Are you bored with your designs and illustrations and not satisfied with your creation? Do you feel that you do not put life into your creation, you need not worry, the following tips will help you to become a more creative and innovative illustrator?
Step #1: Jot down your ideas
If you are planning to illustrate a new book for children, you should jot down your ideas in a notebook. Sometimes a good idea may suddenly flash in your mind, or maybe you heard something on the television or read something, you should immediately write it down in your notebook. There is no point in carrying around the idea in your head for many days and finally forgetting about it entirely. Don’t wait until you get to your laptop to note it down. You should do it instantly so that you will not forget about it.
Step #2: Plan about what size your book is going to be
Before you begin illustration your book you should plan what kind of shape your illustrated book should be. Do you want it to be vertical or landscape or a perfect square? If you do not have any idea, you could go to the local library or go to a bookshop and have a look at the different shapes of books. But one thing you should keep in mind is that the story of the book should match the size and shape of your book. This is very important because the story will have an effect on the size and shape of your designs and illustrations. You must be informed that the cost of printing will also depend upon the size and shape of your book.
If you have a limited budget and do not want to spend more money during production, you need to be cautious in not wasting your money on extravagant shapes and designs. You can go in for the normal ones which will be economical for you and will also help you to get a decent profit initially in your career.
Step #3: Put your ideas onto your storyboard
Before you begin work on your illustrated book you must plan well in advance. How many pages will your illustrated book contain and will the story function as a physical book? You should also know how to intersperse words throughout the book. You should be in a position to plan the layout of your book on a big piece of paper. You should break up the text where there are breaks in the storyline and insert your illustrated pictures in between. You must be able to judge how accurately you can do this. Doing this homework will give you a good overall view of your story book and will give you a quick glance into how your storybook is going to shape up.
Step #4: Remain motivated and don’t get discouraged
The most important thing in illustrating your storybook is that you would get disheartened if your first idea didn’t work. If you are not able to give a concrete shape to your ideas don’t worry, you should try and try again and not give up. If you run short of any ideas, you should always try to get inspired. Find out what will inspire you, do the things that make you relax, drink a cup of coffee, go for a walk or watch your favourite movie. Relax your mind and then see your ideas flow. You can also go to the local bookshop and browse through a variety of books, watch kids picking up books and try to judge what type of books kids are attracted to. In this way you will surely get the right idea which will help you in organizing your illustrated book.
Step #5: Spruce up you illustrated book with contrast
Don’t clutter your entire book with lots of words and figures. On some of the pages, just place a small picture on an entire blank page without any words. Making this contrast in your books makes the book look interesting and does not make it look repetitive.
Step #6: Balance text and illustrations
You would not want your illustration to clash with your words that you place in your picture book. As your book takes shape the images will influence the words you have written. At some places the illustrations themselves will express the story in a better way and there is no point in putting in words in those places. So, you should balance your text and images proportionately.
Illustrations that are good will enhance your text. For this purpose, you can make use of poster colour illustrations or colour pencil illustrations.
Step #7: You need to be versatile in the use of software
Generally, as an illustrator you will be using Adobe Photoshop and illustrator and other software. No matter what software you are using, you should master it and be versatile in its use. In this way you can take advantage of the software and use it to the utmost to make beautiful images and illustrations. If you have only half knowledge or don’t know how to use your software to your advantage, you cannot put your ideas into reality. If you feel that you are not versatile in the use of software you can also get help with it by taking some extra training.
Step #8: Keep in touch with other professionals through social network sites
You can keep in touch with your peer group and other illustrators through websites and social network sites. This will help you in sharing your designs and sharing your ideas with other illustrators like you, their feedback will help you to create better designs. Social network sites are a great way to do this without the need to meet anyone personally. You can interact with prospective clients and also you can end up bagging a contract and increasing your current earnings. Social network sites give you the convenience of advertising your talents and skills as you can also hook up with prospective clients through social network sites.
