Commissions
Watercolor Book Illustrator
Watercolour art your readers aren’t likely to forget.
Bringing your stories to life with whimsical watercolor art.
Are you seeking illustrations that capture your book’s heartfelt meaning, full of expression? Do you love the dreamy style of watercolor and prefer it over digital or AI art? If so, then my style may resonate with you! I use watercolour, ink and colour pencil mediums.
I recall being a child, and while not every book stood out to me, the ones that were well illustrated had something magical to them. I could spend hours admiring the artwork mesmerized by the intricate details. This is my goal for your book too. To live on in your reader’s memories long after they’ve grown.
From your first idea to a finished storybook step-by-step.
Share your manuscript, your ideas, and the feeling you want your book to capture. From there, we’ll decide on full-page versus spot-illustration, character style direction and selecting fonts all prepared fro your book to print.
- Text Layout
- Book Formatting & Font Selection
- Book Covers
- Thumbnail Sketches
- Character Sketches
- Flexible Book Licensing
Character development process for book illustration.
This is where Nicole collaborates with you or the publisher to illustrate the character including their age, height, personality, clothing accessories as well as taking into account the cultural, historical, and environmental contexts of your book. Several character drafts, angles and sketches are done. Characters can be humans or animals.
Her style focuses on bringing out the characters expressions, also emphasizes capturing light and mood.
How children's book illustration works.
Book illustration involves a step-by-step process including type layout, character development, thumbnail sketches, full colour to the final book cover and print formatting. You, the author, have input at every stage!
This is where your manuscript text is laid out on the pages. This helps to conceptualize your content and start planning out the illustrations. Most books are 28-54 pages.
Character concepts are drawn, narrowing down features, personality, clothing and accessories. A character model sheet with different side-views to help with consistency.
Thumbnails are quick sketches of scenes for each page. This helps narrow down the concept before the final colour.
Once the thumbnails are completed, it’s time to begin painting the pages. After, they are digitally scanned and exported for high-resolution print.
The cover is created including the back and spine with book title, your author name and bio included.
Setting up the book for gutters, margins and bleeds, and exporting pages for high-resolution PDF print for Amazon KDP.
After, your book is ready for Amazon or another publishing platform. You have commercial use of the illustration for book marketing purposes.
Book Illustrator Pricing
Starting at $1999
Pricing is based on number of pages, timelines, page spreads and more. Please book a call with Nicole to receive a custom quote.
Book A Call, Receive A Quote for your book
How much does children's book illustration cost? Fill out this form to book a complimentary call and custom quote.
Worlds full of wonder - Watercolor portfolio
Whimsical watercolour illustrations. For more of Nicole’s work goto gallery or follow for latest work on instagram @sketchbyhart.
FAQs
If you have any further questions, you can email Nicole by contact here.
Generally it depends on the complexity of scene, the number of characters, and more. Fill out the form above to receive your quote!
No, I do not. The nice thing with traditional painting is that it’s not easy for Ai generators to replicate compared to digital art illustrations. Traditional art can also make your book stand out as unique and one-of-a-kind in a sea of digital.
Yes, I can paint a variety of things ranging from horses, dogs, cats to cows, dragons and goats!
Yes, depending on the what publishing route you take. For example, Amazon has templates and I can format the pages including margins, bleeds, etc, for proper high-resolution print. I am also happy to work alongside a graphic designer, editor or publisher if you already have that organized.
Illustrating a standard children’s picture book typically takes 3 to 5 months which depends on the number of pages and page design type.
I am happy to provide a sample illustration beforehand to ensure I am a good fit. I would charge separately for the sample. If there are specific things you’re looking for (.e.g a type of animal, scenery, etc), I can send you relevant examples. I have a lot of portfolio I can share to showcase my breadth of subject matter, so please don’t hesitate to ask.
You will receive high-resolution PDF and .jpg files ready for print.
You receive standard commercial license to the book illustrations to use for book promotion such as social media posts, flyers, posters, etc. If you need full commercial license to sell the art for other aspects such as on merchandise (mugs, t-shirts, calendars, prints), please let me know in the form above.
There is 3 options for art licensing for the book.
1. Standard Commercial License: to use the book artwork for book promotion such as social media posts, flyers, posters, etc, in order to sell the book. This is the most common licensing.
2. Full Commercial Merchandise License: To also use the art and sell it on merchandise (mugs, t-shirts, calendars, prints).
3. Full Copyright Buyout: You own 100% of the copyright and artwork is released entirely to the author.
