Do you have a story you’d like brought to life?……

If you have a children’s story, novel, poem or any other text that you’d like illustrated this is the process I would usually follow.

Some clients come to me knowing exactly what they want, and that’s great! They give me a list of the illustrations they would like and I follow their lead, but most of the time clients come to me with a story they’ve written and no idea what they need or what to do next so this guide should help authors to get started.

The first thing I would do upon starting an illustration project with a client is take a look at the text/story, I can then determine what illustrations are needed and if they need to be small spot images, full pages or double page spreads, or more often than not a mix of all of them.

Small spot images – 1-2hrs per illustration

Full page illustrations – 2-3hrs per page

Double page illustrations – 3-5hrs per spread

I would then very roughly storyboard it out to give you (the client) a visual idea of how the book would look and what illustrations would work. We would then tweak it if needs be until you’re completely happy with the roughs.

I will also provide a free sample character illustration from your story to make sure you’re happy with my style.

Once you’re happy with the roughs I draw them up into final line sketches like this (right)

And once you’re happy with all of the final line sketches, I then digitally colour them, I can also format the entire book with the text and Illustrations so that it’s completely print-ready for you to print yourself or upload to a publishing platform.

I have lots of experience with publishing, both traditional and self-publishing and I’m happy to provide publishing advice if you’re unsure and help with the uploading process.

Timescales and prices

Timescales will depend upon the length of the story and number of illustrations required as well as the complexity of the drawings needed, but for a rough idea a children’s book of around 20 pages with a mix of small spot images, full page and double page illustrations, with front and back covers and endpaper illustrations usually takes approx:

1-2 weeks for the rough storyboarding at which point I can provide an accurate quote.
2-4 weeks for the final line drawings
3-6 weeks for the final colouring

I aim to complete most books in about 6-8 weeks.

The cost is also dependant on the project length and complexity. I charge £25.00 per hour. A small spot illustration would usually take 1-2 hours, a full page illustration takes approximately 2-3hours and a double page spread can be anywhere from 3-5 hours. If you would like a quote for your story please drop me an email to discuss your project, I would be happy to provide a quote, storyboard and character sample illustration with no obligation to use me as your illustrator. If you have any questions please get in touch

[email protected]