Making illustrations for children’s books is almost similar to story-telling. Because, more or less, we all believe in that proverb, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Hence, illustrating for children’s books is truly a difficult task that often faces a lot of mistakes. Let this blog, penned by the expert illustration designers of Eminence System consider three ways an illustrator can go astray, along with three tips to help stay on track. Here we shall be discussing 3 common mistakes that are usually done by illustrators while making children book illustration.
1. Illustrations that repeat the text
One of the major and common pitfalls for an illustrator is to draw an illustration that repeats what the text is trying to convey. A repeated illustration brings nothing but monotony and boredom when it comes to children’s books. As a result, children after watching illustrations that repeat the text discontinue reading the storybook for its repeated pictorial descriptions.
Tip– Avoid making illustrations that literally repeat the text. Rather, try to present something new so that the storyline proceeds interestingly.
2. Illustrations that hold a lot of narratives
Another most common mistake is striving to pack too much narrative into the illustrations. Consequently, a page inadvertently fills up with nonessential visual information that has just little to do with the story, muddies the theme, distracts the reader, and misinterprets the author’s intention.
Tip– Illustrations for children’s books should be for enhancing the meaning of the storyline, not for making it unnecessarily extravagant with some not-so-essential narratives.
3. Too conceptual illustrations
It is true that a certain amount of meaningful concepts is needed for an illustration to make sense. But too much focus on the concept can simply mispresent the meaning.
Tip– Do not overthink while making an illustration. Try to avoid over-conceptualizing when it comes to illustrating for storybooks.
The overall sale or success of a pictorial book somehow truly depends on the illustrations that are done to make the book more appealing to the readers. Hence, while making illustrations for children’s books, an illustrator must keep in mind the afore-discussed 3 points. Only an expert illustration designer can make apt and appropriate illustrations that can genuinely justify the picture book.