Professional Layout Practices For Illustrated Children's Books
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Professional book layout should always entail using Adobe InDesign. This is the industry-standard and will ensure that you arrive at print-ready files. This video takes you behind the scenes with a book designer and shows you why you should hire a person who specifically has the book layout skillset.
In my experience, illustrators who offer to do the layout are not using InDesign and are therefore working harder and often deliver files that are not print-ready. Not using InDesign also makes any revisions very cumbersome.
This is a great introduction for beginning illustrated book layout. Thank you for taking the time to show why each tip is important for the final book design.
Thank you
Photoshop introduced an artboard feature a number of years ago, where you can have multiple artboards just like in Illustrator. So it is feasible that an artist might lay out a number of pages at once in Photoshop; however for adding text and exporting, Illustrator is still easier to work with.
Will be watching your other videos, found this excellent info. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge x
This was a great video for Book Layout design intro! Love it! TYSM
Very informatuve, thanks.
Excellent video. You filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. You are also clear and concise.
Thank you! The more I learn, the more I want to share. And there is SO MUCH to share! If you don't already know about layer comps in photoshop and how that segways into use with InDesign, I highly recommend finding a video on that because I'm not sure when making that video on my own will be an option.
Hi thanks for this Video,...Very professionl... i am working actualy on a illustrated Book, i am doing Page 10... my question is , i am using MS Paint, to draw the Scenes then, i pace each page on a lawer of powerpoint...do you think that i can have a good result...i need help for suggestions...please...thank you in advance...
sincerely.. Joseph..
Thanks for this very helpful video, Melinda. I've just started to be a children's book designer for a couple of months!
Hi and thank you! email me at martinpublishingservices@gmail.com and I have another video I can send you. The author didn't want me to make it public, because her illustrator was a bit touchy about having his formatting corrected, lol.
@@MelindaMartin wow thank you so very much! I'm going to email you right now!
@@glaizaganaba8625 reply sent
I really like your artboard layout format!
super helpful--thanks!
Thank you! Thumbs up!
Thank you!
Beautiful 😍
It seems like the storyboard process wasn't covered before the illustrator started on final pages. If this had been traditional painting, it would be concerning to have painted a full page when in the end, a double page spread was required. Was it agreed upon to have no illustration on that opposite page but then in InDesign, it was later changed to be a double page spread?
I do not believe the original artist did a full storyboard. This was a triage project for me (a repair), so I wasn't involved until it was near the end.
Hello Melinda, first of all, thank you for the very insightful video. I am a university student from Indonesia. Right now i am working on my final project, which is to design a set of illustration to be put into a fantasy novel.
I have little to none experience in designing a book layout, especially with longer text (since this is a novel). I have a question, for a novel with a long text and few illustrations, do you usually layout the text first then put in the illustration later on, or do you already have everything planned out in the beginning?
I am having difficulties planning the layout since the novel is mostly text, and i would be very grateful if you have any advice.
Thank you very much!
Hello over there :) Novels with illustrations can be tricky, especially if the author wants them to go in a very specific place in the text. But since this is a student project, it sounds like you won't have that complication of working around what a paying client wants.
Before you start on the illustrations, you should determine if it's going to be a full-page or a half-page illustration. Additionally, if it's a full page, do you want it to go from edge to edge or to be inside the margins of the page?
To go a step further, if the novel is going to be printed in black and white, then it's best if the artwork is done with that in mind. Purely black-and-white art requires different techniques than colored art.
One HUGE key to using InDesign correctly is learning about the various styles: character, paragraph, and object.
The character style is applied to the individual word. The paragraph style is applied to the whole paragraph. The object style is applied to the frame (text frame, graphic frame).
You can set the object style to be a specific size, placement, etc.
I prefer to use in-line objects for my novels, instead of anchoring them.
Let me know if I can answer any specific questions. I've worked with InDesign for 10 years, and so I do have a lot of advice to give, lol. Best of luck to you!
@@MelindaMartin Hii, sorry i just saw your reply, thank you so much for your reply, they really help a lot! you are right, i thankfully dont really have to worry about clients in this.
I will surely look more into styles in indesign! the novel is gonna be a full colored novel with a combination of spread, full page, and half page illustration, with some going over the margin.
I do have a couple more questions actually, if you don't mind hehe
first one is, in your experience, when you work on a novel, is it better to separate the chapters file or make it in one big file? i figured that in indesign we can seperate the parts even in one file, but was contemplating on which way works better.
second one is more about the size of the novel, do you think A5 size would work okay for illustrated novels?
last one is more of a general question, i was wondering based on your experience, whats the most common mistake that begginers do or should avoid in terms of layouting an illustrated novel?
sorry if im asking too much question, once again thank you so much for replying and giving me insights, they really do help me a lot!❤
@@uma7970 Q1. first one is, in your experience, when you work on a novel, is it better to separate the chapters file or make it in one big file? i figured that in indesign we can seperate the parts even in one file, but was contemplating on which way works better.
A1. You want to use one file. Do NOT use the "book" feature in InDesign for simple, one-designer files.
