How to format a children book spread | How to illustrate a children book

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

What app or program do you work in? Let me know!

[@CgComic]

I use Paint Tool SAI

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@CgComic Oh wow, that's an old one! I used to work in Sai a good 10 years ago. Does it still hold up?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@Sophie Vitória What a cute name!

[@CgComic]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Ooh! Yes, and the 2nd ver. already out!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@CgComic I love Sai especially for inking, their inking brush is so smooth and crisp. Haven't found its equal in Photoshop! However, a big problem with Sai is that it doesn't support CMYK, which is essential for creating any work that's going to be printed :/

[@madhurikamoorthy8365]

Yess. please give us a tutorial on Procreate too! Your videos are really useful. Thank you

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thank you for stopping by dear! I will take note to make a Procreate version!

[@madhurikamoorthy8365]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Thank You!

[@naszern6754]

Love it!!! Finally I can understand about bleeds and other terms like rgb/cmyk! My goodness! You saved many illustrators' lives. Haha I love the way you explain things. So simple and clear. Thank you always for sharing. More powers and more success to come. Cheers!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Awww I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Nash! Thanks for stopping by :)

[@babiealexandrapulga2686]

This is seriously very helpful. You saved my life again, Ness! Thank you! 💖

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You're so welcome Alex!

[@livelovelife3692]

This video was well done and informative. You are very generous to share your experience and knowledge. Thank you. Cheers!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

That's so sweet, thank you hun! I'm glad you found it helpful :)

[@nisamae2]

I love you for this lol thank youu😩💖

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You're so welcome!

[@andreiameloillustration]

Perfect explanation. Clear and simple. I liked particularly the idea of drawing the lines over the guides because that are really annoying when we are working over them. Thanks!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm so happy you liked the video, Andreia!

[@lindaguerraxoxo]

Just FYI, you can stop the snap to guides by going into the View menu > snap to> guides, and clicking it off.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Ohhh that's so cool! Thanks for the tip, I didn't know that!

[@cathygondra410]

Hello, Ness! It is my very first time to work as a children's book illustrator. I have watched a lot of your videos and they really helped me a lot!!!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kueen7538]

This was very informative. Thank you!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm very happy to hear you liked it, thank you!!

[@kueen7538]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess You're welcome!

[@livelovelife3692]

I followed the steps. After adding the 1 inch for the bleed, it filled it with a light red! It was an easy fix. I figured it out. I looked at the layer panel. The layer was locked. Once unlocked, the pink bleed was deleted. Simple!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Super!!

[@ArtwithNetts]

ahh the guides are brilliant! i've been doing this a somewhat more cumbersome way (also photoshop) but it's comforting to see it yields the same result ;) thanks as always for your videos Ness!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks for stopping by hun!

[@tessa2568]

Great video Ness! Thank you!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thank you for stopping by Tessa, I'm glad you liked it!

[@brenroseartsoul6713]

Yes please, on Procreate too 💕

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Noted! ;)

[@Everista]

very useful thanx!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Glad it was helpful!

[@abigailjaved4853]

Your videos are so helpful

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Glad you think so!

[@alisa_hanes]

Thank you! So simple! Now I’m curious if there are anything like this to know about cover design?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Cover design depends a lot :) It can be as simple as a square with bleed all around. But if it's a wrap-around cover it has to include the spine, and there can be many other specifications: gold emboss, dust jacket, etc. A lot of the time, publishers will just have the illustrator draw the image and have their in-house graphic designer do the final formatting with all the stuff the want on it :)

[@exciteart]

Thankyou for your tips

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm glad you found them useful!

[@bethanyewert1774]

I would absolutely lovvvve it if you made a formatting video for procreate! :O

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Will do!

[@juliastanton3656]

Hi! I’d love a video like this, but for procreate! Thanks for your insights! I love your channel!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Hi Julia, thank you for the suggestion!

