blog.illustrationcastle.com » FAQS | What size should I illustrate for children’s books?

FAQS | What size should I illustrate for children’s books?

By heather at 9:34 pm on Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Question : Is there a preferred size to illustrate children’s books?

Answer : I’ve found is that size varies from publisher to publisher. Happily, if your manuscript is picked up by a publisher, they will let you know what sizes are available to you. This goes the same for self-publishers, who are able to give a good rate to authors for printing books because they have a standard cookie-cutter size they work with.

A very helpful editor over at Omnibus Books gave the advice at a children’s book writing seminar that it is very unusual to receive finished illustrations with a manuscript. She went on to say that it is even discouraged because of the uncomfortable situation that can arise when the story is literary genious and the illustrations are scribble, or the illustrations are masterpieces and the story is dribble!

With that advice in mind, if you wish to submit a manuscript with illustrations, I would lean towards only sending in sketches and perhaps one finished illustration (as a sample) with your manuscript to a publisher.

That being said, there are many talented aspiring writer/illustrators out there… and to you I would give the advice to just illustrate larger than you hope the book will be, and paint extra bleed (trim) around the illustration. That way if your story is picked up by a pubisher, there is flexibility to scale down and trim the illustrations as needed.

You can find more tips on how to illustrate a children’s book here. And if you have any questions about children’s book illustration or publishing, feel free to post your questions in the comment section.

Filed under: childrens books, business of illustration, FAQS —

7 Comments »

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November 3, 2009 @ 9:44 pm

[…] • What size should I illustrate this children’s book? […]

Comment by Laura

November 5, 2009 @ 9:51 am

I really enjoy reading your tips, they are so helpful and this one is not an exception.

Thanks for sharing!!

Comment by Dave

December 11, 2009 @ 4:56 am

Hi Heather!
If you’ve answered this question somewhere on your site already; my apologies- you have quite an extensive collection of great information- thanks for sharing! When I create B x w line art, I’ll usually draw oversized, then scale down for nice crisp black lines in my finished print size. For my next project, I will be adding washes of gray with watercolor. I’m guessing I’ll need to create the artwork at 100% (and not oversized)to maintain the exact tones of gray I put on the paper. Is this assumption correct? Can I get away with drawing a small percentage larger than print size, and still maintain my gray tones after reduction? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comment by heather

December 11, 2009 @ 5:34 am

Thanks for your comment on my blog… great question… quick answer : feel free to illustrate larger than 100%. Scaling a colour image down digitally (even grayscale) won’t make it “darker,” the colour will remain the same. Good luck!

Comment by Kelly Martin

October 27, 2011 @ 7:34 am

Hi this may be a very simple question when the question was put above about what size I could not see the answer or perhaps did not understand the question. I am new to illustration so do you do it A4 size, landscape, portrait? I am quite confused with the mention of 100%.

I love your blog by the way and your art. You are really opening my eyes to a possibly career change.

Thanks in advance,

Kelly

Comment by heather

October 28, 2011 @ 3:20 pm

Hi Kelly,
Thanks for your comments on my blog… to quickly answer your question, you can illustrate to any size you want! What I meant by “100%” is to illustrate it the same size as the finished product. So say you know the book is going to be letter sized (8.5 x 11 inches) when it’s done, then make your illustrations letter sized as well. Hope this makes more sense!

Cheers,
Heather