Illustrations aren't necessary to every story, but they sure are fun to make. After all, nobody sees your characters or scenery the same way you do, unless you draw it for them.
"But I can't draw!" you exclaim. "I paint with words! That's the whole reason I write!" Here's the big secret: you don't have to be an artist or even good to do what I'm about to describe.
Take an old box of family photos. Flip through them all and pick out the ones that have poses and scenery most like those you'd like to depict in your illustration. Now sandwich each photo between a window and a piece of printer paper, and trace over the main lines with a pencil. Then take the sketch to your desk and add in whatever details and shading you left out, and add color, if you like.
Even if your character had hair that looks like it's exploding or hair that goes down to her ankles, even if your character is a totally different race or gender than the person in the photo, it's still possible (and sometimes very easy) to tweak, change, and/or leave out certain features to make the picture into what you want. Your mom becomes your main character, that tub of apples is filled with giant peppermints, the trees in the background can be an ocean, and though I'm not suggesting you turn your brother into the worst bad-guy imaginable, there's always the possibility, right?
I have to say I didn't invent this technique. My art teacher at my homeschool co-op taught me, and though we were supposed to be learning about pop-art by doing self-portraits, one of my friends came up with a slightly altered idea - why not trace photos of ourselves and our family and change the hair or eyes or whatever to illustrate our characters? So then I came home and almost immediately climbed through the jungle of a closet we have and dug out the old photos, and now I have some lovely illustrations ("some" meaning "more than ten") taped to my bookshelf. Just thought I'd give my teacher and my friend their due credit.
Illustrations aren't impossible. In fact, they're really fun.
"But I can't draw!" you exclaim. "I paint with words! That's the whole reason I write!" Here's the big secret: you don't have to be an artist or even good to do what I'm about to describe.
Take an old box of family photos. Flip through them all and pick out the ones that have poses and scenery most like those you'd like to depict in your illustration. Now sandwich each photo between a window and a piece of printer paper, and trace over the main lines with a pencil. Then take the sketch to your desk and add in whatever details and shading you left out, and add color, if you like.
Even if your character had hair that looks like it's exploding or hair that goes down to her ankles, even if your character is a totally different race or gender than the person in the photo, it's still possible (and sometimes very easy) to tweak, change, and/or leave out certain features to make the picture into what you want. Your mom becomes your main character, that tub of apples is filled with giant peppermints, the trees in the background can be an ocean, and though I'm not suggesting you turn your brother into the worst bad-guy imaginable, there's always the possibility, right?
I have to say I didn't invent this technique. My art teacher at my homeschool co-op taught me, and though we were supposed to be learning about pop-art by doing self-portraits, one of my friends came up with a slightly altered idea - why not trace photos of ourselves and our family and change the hair or eyes or whatever to illustrate our characters? So then I came home and almost immediately climbed through the jungle of a closet we have and dug out the old photos, and now I have some lovely illustrations ("some" meaning "more than ten") taped to my bookshelf. Just thought I'd give my teacher and my friend their due credit.
Illustrations aren't impossible. In fact, they're really fun.