Define Your Book Illustration Needs in 3 Steps
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Do you want a professional to create custom illustrations for your book? Whether you’re creating a children’s, cookbook, or fantasy, books from almost every genre can benefit from the bespoke quality that unique illustrations convey to readers.
But getting the artwork that’s going to elevate your book isn’t quite as simple as “author + pro illustrator = perfect illustrations.” With few exceptions, even the most iconic illustrations are the result of many rounds of revision and refinement between author and illustrator.
To that end, the more you know about what you need, the more streamlined your illustrations process will become, which in turn will result in the highest quality illustrations at the most affordable price. Knowledge is power!
Here’s our 3-step guide to determining your book illustrations needs. Follow along and fill in the blanks for when it’s time to create illustration magic of your own:
1. What size is your book?
Before we get to style, content, and subject matter, you need to know your book’s trim size prior to working with a professional illustrator. Even if you aren’t sure how the content will eventually flow across the pages, little work can be done if you haven’t yet landed on the size of your book.
Here are the most common trim sizes for the book genres that most commonly feature illustrations:
Children’s Books: 8.5” x 8.5” (square format) or 11” x 8.5” (landscape format)
Fantasy Novels and Memoirs: 6” x 9”
Cookbooks: 7” x 10” or 8.5” x 11”
If jargon like ‘trim size’ is throwing you off, the good news is that the professional illustrator you work with will understand these technical aspects so they can make the right choices based on your goals. (If they don’t, well, we recommend asking for proof of their credentials.) Illustrators with a background in book illustrations will eliminate your need to rush through an art or design degree in order to understand all the nuances of hue, pixels, and colour gamuts.
2. Where will the illustrations appear?
Now that we’ve settled on the size of your book, we can start to consider where (and how many) illustrations will add the most value to your project.
The most common book illustration types are cover design, full-page illustrations, double-spread illustrations, and interior spot illustrations.
Here are definitions and examples of all four types:
A custom, professional cover design illustration* is an excellent early investment into your book marketing. For book covers, the artwork needs to work not only as an attractive cover that earns the attention of your ideal reader, but also be effective at various sizes for promotions. For example, as a small thumbnail for online bookstores or blown up to become an event poster or a banner on your website.
Full-page illustrations are ideal for when you need to capture more complex scenes or include a lot of detail in an image. This type is most commonly used for cover illustrations or in children’s picture books, but can also be seen in maps, complex diagrams, and activity sheets (including colouring pages). Full-page illustrations appear on one page only.
Double-spread illustrations are where an illustration appears as one continuous image that seamlessly covers two consecutive pages. When you want that dynamic showstopper, a panorama, or to otherwise fully capture your reader’s attention, you want a double-spread illustration. You will often see these as a centrefold in high quality photo or art books, cookbooks, and yes, in children’s books too.
Spot (partial-page) illustrations can take many forms. They can be as large as filling most of the page or as small as a quarter-page accent. Spot illustrations usually “float” on the page with text shaped around them. They’re a great way to add colour or visual interest, illustrate an anecdote, break up text-heavy sections, or support an important detail with a concrete visual. You’ll see spot illustrations most often in poetry collections, cookbooks, nonfiction, middle grade, and children’s books.
Since you now know the major illustration types, you can start to calculate how many illustrations of each type you’ll need for your project. The pacing of illustrations throughout your text may vary — for example, you might have a mix of full and double-spread pages throughout the book. It’s important to establish a pattern of expectations with your reader, such as beginning each chapter with an image or, in the case of picture books, include art on every page. Some authors will just need a cover illustration while others will need a cover plus dozens of interior illustrations (depending on the content of their manuscript). Visualize and note what you think you’ll need for your book — your illustrator will thank you!
*Note that a book cover illustration does not equal book cover design. Your book designer will incorporate your illustration into a layout that includes cover text, title (and subtitle if applicable), author name(s), and other elements, like endorsements, awards, etc.
3. Who’s your audience?
Last but certainly not least: what style of illustration are you looking for? For most projects, the answer to this question will depend on the kind of audience your book hopes to attract.
That’s because details are incredibly important in the visual world — different colours, subjects, focal points, and character designs will appeal to different types of readers. Something realistic and clean will look more attractive to an adult audience, whereas bright colours and cute characterization will appeal more to a child. Your illustrator should design their work with your target audience in mind.
Discussing style with an illustrator can be tricky for an author who likely doesn’t speak the language of design and illustration. Related is the all-too-common misalignment of expectations between author and illustrator; unclear instructions can cause one (or both) parties to miss the mark during the creation process.
At FriesenPress, we use a tiered approach to book illustrations called ‘complexity’ to help bridge the gap between an authors’ vision, their target audience, and the illustrator. Complexity combines the amount of detail required in a scene and the techniques required to manifest that detail as artwork. In short, more detail means more time to complete. For example, a patterned dress is more complex than a plain red dress. A realistic portrait is more time-consuming and challenging for an artist to generate than a simplified cartoon face. A lush and detailed jungle setting featuring many animals requires more work than a horse standing in an open field.
To help you focus on the style and level of detail that’s most relevant to your book, here are the three complexity tiers we use here at FriesenPress:
Personal Touch is the simplest tier of complexity. It is characterized by clean lines, minimal shading or texture, simplified character designs, and minimal background details. It is clean, inviting, and accessible. This tier is ideal for children’s books for early readers, graphics for section breaks, and spot illustrations where clip art might otherwise be used.
Intricate Design is similar to Personal Touch in technique, but has increased intricacy in the character and scene details, more complex shading or textures, and potentially a more painterly colouring style. It is ideal if the characters or setting of the book need to have more distinctive or identifiable qualities (i.e. specific species of flowers), or where a more dynamic scene provides greater visual engagement. This tier is ideal for more mature children’s books, Middle Grade and Young Adult books, genre fiction book covers, maps, and chapter headers.
Fine Art is the highest tier of complexity. It can retain a similar style to Intricate Design but with a very high level of complexity, but most often, Fine Art is identified by a more photorealistic or painterly approach. The details, backgrounds, and colouring use complex colour theory, lighting, and details to create depth and recognizable features. This tier is ideal if you’re wanting portraiture of a specific person or animal, or for adult book covers (especially historical fiction), or scenes portraying more spiritual, intellectual, or artistic subject matters.
As you can see, the higher the tier of complexity, the more time it takes the illustrator to complete the work, and so the higher the cost.
The final factor for you to consider is colour and, once again, the choice that’s right for you will depend on your audience. Here are some tips on choosing the right palette:
Black & white illustrations can appear more classic, neutral, or interactive (in the case of colouring or activity pages).
Bright colours can grab readers’ attention and give them an immediate emotional reaction—but you may not be able to control what emotion that is. Red can represent passion, energy, or horror. If a reader hates purple, they might be put off an otherwise great cover.
In a world of brightly coloured books, black & white can stand out from the crowd. Research your genre and consider ways your illustrations can help set you apart!
Black & white illustrations are a little less expensive than full colour to commission, but the real cost difference is in printing. Colour interior books cost more to print and manufacture — sometimes significantly so. It’s never too early to think about the final cost of your finished book.
Once you’ve determined how many illustrations you need, what level of complexity you require, and your colour profile, you are all ready for the fun part: working with your illustrator on the creation of your artwork!
For more information about hiring and working with an illustrator (including how to properly request illustrations), be sure to check out our helpful in-depth illustrations resource here.
