Illustrating your book is not a test you can fail. It’s a collaboration — and like any good collaboration, it works best when everyone understands their role. But before tools, briefs and budgets — it helps to understand what illustrations do in a book, and what they don’t.
One of the most common moments of quiet panic I see in writers happens right here: “I’ve written the book… now I need illustrations.”
Suddenly the questions pile up. How much direction is too much? What if I ruin the illustrator’s creativity? What if I don’t know enough to brief them properly?
Let me reassure you upfront: Illustrating your book is not a test you can fail.It’s a collaboration — and like any good collaboration, it works best when everyone understands their role.
But before tools, briefs and budgets — it helps to understand what illustrations do in a book, and what they don’t.
Illustration Is Not Decoration
One of the biggest misconceptions is that illustrations exist to “make the book pretty”. Sometimes they do that. But their real job is more purposeful. Illustration can:
- extend the story beyond the words
- support readers who process visually
- guide pacing and emotional tone
- clarify meaning where language alone would struggle
In children’s books, illustration often carries half — sometimes more — of the storytelling weight. In non-fiction, memoir and educational texts, images can reduce cognitive load and increase comprehension. In fiction, they can establish mood, setting, or symbolic resonance.
That means illustration decisions are creative decisions, not cosmetic ones.
Illustration Is a Different Skill Set
Writers sometimes worry that if they give direction, they’re “doing the illustrator’s job”. Or that if they don’t give enough direction, the illustrator will get it wrong.
The truth is: You bring the story. The illustrator brings visual interpretation. Neither replaces the other.
Illustrators are trained to think in shape, colour, perspective and visual rhythm — just as writers are trained to think in language. The best work happens when each respects the other’s expertise.
Your role is not to design the pictures. Your role is to communicate intent.
What Illustrators Actually Need From Writers
It surprises many first-time authors when they discover that most illustrators don’t want:
- page-by-page micromanagement
- exact descriptions of every facial expression
- instructions that leave no room to think
What they do want is clarity around:
- the audience
- the tone (gentle, humorous, dark, playful, serious)
- any non-negotiables (accuracy, representation, cultural detail)
- how the book should feel
When writers can articulate those things, illustrators can do their best work.
Why Illustration Anxiety Is So Common (Especially for New Writers)
Illustration anxiety usually isn’t about art at all. It’s about loss of control, fear of making the wrong decision and not knowing the “rules”.
Many writers — particularly those publishing later in life — worry they should already know this stuff. You don’t. Illustration workflows aren’t intuitive unless you’ve been shown them.
Collaboration Over Control
A healthy illustration process feels like a conversation, not a handover.
You might:
- share reference images to indicate mood
- discuss characters without prescribing exact looks
- review sketches and give feedback on alignment, not style
This is not interference. It’s collaboration. The key is remembering that your job is to protect the story, not to direct the art.
A Note on Rights, Credit and Respect
Illustration is also professional creative labour. That means:
- illustrators retain copyright in their artwork unless otherwise agreed
- usage rights should be discussed clearly
- credit matters
In Australia, these principles are clearly outlined by the Australian Copyright Council, and understanding them early helps avoid misunderstandings later.
Respectful collaboration includes respecting the illustrator’s intellectual property.
Where to find more
The Scribbly team has produced several blogs that move into practical illustration territory, including:
- how much direction to give an illustrator (and how to give it well)
- what should go into an illustration brief
- budgeting and timelines (realistic, not scary)
- children’s books vs adult books — very different rules
- using AI imagery ethically and transparently (yes, we’ll go there)
Simply use the search bar in our free reference library.
But first you must understand that illustration isn’t something that happens after writing. It’s something that works alongside it.
Takeaway
If you’re approaching illustration for the first time, remember that you don’t need to know how to draw or speak in art terms. You just need to understand your story well enough to share its heart.
The rest is a conversation.
Australian References & Further Reading
- Australian Society of Authors – Author–illustrator collaboration guidance
- Australian Copyright Council – Copyright and illustration rights
- Arts Queensland – Support and funding information for visual artists and writers