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Ever dreamt of illustrating a children’s picture book?

Before beginning, there are a few things to take into account. Let me guide you through them.

In order to illustrate a children’s picture book, you need to consider lots of factors: book size, page count, character design, the flow of text (and image), page layout, design, colour, illustration techniques, and more. With so much to think about, it’s sometimes difficult to know when to start. 

This is why – even having illustrated more than a dozen picture books – I still like to work alongside my Picture Book Illustration e-CourseCreating art can be a complicated process, but I find the Program for Bettering Illustration Creation (PBIC) has been invaluable in helping me stay organized while working on my illustrations. With the program’s step-by-step guide, I’m able to access the many tools and resources available to me for finding inspiration, designing characters, building storyboards, and ultimately creating a finished artwork.

In this blog, I’ll run you through how I used PBIC alongside illustrating my latest picture book This is The Dog (

First Steps to Illustrating a Children’s Picture Book

To begin your picture book project, start by doing some research. Gather inspiration by looking through various children’s picture books to get an idea of the characters, settings, colours, techniques, and styles you would like to use.

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The Manuscript

Children’s picture books usually have between 250 and 1,000 words. Generally speaking, the younger the audience, the shorter the story. Before starting, it is important to make sure the text has been edited. To get a feel for the story, one should read it several times and observe where natural pauses arise, which can be a good indication of when a page should be turned.

Creating a book can be a daunting task. It is important to come up with a plan for how to separate the narrative among the different pages and the best way to illustrate each two-page spread. In some cases, a publisher might provide a document that includes the page breaks and even the text already set up in a document.

Either way, the first thing to do is to create thumbnail sketches. Below are my thumbnail sketches for This is The Dog. These are quick, rough sketches that allow me (and the publisher) to see a visual overview of the entire story. In week three of my 8-week Picture Book Illustration e-Course, I walk you through the page-break process as well as how to create thumbnails for your story.

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Book Format

Before you go any further, know the format of your picture book. Will the book be a paperback, hardcover or a board book? If you are working with a publisher, the size and format of your picture book are usually written in your contract. Below is a section of my storyboard for This Is The Dog. I usually sketch these on standard printer paper because it’s an easy size to work with, scan, and send to the publisher.

Visiting your local bookstore and library can help you determine which size and shape of childen’s picture book would be most suitable. If you’re self-publishing or showcasing your illustrations in a portfolio, selecting standard sizes is recommended since they can be printed almost anywhere using offset press, digital printing and/or print-on-demand (POD). Popular mid-sized children’s picture books include:

• Square (8″ × 8″)
• Portrait (8″ × 10″)
• Landscape (10″ × 8″ )

During storyboarding week in the Picture Book Illustration e-Course, I offer storyboarding templates for all of these.

Page Count

Children’s picture books are typically between 24 and 32 pages long. Perfect binding usually requires at least 24 pages. Offset printing is most cost effective when the page count is a multiple of 8 or 12, while print on demand printers require a multiple of 4.

The Picture Book Illustration e-Course comes with a comprehensive 84-page workbook. Click on the link to get your free sample of the PBIC Workbook. That’s 27-pages featuring diagrams like the one below as well as a complete chapter on character design.

Storyboarding

Creating a storyboard or mockup of all the pages with the text and rough illustrations is a great way to plan out the pages of your picture book. Now that you have the trim size, format, and page count sorted, it’s time to get started.

Creating a storyboard can help to build the pace, rhythm, and flow of the text and graphics. The visuals do not necessarily need to replicate what is written in the narrative, but can be used to add more detail and complete the story.

Use the storyboarding phase to iron out any issues that arise, and get “sign-off” from your publisher/author BEFORE moving to the final illustrations, and make sure to leave enough space for the text. During week four of PBIC, we get to work on visual storyboarding.

Page Layout

This is an example of the reference photos I utilized in creating the street scene design.

Books for children often feature illustrations that span two pages, known as a “Double Page Spread” (DPS). When utilizing this format, there are a few key points to remember:

• Leave enough space in the illustrations for the text. You can see that I’ve left room above the zebra crossing for the text.
• Consider either a light background for dark text or dark background for light text. Light background with dark text is easier to read.
• Make sure nothing crucial is down the center of the illustrations (in the gutter), as that area will be bound into the spine.
• A full bleed illustration will need to ‘bleed’ off the outside edges of the spread. I like to leave 10-15mm (0.125″) bleed on the top, bottom, left, and right.

Personal Touch

In the image below, the photo top left, is of my children’s great-grandfather. I wanted to feature him as a character in the baker scene for “This Is The Dog”.

I initially drew my illustrations in a European style, but the publisher wanted something more unique. Therefore, I altered them to be an homage to Robin White’s painting of the iconic Kiwi fish and chips shop.

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Page Design

I prefer to leave the page layout to the designer, but I do enjoy providing guidance for where the text should be situated on each page. In the bus stop scene, the text should be placed in the top left corner of the yellow area and in the bus scene, I have left a lot of room in the road for the text. Keep in mind that these picture books are designed for young readers who are still in the process of learning to read, so make sure to keep the format simple and easy to understand.

