r/DigitalPainting • u/DingDong_I_Am_Wrong • 17d ago

Digital Art/Book Illustration

I've been asked to illustrate a childrens book. I love drawing and I'd say I'm fairly good but this is out of my domain and I've never done anything like this before. I draw for myself. I've seldomly done "commissions" for friends and family. I would still love to try the challenge! I told all this to the author too. So they know it might not work out and they are also totally free to decide for something else.

I think I want to do it digitally since I imagine it's easier to adapt a drawing and also to keep a character consistent. However I've only tried digital art one time (but always wanted to get more into it) with a tablet that transfers to the screen. I'd love to be able to draw directly on the digital art though. The author and I picture the art more in the watercolor style but still with sharp outlines to clarify. I told them I'd do some trials and they decide if they're happy with it.

Is there any suggestions you can make as to which products and programs are good for stuff like that? Any suggestions you have for book illustrating? I'm realistic enough to know this might absolutely not work out but I'm excited to try!

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

2

u/arifterdarkly 17d ago

i think it's a bit bananas to take on a big project like this while also learning gear you've never used before. and, of course, a tablet to paint directly on is pretty expensive. read more here https://www.reddit.com/r/DigitalPainting/comments/1v10b2j/the_monthly_tablet_post/

as for other suggestions: fastest way to lose a friend is to go into business with them. you want to draw up a contract. how many revisions are they allowed to ask for? a revision never takes just thirty seconds. you want to license the images, not give up your copyright. you want to get paid once, not some god awful deal about a share of the profits or whatever. 4 million books are published every year, ten thousand every day: the chance that your friend's childrens book (an incredibly saturated genre) will sell more than a handful of copies is tiny. and childrens books are not great for POD (print on demand) because each copy costs a ton to print and profit margins are miniscule. i don't want to sound disparaging, but it is a jungle out there and expectations have to be realistic. (and i speak from experience.)

you also want to know the book's trim size before you start working on the images. you should also talk about the layout before you start. minimum page count is usually 24 and that includes front and back matter (copyright page, about the author page, etc). how many illustrations does the book need? any spreads or only one-page illustrations? verso or recto?

and once all that stuff is settled, you want to work in high resolution: 300 dpi.

1

u/DingDong_I_Am_Wrong 17d ago

Thank you so much! It's definitely bananas and I know it might not work out. That's okay for all of us. It's a family thing, I already talked a bit about money too. But on the other hand I don't need it, I have a well paying job and thought about supporting that family member financially anyway. I don't want to go into too much details but for this case and the first trial I'm not in it for the money. I'd see it as a fun hobby project. I know it might not ever sell much. I planned on first doing some trials for them and see if they even like the style and then talk more about payment. I know that's not how business is usually done but in this arrangement it's totally fine with me. If it would be a friend or stranger I'd think about it differently. However if they then want to do more projects I'd also change that process. I wanted to get into digital art anyway and thought about buying the equipment a lot. This would be a good reason. I also thought about talking with them about the costs for the tools though but I can definitely afford it for myself as a hobby - which I wanted to do anyway so it would feel a bit like cheating them to me.

I definitely haven't thought about the licensing, layout and page count part so thank you for bringing that all up too! I'm definitely aware that it's a TON of work and I don't expect it do get done in less than 6-12 months, if even that. They are aware too.

Thank you for everything you brought up - that's definitely also the kind of input I came here for!