[@FrenchbrunetteinChina]

Thank you for this tutorial! It's very helpful! I'm doing my first children book and I need to learn how to format it. I don't have photoshop though. You said that we can use canva to format a children book. I didn't know that was possible.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Sure, you can use whatever software you like as long as it allows you to export a file format that printers accept :)

[@julieshao8527]

Thank you for this video! 😊I would love to learn the process on Procreate!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thank you for stopping by, Julie! I'll make one for Procreate :)

[@soyarquitecta2000]

I used procreate a lot so i would LOVE a video like this explaining that program pleeease

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Oh hi dear Rocio it,s nice to see you! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@CgComic]

Thanks alot for making this!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I hope it helps, Clement!

[@SilviaLopezCepero]

Awesome explanation! Seeing this process for Procreate would be great. Do you know if you can do this for Photoshop on the iPad app as well?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I actually haven't tried the mobile version of Photoshop myself, so I'd have to look into it first!

[@Petuacapturesit]

Hi Ness. Thank you for this. Did you do a video like this but for those who use Procreate?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I have not yet but it's definitely on my to-do list!!

[@JiselleBlue25]

Oh my gosh, your videos really helped a lot!!! I'm just starting out since I just realize that I really want to become a children's book illustrator soon ;A; You inspired me!! May I also know where to download your brushes if that is alright with you? :">

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I'm glad you found the video useful! I use Kyle Webster's Photoshop brushes, which are actually available for free download with the Creative Cloud :) Select the brush tool in Photoshop, right click anywhere in your canvas and pick "get more brushes". It will take you to Adobe's free packs of brushes!

[@JiselleBlue25]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Thank you so much!!! ♥♥♥

[@icjacks2348]

Yes please can you do it on procreate as well 🙏🏼🙌🏼

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Noted!

[@aminathnileysha5857]

Hi, thanks for the very informative videos. I use procreate and would love to see this process done in procreate. Thanks ☺️

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you liked the video! I'll definitely do a Procreate version :)

[@lifeisart8120]

A well done video. I have a basic question, probably obvious, but...so I plan on illustrating on iPad Pro. So, using your template, I would do my illustration setup in iPad as 10"x10" save as a psd file, and just insert it in the PShop template so not to go over the bleed lines, correct?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Great question! You need to draw all the way to the edge of the page, over the bleed line. If you draw only 10x10 and that's the final book size, you don't have a big enough image to cover the bleeds. I hope this helps!

[@cathygondra410]

Can you do a sample in procreate.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I definitely will!

[@sergio_tellez]

Thank you Ness. This was a very useful video. I'm doing a children book and I'm working with Krita. At the beginning I was just making some illustrations to make a portfolio, but before I knew I had enough illustrations to make a book (I guess). So I'm planing to use the amazon print on demand service. The problem I have now is that I wasn't thinking in a book when I started, so the sizes of my images are all over the place. But I really think they can make a really nice book. I think I will have to cut some, or maybe add a custom frame... ? I would like to know more about how to desing a book because I'm quite lost at the moment, but working on learning as well. Thanks for the video again! Cheers!

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Hi Sergio! This seems like a fun project that will teach you a lot just by doing it :) Best of luck and I can't wait to see the book!

[@sergio_tellez]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Hi Ness. it's finally done! It was a lot of work and learning as you said. In case you want to check it out the link is here: sergiotellez.carrd.co/#books Your videos are helping me quite a lot, so thank you so much for your work again. Looking forward for your next video. Cheers.

[@NuriaSaladrigasLarroy]

Hello Ness. I have a question. When your delivering your final work and the sheets are double, do you send all the page or they ask you to cut it in single pages? What kind of file do you send to your printer?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Most of the time it's double pages, but not always! You do have to ask EVERY time you're working with a new client or printer to make sure :)

[@gela3874]

Is it okay to work in RGB but convert it to CMYK afterward? Or is it best to work directly in CMYK?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You could do that, but then you may have a lot of changes to do to your illustration after you convert it. It's more efficient to start working in CMYK right away, so you don't have to go back and edit your colors. It's less work!