If you are creating your own publication, select a font that is simple to read (serif or sans serif) and is of a decent size (for example 16 pt). While it may be attractive to use a decorative font, it is much more legible to use a font that is easy to read.

• Always consider the placement of the text when designing any illustration. 
• Make sure the text is easy to read – black text on a light illustration area is preferable, (white text on a dark background) can be more difficult to read. 
• Keep the text a good distance away from the gutter (the centerfold of the page). 
• To make it easier on our young readers, make sure that the text on the left-hand page is positioned higher than the text on the right-hand page so that the blocks of text are read top, bottom, left, right. 

In the Bus driving through the town scene below, the Dog has jumped onto the bus and is driving through town. See how the shape of the curved road leads the eye across the page… top, bottom, left, right. On the left-hand page, I’ve left space for the text in the curve of the road, and on the right-hand page, I’ve left space under the Dog character for the word “Bark!” Also, note the crop marks and the fold marks. In week 6 during my 8-week Picture Book Illustration e-Course (PBIC), I show you how to set up Master Guides for your final artwork.

In the park sceneI added a dark shadow to the forefront of the image, working to draw the eye towards the background. Following the path of the dog, the eye is taken from the top-left, where he hops off the bus and runs through an open gate. The dog meanders through the park, greeting all the other dogs as he goes, before leaping across the gutter. He eventually reaches the bottom-right of the image, where he sits and faces the text.

No matter how much preparation is done, there may still be alterations at the last minute. In the park scene depicted here, the publisher noticed that there were no men! I was able to switch out the female character in the foreground, as well as the elderly woman (located in the back, behind the umbrella) for male figures. Additionally, I replaced the hot dog stand with a family having lunch at a picnic table.

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Characters

Characters are used to carry the plot, theme, mood, ideas, and emotions of the story. Week two of PBIC is all about character, where I show you how to design, draw, and design character maps for each of your characters.

Creating believable characters in a story requires the ability to render them from all perspectives. This involves being able to draw the characters in a dynamic way, enabling them to come alive on the page.

A fantastic method to make characters more dynamic is to have them converse and give each character a unique story arc.

The scene above shows a three-part sequence of Dog being discovered by the girl: the discovery, touch of the girl, and sniffI infused emotion into my interactions with Dog by using narrative, body language, and facial expression.

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A Picture Speaks Louder Than Words

In some illustrations, you may choose not to have any text or very little text, In the start double-page spread, the girl could see in DO what no one else could see, this became more of an imaginary piece illustrating “clever”, “brave”, “loyal”, “silly” and “fun”.

Designing the Front Cover

The design of the book’s cover should be attractive to its target audience, both adults and children. The illustration on the front should accurately depict the story without giving away too much of the plot.

Nowadays, many people shop for books on the internet, so the majority of their potential customers will be viewing a small thumbnail. Therefore, it is essential that the front cover of the book must be captivating even when seen in a small size. It should feature the title of the book and the names of the author and illustrator. If you decide to use a display font for the title, make sure it is legible from a distance and in a miniaturised form.

When illustrating a picture book, I usually leave the cover to last. A cover idea may come while I work through the internal illustrations and by this stage, I’m familiar with the characters, the look and the visual story.

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Simply Brilliant

Some people assume that illustrating a children’s picture book is a quick and easy process because they contain so few words and pages. On the contrary, a children’s book can take anywhere between 3-5 month to illustrate and a lifetime to develop the skills and techniques that give this artform the quality that it truly deserves.The beauty of picture book stories lies in their uncomplicated nature.

A picture book is a child’s introduction to literature, art, the imagination and the human experience, and if done well, a picture book can make complicated topics approachable and easy to understand.Children’s picture books can be a powerful tool to help foster imagination and encourage exploration of the world. They provide a creative platform to introduce readers to new ideas and cultures, while also offering a chance to reflect on their own environment and identity. Through vivid illustrations and engaging stories, these books can ignite a sense of curiosity and challenge readers to think more deeply about the world they live in.

Have you dreamt of being a Picture Book Illustrator?

Creating artwork for children’s picture books provides an exciting opportunity for illustrators to collaborate with writers, publishers, art directors, and the readers themselves. It is an art form unlike any other that I am extremely passionate about.

Click on the link to find out more about the Picture Book Illustration e-Course. I’ve had dozens of PBIC students go on and create exciting illustration careers. And if you haven’t already, make sure to get your FREE 27-page PBIC Workbook sample.

PS – The “ArtWork: Creative Productivity Unlocked” summit starts in 5 days. If you’ve ever wondered how successful artists, illustrators, and creative entrepreneurs live and work. Well, here’s your chance to find out.

>> Join me at the ArtWork summit/p>

Following the ArtWork summit, I’ll be announcing my ‘Picture Book Illustration LIVE’

PSS – let’s be insta-friends!