Formatting Tips for Artists Illustrating Picture Books

I’ve formatted and designed a few picture books for authors. One lesson I’ve learned is that working with picture books is not the same as working with illustrations in a book that is mainly text. And creating images for a picture book is different from creating a painting or print to go on someone’s wall. Artists who are doing their first picture book should be aware of these differences. So here are some tips for artists who want to illustrate a children’s book and some things to take into consideration as you work.

Layout and Size

The main feature of a picture book is that the illustrations take up the whole page or most of the page. Text tends to be shorter, but usually appears on every page. That means that the illustrations have to be designed in a way that allows room for text. And the illustrations also have to be sized properly to fit on the page. And that means the artist has to know the page size and proposed layout before working.

There are three conventional ways to format a picture book page.

1. Full-page with text

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Illustrations for a book with full-page pictures need to be the size of the book (the trim-size) plus the bleed, typically 0.125 (?) inches on the top, the bottom, and the outside margin (the side that will face away from the book binding. Important details should all be contained within the margin. The margin varies with trim size. However, there should be no important image elements or text a minimum of 0.25 (1/4) inches from all four sides is a good rule of thumb.

Full-page illustrations also need to include a space for text. To do that, the artist needs to know how much text will go on each page. They need to leave an appropriately sized space that is either empty or has very little detail. The background of that area should be a consistent color, ideally a light color. This makes the text readable. The sky, water, grass, the side of a plain building are all commonly used.

It’s possible to get creative with text placement. Words could run along the edge of the back of the bunny in the example above, for example.

A variation of this layout is the full spread, where one illustration takes up two facing pages. This takes even more planning than a full-page illustration. The artist needs to make sure there are no important details in the middle of the image where the binding goes. It varies from book to book but it’s a good idea to leave at least 0.5 (?) inches.

That means the text also cannot be centered on the spread. ?The illustrator must plan how much text will go on each page, and where it will go. Another option would be to put the text for this illustration entirely on one page. Again, text placement can be very creative. A textbox could do in the tree or the cloud above or down the bunny’s back. Or all of the above.

2. Alternating picture and text

This layout simplifies matters quite a bit. It looks best when the text for each picture is more than a few sentences long. All important details still need to be inside a margin of at least 0.25 (1/4) inches on all sides of the picture. The same applies to the text. The picture can be more detailed and colorful because there’s no need to place readable text on the picture. Be sure to place the text in the same margin. The background for the text page can be white, a solid color, or have a decorative image or pattern as long as the image is a consistent set of colors and not overly detailed. That way the text will stand out and be readable.

3. Picture at top, text at the bottom

?This kind of layout solves the problem of text readability by adding a space at the bottom for text. That text space can be plain white, a solid color, or be a decorative pattern. The pattern should be simple and use a limited palette. The color can be the same on every page of the book or match a color in the picture. The artist can also play with the text overlapping on the bottom of the picture a bit, or an element of the picture hanging down into the text area.

Keep in mind that the size of the picture will be different than the size of the page. The proportions will also be different. It’s important to know exactly how large the space for text will be and therefore how the size of the picture. There needs to be a margin around the sides and top of the image.?

Many picture books use different layouts for different pages. Artists and book designers do not have to lock into one layout for the whole book. It’s a good idea to map out the layout of the book and note the size and role of each illustration placement for each page and spread, as well as the corresponding text.?

Sizing Your Image

The size of the space reserved for each illustration is only one piece of information needed to determine how large your illustration needs to be. Book printers, including print-on-demand services such as Amazon KDP or IngramSpark, require you to add a bleed and a margin.

The bleed is extra space around the outside edges of the book. Any illustration or decorative element such as a colored block for text that is meant to go to the edge of the page must go to the edge of the bleed. This also allows for some variation when the book pages are printed and cut. Each printer or service has bleed requirements on its website, but typically the bleed is 0.125 inches on the top, bottom, and outside edge of each page. Full-page images will need to be 0.125 inches wider and 0.25 inches larger than the space allotted for them. Adjust the bleed on your image depending on the layout.

In addition, you’ll want to add a margin. That ensures that no important elements of your image (or any text or page numbers) are too close to the edge of the page. Why? Some relatively empty space around the edges of the page tends to look good. Like the bleed, this also ?ensures nothing key is cut off during printing or cutting. Finally Edges of pages are also subject to more wear and tear. The size of the minimum margin varies depending on the printer and the trim size. A good rule of thumb is at least 0.25 inches from the edge of the image (If you’re measuring with the bleed, 0.375 inches on the top, bottom, and outside edge of the page and 0.25 inches on the inside edge, where the binding will be). However, a margin of 0.5 inches all around is preferable.

One important note: For a full-spread image, artists need to consider the center of the image where the binding will be. Elements in that area can be hidden in part or in whole by the binding. It’s a good idea to avoid any elements (in whole or in part) less than 0.5 inches from the center and no important elements? (in whole or in part) less than 1 inch on either side of the center.

Resolution and Proportion

Digital artists tend to create images at the size required considering the placement and the bleed. It may be difficult to create a painting or drawing at the exact size required. Some artists choose to create works that are larger than required. This makes it easier to paint details. When the art is digitized and shrunk, it will appear more detailed and have a higher resolution, which often makes it look nicer. Whatever size the image is created at, the proportions should be correct, taking into consideration bleed and margin. That way it will fit seamlessly into the page.

Image resolution is another important issue. Printed images need to be saved at a resolution of 300 DPI, a higher resolution than digital images. When saving an image on an art or design program, check the settings to make sure the resolution is 300 DPI. Shrinking an image will also increase the resolution (and enlarging it will decrease the resolution), so creating an image that is too large and then shrinking it can be an effective way to bring the resolution up.

To format your book, you will need to transfer your physical image to the digital. For smaller images, an office flatbed scanner will work. Resolution and color settings need to be set correctly, and the file type should ideally be PNG. Printshops can often handle larger images at a reasonable cost, and they know the requirements for images to go into book interiors. Finally, for very large images, some artists photograph their works with a digital camera and save it as a full-size, high-resolution image. This approach requires proper lighting and a camera stand to ensure the photograph is high-quality, sharp, and devoid of shadows.

These are just a few of the basic issues facing artists looking at illustrating a book. Overall, planning carefully will help avoid problems. Artists should also look at other picture books to get ideas for layouts and formatting. Finally, reaching out to other artists or finding an authoritative website like the SCBWI website for advice and answers to technical questions is quite helpful.