A picture is worth a thousand words and, as every author of children’s books knows, illustrations can make or break a book. When creative illustrations are woven together with an amazing story, the book becomes simply outstanding and is more likely to captivate its target audience. Illustrations enhance memory and comprehension, which makes them very vital in the case of children’s books.

This article contains a few tips that any illustrator will find useful.

Incorporating Humor

Beautiful imagery containing humorous aspects is always a winner. Every reader wants a good laugh and we all know humor is one way that can be used by an illustrator to keep a story interesting. It also makes a storyline light and not too serious considering that most picture books are written for children. Humor makes characters stand out which adds to their impact on the story. In the book, Twice as Worsa! by J.R. Poulter, the illustrator, Rico Schacherl, does an illustration of Lionel’s bite marks on Albert’s toys which is really hilarious and helps the reader understand Albert’s predicament better.

Letting Illustrations Add to the Storyline

Every illustrator should ask themselves this question: ‘Can the text of the story exist without the images?’ If the images add little or nothing to the storyline, they are not good enough. Other than presenting the text put together by the author for the story, illustrations should enhance the plot by making characters and scenes come alive. Depending on what the author wants to accomplish in writing the book, the images should be created with this same goal. In the book The Holiday Boys & The Tall Man by Onicka Daniel, the dreadful nature of the Tall Man is enhanced by the imagery done by MUJE Creations. The illustrations maintain a grim theme which further builds on the story written in the text.

Additionally, an illustrator should be able to identify points of the story that a child may have some difficulty in understanding, and use illustrations to answer possible questions that may arise in future in a reader’s mind. As a parent reads the book to their child, they should be able to use the images in the book to help their children understand the story better. This makes the reading process much easier and fun for both the child and the parent.

The illustrator can use pictures for coloring which helps the child build their creative skills and, on top of that, analyze and reflect on the story.

Adding Some Color

Color captivates people’s minds, especially in the case of children. Think of adverts and billboards and how they are mostly designed. When images are colorful, they are more likely to capture a child’s attention. Though color is an important element in illustrations, care should be taken not to over incorporate tones and shades as too many colors can be a distraction. A balance between bold and pale colors should be sustained throughout the book. The illustrator can also vary angles and motion of images to create vibrant and more gripping illustrations.