[@TheLucaLisciArt]

Hi Ness. Hi discovered you recently and your videos are really helpfull, but I have a question: When I start a project in CMYK in photoshop I don't see any difference from RGB. I see the difference only when I export the illustrations that looks dull and desaturated. To see like the esxported files but in photshop I eanbled the ICC profile GRACoL 2006 with simulate paper color. While painting do you activate an ICC profile like that to see in Photoshop the same as you export? Because I don't understand if I'm doing somenthing wrong.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

I've never done the ICC, I just put the mode to CMYK. What the mode does is it will limit which colors it lets you pick. If you try to pick a very bright, neon green, it won't let you and will give you a duller green instead. It's only letting you pick colors that you can print. You should be able to see right on the screen what your colors are like, even before you export.

[@TheLucaLisciArt]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess Thank you for answering. I was strugling all the day and now reading your comment I found the solution and what I was doing wrong. Basically while creating the project I had to open the advance settings of CMYK. Then change the color profile. Mine was for "not handle the color" and for this reason, also if was a CMYK project, photoshop was letting me choose rgb color and not limiting me to printing colors. So when I was saving I was getting very desaturated image.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@TheLucaLisciArt I'm so happy you were able to find the correct setting! This will be a game changer for you going forward :)

[@sumudamar2667]

Hi, Ness What's the difference between a board book format and a paperback book format? I have a project to format a board book, I wonder what I should ask from my client. The client has no experience in print or self publish. Can you help ?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

The size might be different, but the method for making your template and the questions to ask are still the same :) You can't assume anything, you have to ask the size, resolution, format and color profile every time.

[@windyhutabarat3349]

Can you please make explanation video for procreate about this? It will be very helpfull

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

Will do!

[@moniquemortimer5022]

What do they mean by trim size? I have no idea what that is. Please help me 😳

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

The trim size is the size the pages will be after they've been trimmed. At the printer they use giant sheets of paper, print on them, then cut the paper and trim the pages to the final size :) The trim size is subject to small variations of a few millimeters due to the machines, this is what creates the need for the bleed :)

[@moniquemortimer5022]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess thank you!! Makes sense. Author I'm working is just sending me weird stuff. But cleared it up. Thanks for the super helpful vids 🙏

[@moniquemortimer5022]

Can I ask another question? I get the bleed and I can add that to my canvas. But what do I do with inside/gutter margin and I'm suppose to add the other three sides margins. This is what is confusing me. The author isn't much help because they don't know as well. And I have no else to ask really.

[@miakujundzic3086]

How would u do this in procrate since u cant change canvise later?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

You actual can change your canvas size at any time in Photoshop. It's the "crop and resize" tool :)

[@miakujundzic3086]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess oh ty and for Procreate can u change it once u start to ectualy resize it not just crop it? I think its very hard to choose a good and correct size and dpi in procreate myb bcz we dont see a lil canvise just numbers

[@miakujundzic3086]

@@ArtBusinesswithNess i would soon like to start to ilustrate my own book so Im wondering if procreat is good for that? And later mby photoshop or ilustrator to add text?

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@miakujundzic3086 The final size it needs to be printed at and the dpi determine the size. SO if the project will be printed at 10 x 10 inches and needs to be 300 dpi, you can just input these numbers and it spits out a canvas with the right pixel width and height :) It's best to start at your final size - if you start too small then decide to enlarge, what you've already drawn will lose quality and be blurry.

[@ArtBusinesswithNess]

@@miakujundzic3086 Any app has the potential to work - people even used to illustrate picture books before computers were a thing so imagine that. There's no wrong apps, just tools that may suit you personally or not. For instance I don't illustrate books on my iPad at all because it's such a time consuming project and the position working on the iPad hurts my neck. To work draw 8 hours a day I need to be at my desktop computer with proper posture and the good chair. But for you it might be different. The app itself has everything you need. You can add text with Affinity designer or some such app (or even better let a graphic designer do it for best results)