What Is Children’s Book Illustration?

Everything you need to know to tell a children’s story through images

When dealing with a young audience, illustrators must be able to see and be good observers. Most of all, they need to find a vision of themselves as authors of sorts: a writer who uses images instead of words to tell a story.

Learn what this profession involves, on both a technical and creative level.

What is the job of a children’s book illustrator?

Illustrators working with a young audience, as much as all other professionals dealing in storytelling, have quite a great responsibility towards the story. They must study it, make it their own, and find a suitable visual strategy to make their work—drawing in this case—a useful tool to tell the story effectively. The scope of their tasks is extensive, and their illustrations must meet the interest of an audience with precise requirements.

So, they are not only in charge of drawing the characters of the story but also of creating the whole composition and framing the piece. Their biggest challenge is to find the most convincing way to tell those stories: their best skill is in handling the connection between the images and the text.

Illustrated children’s books

Some features identify illustrated children’s books, regardless of genre:

- They tend to be simple stories with heartfelt and sincere messages, usually with an educational aim.

- Irrespective of the space taken on the page, the images have a necessary co-starring role opposite the text.

- The relationship between the text and the images can be complementary or contradictory, according to the goal of the message.

- The themes and illustration styles are infinite and free, but the narrative structure is almost always simple.

- Similarly, in children’s book illustration, the techniques are not dictated, and collage, watercolors, acrylics, etc., are used freely.

Different target audiences for children’s books markets

Contrary to popular belief, there is a big market for children’s books: it covers age groups from newborns to pre-teens. Understanding each of these audiences is fundamental as it helps us adapt our illustration style and use our practical and pedagogical tools when creating work. The following classifications will help:

- From 0 to 3 years: In this category, the ‘ABC’ or ‘123’ books are predominant. The parents will be reading these books, and it is essential to focus on the playful aspect of the experience. The objective is not so much to impart knowledge but to make the books suitable for play so that babies and toddlers can explore, learn, and have fun with them. These books usually include sounds, lights, flaps, different textures, etc.

- 3 to 6 years: At this age, children start to develop their ability to read and become early readers. This target audience can sit still and pay attention to one thing for a longer period.

The pages in books created for this audience are taken over by the images, and the role of the illustration here is to cover most of the storytelling. As the books tend to be read repeatedly, it is common for illustrators to include details and elements in their drawings that may not be perceived in the first reading.

- 7 to 10 years: What you must remember for projects aimed at this audience is that children in this age group are completely independent readers. For this reason, the stories are much longer, the vocabulary and the plots are more complex, and as a consequence, the text starts to dominate more of the page. The illustrations take a back seat in terms of space and must also become more realistic.

Practical tips for children’s book illustrators

If you want to get into storytelling by illustrating children’s books, the following tips will be invaluable:

- Know the story from top to bottom. Understand it, study it, and make it your own.

- Know your audience well. Connect with their interests and their forms of consumption.

- Find reference material of similar stories that have been illustrated. Analyze which elements help to successfully communicate a message.

- Write down all your ideas and all the words that come to mind while you read the story, and look out for concepts that may not be so evident.

You may also like:

- A Guide to Children's Book Categories.
- Illustration Tutorial: Tips to Illustrate a Children's Book.
-10 Children's Books Made Into Movies.