Q2. second one is more about the size of the novel, do you think A5 size would work okay for illustrated novels?
A2. Look up other books in the genre that you are working in and choose a size that fits in with your genre.
Q3. last one is more of a general question, i was wondering based on your experience, whats the most common mistake that begginers do or should avoid in terms of layouting an illustrated novel?
A3. The most common mistake that beginners make regardless of the style of the book is 1) assuming it's easy, 2) not properly using styles, 3), not having the text and images set to flow naturally, which goes back to knowing how to properly use styles.
@@MelindaMartin i see! thank you very much😊😊
Iam Bangladeshi.thanks for you
Hey Melinda! Thank you so Much! I have a few problems that I am facing with formatting the book for Amazon kdp paper back, now my book size is 8.5 by 8.5 so is it important to leave bleed for it? and is Amazon doing offset printing or they have a different process? I tried with bleed and without bleed but in the Previewer it is showing errors how would you recommend fixing it? Thank you so much!
It is only important to use bleed IF your document has ANY pages that extend to the very edge or if you have elements that go into .3" margin that KDP allows (IngramSpark is .5").
Amazon does not do offset printing. They use a digital printing system.
I can take a look at your PDF (or InDesign package) if you'd like. This is a free service I offer. Use this form: bit.ly/HealthCheckPOD
Hello, first time illustrating a children’s book, if a customers book is going to be 6x9 pages what are your recommended layout dimensions and ppi?
if ANY of the artwork is going to touch ANY of the outside edges, you need to set your ID file up to be
trim size 6x9
with facing pages
bleed settings: top, right, bottom to .125", inside to 0"
ID is setup for 300 dpi. You can export out to different dpi if needed for web graphics, etc. But all print art should be exported at 300 dpi.
So all of your artwork should be done created in 300 dpi if you're using a raster-based app, like Photoshop and Procreate. (vector-based apps like Illustrator can scale artwork up or down without loss.)
You'll be able to check the effective ppi of each art file in the links panel.
Thanks Melinda! ❤️
Hi Melinda, I follow your facebook and groups that you created. Sorry to be so straight forward, but is there anyway a opened collaboration with you for typesetting and book layout?
Awe! Thank you for following me! And I run an apology-free zone :) No need to ever apologize, especially for valuing me enough to want to work with me, lol.
Are you wanting to work for me/with me or hire me?
@@MelindaMartin Thank you, well I would like work for you :)
@@valentins.8770 send me an email to martinpublishingservices@gmail.com
I watched your video and your processes are pretty good. I have some scripts that will help you save a lot of time and take your work next level.
I love to educate and be a part of a good team, so if we like each other, I'm sure we can collab.
@@MelindaMartin E-mail sent, just make sure to check the spam folder :)
Thank you Melinda!
@@valentins.8770 received! just a very busy day! I will reply over the weekend. xoxo
When I print my illustration through photoshop it's good quality but when I transfer it to Indesign it's printed out pixelated!
Do you know why this happens?
What is your canvas size and resolution set to in PS?
@@MelindaMartin It's A4 format and 300 dpi
@@hirajxjxk648 k. Did you file-->place the photoshop file? If yes, go the links panel, click on the link, and then on the bottom of the panel, it will tell you what resolution InDesign is seeing it at. Is below 300 in the links panel?
@@MelindaMartin Yes it says 300. but it's a jpeg might that be the problem?
@@hirajxjxk648 Jpgs are fine, so that's not the problem. Are you exporting as a PDF and then printing it out from Adobe Reader (or other PDF app)?
What’s the canvas size?
This specific canvas size is 6x9 inches.
The illustration is the author's product with copyrights and this also includes the layout. As an illustrator, I would not allow a graphic designer to change the layout. And as a graphic designer, I wouldn't dare interfere with the illustrator's work.
Good thing the illustrator gave me permission then.
@@MelindaMartin It would be nice to mention this in the video "Professional Layout Preactices".
minimise the talk time please - the process is valuable though
Knowledge comes with a price and on this video, the price you pay for my knowledge is that I am not a robot. I invite you to join me in acknowledging our humanity
@@MelindaMartin I agree! Thank you so much
Do u do layouts for others. ?insta
Yes :) Authors hire me BEFORE they hire the illustrator. melindamartin.me/publishing-advice-resources/how-i-work-with-childrens-book-authors/
@@MelindaMartin i just dont want to watch an 1 hr tutorial about how to a layout on canva lol its east to do the layout i just dont want to learn and u need the art and story the last thing is the layout lol i hate feeling like people just trying to hustle people and get over ..the way u talkin maybe i should just take the time and learn it 😂 lol
@@MelindaMartin the way u talkin i can see u over charging and i dont click on links that's how people get hacked
@@2solid4tv48 a safe way around that is to google the link to check its validity instead of clicking on a link.
@@2solid4tv48 Canva is great for low-level print-on-demand books but real book design software like Adobe InDesign exists for a reason. People who don't see my value aren't my ideal client so no worries if you don't agree with how I do things. Find what works for you.
Hello mam please help me
How can I help you?