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Book Illustration: 25 Beautiful Examples
We all remember the signature illustrations of our childhood reads: the wild scribbles of Quentin Blake, the gentle watercolors of Beatrix Potter, the simple line drawings of Shel Silverstein, and so on. Indeed, many book illustrations become indelibly linked to the stories they depict. And they’re not just limited to picture books! Many works of literature (both classic and contemporary) benefit from great illustrations as well.
To help you get a sense of your preferred style for your own children’s book — or if you just want to look through a gallery of gorgeous images — we’ve put together 25 examples of book illustration over the past few years. These drawings come from children’s books, graphic novels, memoirs, and more, with incredible diversity in both the subjects and the illustrators themselves. So dive on in — you’re sure to find something you love!
A Fine Dessert, Sophie Blackall
For those who haven’t read A Fine Dessert, it follows four families over as many centuries — all of them connected by the preparation of the titular dish: blackberry fool. The story culminates in the modern-day gathering pictured above. Blackall’s intricate details add depth to the image — the crawling vine in the background, the fuzzy illuminations of the lanterns, and even the elaborate border of the tablecloth all contribute to the scene’s authenticity.
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This children’s book illustration from Thi Bui’s A Different Pond is a lovely exercise in lighting. Bui masterfully demonstrates how to use color when painting a night scene, including some hues that you might not expect — such as the pale bluish-green of the hillside, which stands out nicely against the dark foliage. She also employs an unusual perspective here, positioning the leaves closest to us and the people further away, so we get a sense of observing from afar rather than following on their heels.
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Thumbelina, Tamara Campeau
This depiction of a scene from Thumbelina by children book illustrator Tamara Campeau also features a pond, though from a very different perspective. Her marvelous use of color, from the pond’s cerulean surface to its dark green reeds, gives the impression of deepening levels, with a little less light filtering down to the bottom. On top of that, Campeau does an excellent job with texture in this drawing, as you can tell from the fishes’ scales, the slippery reeds, and the filmy-looking lily pads at the top.
Introduction
When creating illustrations, we often make the mistake of wanting to put in so many details that in the end we overload the image, losing the meaning we originally wanted it to convey.
In this tutorial I will teach you how to include lots of elements in an illustration in a way that keeps it from looking too busy and keeps the main element you want highlighted clearly in the line of sight of the viewer.
To create the illustration for this tutorials I have used two different pieces of software:
- Clip Studio Paint (CSP) for sketching and digital inking.
CSP has a brush stabilizer that makes your lines very comfortable and fluid. This (in my opinion) makes this software ideal for both inking and sketching your illustrations.
- Photoshop (PSD). For coloring and final brush-up.
As PSD is specially designed for photo editing, it has lots of options in terms of coloring and post-production of images, making digital coloring very easy.
Simplifying Objects and Understanding them in Perspective
For any illustration (be it simple or more complex) you must understand that any element that appears in it, be it a character or an object in the environment, can be simplified into geometric shapes. This will save you a lot of time when locating any element within the perspective drawing.
The most common (and easy to make) shapes are cubes, cylinders, spheres, and pyramids.
It is very important to know the basics of perspective before we start to make any drawing of this type. But to streamline the process, I think it is also very important to understand perspective instinctively. i.e., to be able to locate any of the elements mentioned above at any point in space without using vanishing points. This will help you a lot when you want to insert many objects in a single image without having to make many different vanishing points.
The following is an exercise that helps to hone this instinct: take a photo of a space (a street or a room) and try to create different geometric shapes within the image without using vanishing points. Use only the perspective of the photograph as a reference for the placement of the figures.
If you apply the concept of this exercise to the illustration that you want to make (I will use the tutorial illustration as an example) you will be able to create a base which you will be able to draw over very easily.
In the same way you just used the perspective of the photo as a reference to make the geometric figures, you can use the perspective of these reference figures to make even more detailed figures! Start simple and little by little you can increase the complexity.
I conclude this section by emphasizing how important it is to understand the object you are drawing, so using references is highly recommended.
Values (Foreground, Middle-Ground & Background)
The best way to make dynamic and in-depth compositions is by keeping the Foreground, Middle-Ground, and the Background in mind. As their names suggest, this is all about organizing the elements of your illustration by their distance from the viewpoint.
1 (foreground), 2 (middle-ground), and 3 (background)
Depending on the complexity of the image, you can have more than one Middle-Ground, as in the piece below:
Note: Separating the elements into different blocks will also help you when you get to coloring. The reason is that it helps you keep all the elements organized.
Scenic views from the Flåm Railway
From Myrdal you can also take the scenic Flåmsbanen (Flam Railway) directly to Flåm. A fantastic detour by Flåm can also be arranged as part of Norway in a nutshell®.
The Flåm Railway is one of the steepest railway lines in the world. It offers a panoramic view of some of the wildest and most spectacular scenery in Norway’s fjord country. Lonely Planet has called the trip between Myrdal and Flåm the world’s best train ride.
Finish with a tour of Bergen
After 6-7 hours on the Bergensbanen you will pass through the Ulriken tunnel which exits in the old Hanseatic city of Bergen.
Arctic foxes, snow owls and many other species of Arctic fauna and flora also inhabit this stunning mountain landscape. If you are very fortunate, you may get to see the largest wild reindeer herd in Europe. It consists of more than 9,000 animals, moving like an undulating carpet over the terrain.
A step-by-step guide to this amazing journey
Oslo–Geilo
From Drammen the train follows Drammenselva, an excellent salmon river. After Vikersund you will see Norway’s fifth largest lake, Tyrifjorden, which is 330 meters (1 082 ft) deep. Soon you will catch your first glimpse of mountains, and in due course a beautiful view of Norefjell and Krøderfjorden. The area around Flå is an ancient bear habitat.
Oslo
Oslo is the capital of Norway. It is the country’s largest city, and also one of the oldest settlements in the country. It is the seat of Norway’s government; the parliament building, Stortinget and the Royal Palace.
Oslo is also a modern and diverse city where each district has its own perks and personality. Museums, restaurants and an urban way of life go hand in hand.
Oslo has a proximity to fjords and forest that few other cities can match. The city also has a lively nightlife and a string of attractions including the Opera, Munch museum, Viking ships, Holmenkollen ski jump and the Vigeland sculpture park. People of any age can easily find nice and fun activities in Oslo.
Photo: Arvid Malde
