can easily notice the outline. Clean them up.
Final Verdict:
Once you have completed all the individual bits, then assemble all your scenes by creating a new file. Import one of the backgrounds that you created earlier to create a layered background. Later, add a new layer for each additional character that you can incorporate on top of that scene.
Choose the right dimensions so let your illustrations fit well in your children’s book orientation and size settings of 300 DPI. Finally, you may have to combine individual elements into an actual scene to create a compelling illustrative page.
- What is the right process for illustrating a children’s book?
Sketch out all the characters that you have mentioned throughout your story, including their all poses and angles. Later, draw the various backgrounds required for your tale separately. Ink their outline while tracing them onto a different piece of paper. Digitize them and color them using graphic software. Combine distinctive characters and backgrounds depending on the scene’s needs to effortlessly create all your eye-catching illustrations.
- What is the most famous children’s book illustration style?
Cartoonish style is the most famous style and it is also the common one. It is vibrant and mesmerizing, allowing anthropomorphizing animals with human features. You can use it to exaggerate reality a bit more.
- How many illustrations should a children’s book contain?
It should have at least one illustration per page and approximately 28 for your manuscript. Organize it in a 32-page picture book template.
Summing It All Up
That’s the final curtain call, folks! Hopefully, you would have grasped the process of creating immersive illustrations for your children’s books. Implementing the above guidelines will help you master the art of crafting customized artwork that enhances your storytelling. Picturesque artwork combined with your compelling story will take kids on an adventurous reading journey. Your catchy illustrations will keep them hooked throughout your children’s book. However, have patience while illustrating your artwork. Remember – it isn’t as easy as it sounds. It is completely OKAY with you committing blunders in the first few tries. But you will soon get there. Otherwise, you can also seek help from professional children’s book illustration services. They will handle the stressful process for you and deliver you the best quality, 100% tailored illustrations.