If I were to be writing and illustrating storybooks to be professionally published there is no doubt I would spend a lot more time writing, rewriting and perfecting my illustrations. However, for the purpose of writing a personal storybook for a child I think the perfecting and getting it right element isn't at all important.
I also think that very often it is the imperfections in the illustrations that can make them feel alive, fresh and unique. So often when I am illustrating I make a lot of mistakes and so often I find that the mistakes work as a blessing in disguise. The 'mistakes' often push me me to find perhaps more unusual and creative solutions than I would otherwise.
An example is in my storybook "Sometimes Sofia Gets Angry When..." I was just finishing off the second last illustration when I realized I hadn't left any room for the text. To solve this I just added the text in a slightly different way. I'm not sure how successful my solution was here but it was fun to do. Below is the illustration so you can see what I mean....
I was reading the other day about the illustrator Quentin Blake. You may know him because he illustrated a lot of Rhoal Dahl's book among other things. Anyway, his illustrations are so fresh and inspired and they don't look at all 'touched up' or perfected and that is the charm of them. Ofcourse he is a genius but he is also an inspiration. I really suggest you stop by his website and have a look http://www.quentinblake.com/index.html
So, what I am saying is you can't ever get it wrong! And, as you probably have guessed my philosophy is 'just have fun!'.
On a slightly different note, I did finish the illustrations for my books "Sometimes Sofia Gets Angry When...". I invite you to take a look.
Find more photos like this on Create A Book For A Child!
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