Storybook illustration: 4 styles and 15 ideas to try

Storybook illustration is the look of picture books: a clear character with big feelings, soft painted color and room on the page for words. Most of it comes from four techniques: gouache, watercolor, ink and cut paper. Here’s what makes each one, with 15 scenes to try.

What makes it look like a storybook

• One main character with a readable face and pose, drawn the same way on every page.
• A small palette, often warm and a little muted.
• Simple backgrounds, with space left for the text.
• A point of view that tells the feeling: look up at something big, down on someone small and lost.

Gouache: flat, chalky color

Gouache is opaque watercolor. It dries flat and matte, so shapes read clearly, and you can paint light colors over dark ones. Picture-book gouache often shows the brush and has a soft, chalky edge.

1. Bunny under a reading lamp Paint the lamp’s light as one flat pale shape first, then the bunny and the book on top of it.
2. Night garden Cover the page in dark blue, then paint pale flowers and a moon over it.
3. Sticker-border character Paint a small figure, then outline it with a thick white edge so it looks cut out and stuck on.
4. A kitchen from a mouse’s height Table legs like tree trunks and a crumb as big as a rock, all seen from the floor.

Watercolor: soft and glowing

Watercolor is transparent, so the white of the paper is your light. Wet edges bloom into each other, which suits weather, skies and quiet scenes.

1. Rainy walk Wet the sky, drop in gray and let it bleed, then paint a small yellow raincoat once it’s dry.
2. Bedtime window A dark blue house at night with one window left as bare paper, then glazed pale yellow.
3. Pencil and wash creature A loose pencil drawing of an animal with one wash of color over it, the pencil still showing. More quick prompts in sketchbook drawing ideas.
4. One tree, four seasons The same tree four times in a row, changing only the colors.

Ink and line: the drawing does the work

Pen or brush ink, often with a light wash of color. The lines carry the character, and cross-hatching carries the shadow.

1. Cross-hatched night A street at night where every shadow is built from crossed lines, darker where they’re closer together.
2. Busy town A crowded town square full of tiny people, each doing something, for readers to search.
3. Character turnaround Draw your character from the front, the side and the back so it stays the same across pages.
4. One spot color An all-ink scene where only one thing has color, like the hero’s red scarf.

Cut paper: shapes and layers

Scenes built from cut or torn paper, often painted first for texture. Edges are crisp, and depth comes from layers overlapping.

1. Torn-paper hills Tear strips of green paper and overlap them, with the smallest and palest at the back.
2. Painted-paper animal Paint a few sheets with texture first, then cut the animal from them: an oval body, triangle ears, a long tail.
3. Silhouette scene Black paper shapes against a bright painted sky, like a shadow puppet show.

Put yourself in a storybook with Tada

Tada, an iPhone app, has two AI looks painted in picture-book gouache. Both keep your photo exactly as it is and add a drawn layer that moves:

• Storybook Twin: a small drawn twin of your subject in the empty space beside them, with sticker borders. A pet or an object gets its own character twin.
• Bunny Buddy: a big, soft, sleepy bunny peeking from behind your subject’s shoulder, with flowers.

1. Open Tada, tap Add effects and pick a photo.
2. Choose Storybook Twin or Bunny Buddy and tap Make it.
3. In about a minute your tada is ready. Tap Save and it goes to Photos as a Live Photo.

Each AI look uses 1 AI tada (you get 3 free). To make it, your photo is sent to Tada’s AI partners; Tada asks before your first one. See privacy.

Questions

More you can do

• Sketchbook drawing ideas
• Sun and moon drawing
• Crayon drawing
• Newborn photo ideas
• All guides