Book illustrations to draw [Best Article]

Last updated : Sept 16, 2022

How can I illustrate my book?

1. Seek out stylistic inspiration.
2. Focus on character development.
3. Begin with a storyboard.
4. Seek feedback.
5. Arrange the final artwork and text.

What app can I use to illustrate a book?

Some of the best-known illustration apps are Procreate, Adobe Photoshop Sketch, and Paper. Whether you're working in the digital realm or with pen and paper, mastering a few essential book illustration tools will see you well on your way to developing your own unique style of illustration.

How much do artists charge for book illustrations?

The average hourly rate for an illustrator is easier to establish. Across the industry, you can expect to pay an illustrator twenty-one dollars for an hour of their time. The average hourly range is closer to seventeen to twenty-five dollars.

Can I self illustrate my own book?

If you're confident in your own drawing ability, then doing it yourself may be the best option. However, if you're not sure about your skills or if you're short on time, hiring a professional illustrator may be the way to go. Below I have gone into more detail about the methodology of each option.

How can I illustrate a book for free?

Whether you want to illustrate your book with photos or vector images, Freepik is a great option. It's really easy to use, just search for the keyword of your choice, find the image you like and download it! They even group images together in collections if you would like a nice, neat cohesive theme for your book.

Can I illustrate a book using Canva?

While many authors only use Canva for cover art, others choose to create entire books on the platform. It's great for crafting books with illustrations and photographs, but it can also be used to put together short stories, poetry, novels, and other works that are heavier on the text.

Can I use Procreate to illustrate a book?

You can definitely create a children's book using Procreate. If you want to pursue doing art through Procreate while having a high volume of layers and textures in your art, having the help of Photoshop can make the process simple.

What is the best app to create a book?

• #1. Scrivener.
• #2. yWriter.
• #3. iA Writer.
• #4. Ulysses.
• #5. Reedsy Book Editor.
• #6. Grammarly.
• #7. NaturalReader.

How much does it cost to illustrate a book?

A professionally illustrated book cover will cost, on average, between $500-$1,500.

Do book illustrators get royalties?

According to the Graphic Artists' Guild Handbook, average royalty rates for children's book illustrators are 3.5 to 6%. If you are both the author and the illustrator, average royalty rates are 7% to 12%. Here's what's important to know about an advance: It's an advance against royalties.

Can I become an illustrator if I can't draw?

Definately YES! The fact that you can become an illustrator is more connected to your determination skill than your drawing skill.

What medium do children's book illustrators use?

Many children's book illustrators use watercolor paints, pastels, acrylics, oil paints, and black pen, as these media create smooth, pleasing images. Others use software programs like Procreate to draw digitized images that look fresh and cool.

Do you need to be an illustrator to write a children's book?

An illustrator will be the most expensive step of publishing a children's book, but also the most essential for a successful book. The more you spend on this step, the better your book will look.

Can I illustrate a book online?

Best of all, you can illustrate your book online for free and save as many book projects as you want. When you finish writing your book, we'll professionally print it and deliver it to practically any address in the world.

How do you illustrate a short story?

1. Decide on your story. Ascertain what the mood is in your story.
2. Create character poses. Study your subject to get to know what they are like.
3. Keep sketches loose. Create loose sketches to capture your designs.
4. Consider movement.
5. Check your shapes.
6. Do warm-up studies.
7. Be expressive.
8. Show weight.

How do I make a picture book?

1. How to create a picture book step-by-step.
2. Establish a goal for your picture book.
3. Outline your book.
4. Write your book.
5. Illustrate your book.
6. Come up with a catchy title for your picture book.
7. Produce your book.
8. Test Your Book.

Where can I find illustrations for my book?

Two great places to start are the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and ChildrensIllustrators.com. Both include online portfolio directories that you can browse by style, medium, topic, and even region to find excellent illustrators for hire.

What size paper do illustrators use?

If you are a writer illustrator or if you are just an illustrator and you want to submit some of your stuff to publishers to be considered, you may be asking yourself what size and shape should you make your artwork. I would say, follow standard guidelines. Your basic 8.5” x 11” format is fine.

How do I make a storybook illustration?

1. Find inspiration for your story.
2. Create the story brief.
3. Define the illustration style you're trying to achieve.
4. Find a book writer.
5. Decide your book trim size.
6. Find a book illustrator.
7. Show the Illustrations to children (and get their feedback)

Can you create a book on Canva and sell it?

If you're a writer, you may be wondering if you can create a book on Canva and sell it. The answer is yes! Canva is a great way to create a professional-looking book, and with a few simple steps, you can sell your book online. First, you'll need to create your book in Canva.

