In a recent meeting of the Florida SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), I heard writers expressing their desire (and frustration?) for ways to illustrate their picture books. Two years ago, I came up with an idea to make my granddaughter a picture book about my mother (her great grandmother) for Christmas. Since the idea sprang up late in the year, I didn’t have time to do full color illustrations. The method I finally chose is one writers (who are not illustrators) could use for their picture books.
While spending a weekend at my sister’s and thinking of ways to illustrate my book, I spied a small, black paper silhouette cutout of my mother in her twenties that she had made of herself while visiting the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Silhouette is one of the oldest forms of expression that advertising and other print media have used for decades.
In “Printers’ Ink”, an old journal for advertisers, a commercial art manager said of the art of silhouette that, “History refers to it, and the French have always been fond of [the] simplified art”; adding, “[t]he silhouette is more than apt to print under any and all circumstances… generally speaking, it is accident proof”. Along with black and white “clipart,” the profile portrait of my mother became the perfect foundation for my story’s illustrations.
As a collage artist, I enjoy the hands-on cutting, manipulating and laying out of paper on paper and did not use a computer. Finding boarders and frames to use with the black and white pictures and laying out the pages was, for me, a lot of fun. Some frames I found I collaged or printed in the text I needed to illustrate from the story. To mirror the boardwalk silhouette of my mother, I made one of my granddaughter for the book. While babysitting her one weekend, my husband and I took her to a local beach where while playing in the sand, I was able to snap a picture of her in profile which I then turned into a silhouette.
I printed the clipart and the frames and boarders out on my studio printer and laid out each page of the picture book on 8”x 8” card stock. Along with some modifications, it still took me the four months working part-time to complete the book getting the text and layout just right. Once all the pages were complete with the printed text, I took all the pages to be copied and bound to Staples. There, I chose to have the book and it’s copy spiral bound. The Staples print technicians* at the store in Clay, NY did a great job with the printing/copying and the binding.
I was pleased with how my black and white picture book came out. It’s rare for a picture book to be produced in black and white instead of color but it works for this book. I think some of the reasons are that it’s a small book, the text moves right along with quick page turns and many of the black and white illustrations show movement i.e., the banner on the beauty school, the “sailor” on the Playbill, the shopper, the dancers and the ribbon waving behind the seamstress.
Also, the silhouette is a unique communication tool that has been used by print media for their concise and immediate recognition. Their simplicity engages readers by leaving something to the imagination, which, I think, especially works with children. My book must “work” because my four-year-old granddaughter says she loves it and it has often been her number one choice when choosing a book to read!
If you are not an artist or illustrator and if you are looking for a way to add illustrations to your picture book, clipart could work for you too.
How about you? Have you ever seen clipart used for a picture book? Have you ever tried using clipart to make illustrations? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Use the “Comments” section below.
*I found out with my next picture book that all Staples print services are not the same. You are not guaranteed the same services even from your preferred store as it can depend on the specific technician. If you are pleased with the results from a certain technician, I recommend that you get their name so you can request their services in the future.