
My name is Anna and I have been illustrating books for 5 years. I prepare books in their entirety, including layout and cover. During this time, I have managed to develop an efficient system of cooperation that allows for maintaining order, timeliness and transparency. The process of illustrating books is never separated from the author of the text – as an illustrator, I try to take into account the needs of the author at every stage. I would like to explain in a few points what stages my work consists of, because anyone interested in the graphic design of their text could prepare well.
Conversation
The entire process of illustrating a book begins, of course, with arrangements. I prefer e-mail exchange at this stage – thanks to this, all important decisions and questions are already written down and we can return to them at any time. The most important thing at the beginning is to determine whether both parties are able to enter into cooperation. The blockage may be the assumed budget being too low or too little time for implementation. What is important to me is the assumed number of pages and illustrations – their level of advancement in detail. Then I can determine what the total amount will be and by what date the book could be ready.
In the meantime, of course, I familiarize myself with the text, its atmosphere, and subject matter.
When we agree on common assumptions and expectations and a positive decision is made to start working together, then we discuss the contract and establish a schedule of activities.
The process of illustrating a book – time to start! Sketches.
I don’t like surprises in my work and I think my clients do too, so I always start by drawing the entire concept in the form of sketches and planning the layout of the text in the book. I also suggest dimensions and the final number of pages. I call it the skeleton of the book, but you can also call it a mock-up/design. At this stage, we see the book in its entirety as a PDF file, but rough. Thanks to this, it is easy to imagine the final effect. At this stage, we usually finally approve the budget.
Apart from the fact that this is the most creative and imaginative stage, making the sketches takes me relatively little time. A sketch is an outlined, darker outline and a delicate background color. This is a very illustrative stage and is used to initially see the character design, the color range, and the layout of elements on the page. I think it is the perfect way to communicate with the client and establish the scope of work without misunderstandings and surprises.
Oh no! Corrections!
Corrections and comments in the process of illustrating a book do not scare me. I assume that the book is a joint work of the author and the artist. When it comes to publications for children, which are a special audience, I am even more open to the knowledge and experience of my clients.
After I present the initial skeleton of the book, we can make any necessary changes together. Both in the format of the book itself and in the illustrations – the layout of elements, changing the color scheme, or completely changing one illustration, adding and removing drawings. Working on sketches is safe for both parties, because changes to the finished illustrations are a big waste of time, and in sketches we can quickly note down our ideas, or it is not a pity to give up on one entire page.
I’m working!
After proofreading and approving the final plan for the book, we do not change any key elements. I calmly move on to painting cleanly. If there are a lot of illustrations, then usually halfway through or a third of the work I contact the presentation of the effects and we can add corrections on an ongoing basis, but this time only cosmetic ones. When illustrating a book, this is of course the longest stage. It requires hours, days, and most often many weeks of concentration.
Illustrations ready – what now?
Illustrations for a book never start with the cover. I leave this stage for the end, or almost the end. For a simple reason – the cover is a summary of the entire content and should be consistent with the rest. If we have nothing drawn, it is difficult to create something that is to represent the whole. However, if it is necessary to make the cover first – then I will refer to it when working on the interior.
A book cannot be ready without the typesetting and refining of the entire graphic design, placing footers, title pages or numbering. Choosing the font, size and correct typesetting is a very important stage that only emphasizes the illustrative part.
The book is ready.
We have a beautiful, ready and accepted book. Every detail is refined and we are proud of the effect! The process of illustrating a book ends with preparing the appropriate files for viewing and printing. If we are printing a book in a small print run, I offer help or mediation in contacting the printing house. After receiving the copies, we can only congratulate ourselves 🙂