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Thanks for this great article

Thanks for your comment Season Fertal, have a nice day.
- Gisele Philio, Staff Member

hi everybody my name is Susan secchi and I'm an award-winning children's book illustrator do you like foxes of course you do otherwise you wouldn't be here today we are going to draw these cute guys that you can see on my screen here but before we do so let's start with some folks jokes so what do you call a fox with a carrot in each year anything you want they cannot hear you what did the grape say when the Fox stood on it nothing it just let out some wine and finally when does a fox go when it is learning a new language of course but now let's start drawing the very first step as usual was collecting several references of Fox's actual red foxes although there are many different species but I felt like sticking to the red foxes as they are present in several fairy tales and other stories could be sufficient for me I chose this one to show you how I approach this project first just finding the main shapes on the Fox and understanding the structure how the body is built so I felt after understanding the structures I'm ready for creating my own illustration children's book illustration Fox but you can see I still follow the same guidelines that guided me drawing the realistic animal so I use the same angles of the body and the shapes are more or less the same although well you can also see I exaggerate certain parts for example the head is much longer the body is more slender in general the sheets are a little bit simplified and what I try to do here actually I try to exaggerate the features I thought are very typical to a fox it is a little bit like you ask yourself a question what makes a fox what are the typical features what are the typical physical features of a fox and exaggerate those features its slender body it's very flexible you can notice the gracefulness and goofiness if you watch videos beat foxes jumping around hunting or just crouching in the nature so I give my Fox longer limbs a little bit even point here years slender body I even decided to give him a longer neck and of course we couldn't forget about the long and bushy tail which is so typical two foxes after I finished with the blue sketch I was ready to continue with a more refined version it is still just a sketch so I'm still just looking for the main features I would like to give to my Fox and while previously I said like I was looking for the main features in general for a fox if you look at a couple of photos reference photos of foxes you will recognize that each of them has their own typical features how the hair is on them how the colors the patches the pattern on their fur is recognizable they are individuals and we can exploit that too we can also give our fairytale Fox some special features some specific pattern or different color patches on her fur the next step is blocking the colors which means I feel a shape of the Fox with some neutral color that will be the part of eventually the whole design then slowly I go into the details and add more and more small parts that give my Fox a little bit more personality it is important to remember not to add too much detail when you start to work on them coloring can be the part of your drawing when you can ruin everything so what is the right approach then I think like with a drawing you can go with the step by step approach first concentrate on the general look of character the bigger shapes the bigger color patches that you add and when everything looks right then you can add some little details for example a little hair here and there a little light a little shade the eyes the nose the lines for the mouth only lines that here signed the limbs of the Fox concentrating on the bigger shapes or the bigger patches of color first will guarantee you a better character better drawing a better design the last touches are very critical to your character design what I am doing here is checking for and looking for any mistakes any detail that I didn't notice so I used a good old trick of flipping my drawing or mirroring it horizontally which helps my brain and eyes to look at the old drawing in new lights and notice design problems or small details that are not on the right place ocelots touch I also use photoshop curves to adjust the colors a little bit on my Fox if you are an illustrator you can face with the situation when you need to draw a baby animal but you are unable to find a suitable reference you might only find reference photos of adult creatures I imagine the situation and I wanted to show you how you can still use the big foxes photo or in our case her illustration as a reference and recreated as a young animal I feel fully followed the pose I think it's easier to compare them all the curves and shapes are very very similar there are of course some differences too for example the proportions the head and the body the little fox has a big head a relatively small body the head shape is similar to the adult animals but it is shorter the forehead is much higher which is actually a typical feature for human babies - the nose is less pointy if you compare the eyes you will notice that the little critters eye is around in the middle of the head why the adult Fox's eye is higher the cops legs and its tail are a bit shorter too as I said earlier foxes have their own individual features so I decided to give these little guys some light arches of fur over his eyebrow for the third character I decided to go with a goofy little fox a toddler having her potty training I made a very rough thumbnail based on a human kid sitting on the toilet and studied some foxes I especially studied the heads as ears can be very tricky when there is some foreshortening I did the thumbnail sketches so my character even though she is only a cartoonish children's book illustration could be believable I always use several helping lines to give me directions and locate things in a three-dimensional space as you can see I'm drawing over the different shapes as they were transparent they make my sketches messy but I don't mind us eventually they serve their purpose to create a better character starting with the large geometric shapes have me to focus on only on the most important the readability and the pose the big shapes compose my drawing the readability in other words an illustration is readable when at first glance you will get what's going on the picture it helps to clarify things the pose is also important as it shows my characters personal at the end mood as opposed to the first two foxes where I just concentrated on the character shapes basically I wanted to create Fox looking foxes I take it a bit further here we almost have a little story you don't forget to hit the like button you can subscribe for more videos and follow me on Instagram or visit my website to see more art which is www brain monsters calm thank you for watching

Thanks fiemend5 your participation is very much appreciated
- Gisele Philio

About the author

Gisele Philio

I've studied pedology at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and I am an expert in topos theory. I usually feel cheerful. My previous job was agricultural product sorter I held this position for 15 years, I love talking about kung fu and reading. Huge fan of Claire Danes I practice hacky sack and collect eggs.