I wanted to share a case study on a children’s book I illustrated and designed for a self-published author, to share a bit of the process and what’s involved. There’s a lot more to them than you might think!
The author, Janine Gleason, contacted me about illustrating and designing her adorable story, and after agreeing on a quote, proposal, and contract, I got busy!
First, & very importantly, we investigated different printers that could print on demand in smaller quantities, and in a typical kids book format. It’s important to decide this first, as it will determine the overall book size- in inches, page count, and quality of finishing & how the final files are built. Many print on demand book printers have set available sizes & formats, so you’ll need to choose one that will work with your book.
Janine chose Blurb, and they did a great job. Their site is easy to use and upload the finished files to, and for her to order and reprint as needed.
Janine sent me the finished manuscript, and I started by laying out a simple, paginated thumbnail page of every page in order, from the inside cover & title page to the back so I knew what I was working with.
The covers- front & back- are laid out separately to a different design template based on your final page count, so you need to know what that will be before you start designing to save a lot of headache later!
I read the story and started with very rough pencil sketches for each spread, showing the illustration & main elements, plus the text layout for each page.
An example sketch of an interior spread
I sent Janine a couple of sketches to start, to make sure the overall style was ok, it was! So I then proceeded to do one finished illustration to show her the colours, textures, and overall look of the artwork & page I had in mind, plus some font suggestions.
We quickly settled on that and I worked on the finished illustrations.
There is a lot to consider, not only making them look good, but things like where the spine & centre of the book is, and making sure nothing gets lost in the “gutter”, or centre of the book, or cut off on the edges. And also where the text of the story will be positioned, and how, and what size font, so kiddos and their adults can read it easily.
I worked on the illustrations in Procreate, then I laid out the book in InDesign to the page templates supplied by Blurb.
It took many hours, and I was also designing the book as I went, so there was a lot to do and think about!
In the end, it printed up beautifully, and she was thrilled and has re-ordered several times, and sold many copies in her local bookstores and online! Yay!
And since then, we’ve worked together on two more books!
I love collaborating with authors and bringing their visions and stories to life!
If you’re interested in having your own children’s book illustrated and designed, drop me a note and we can chat! I’d love to hear from you!