Book Illustration Services for Covers, Interiors and Children's Books
Pictures that carry the story
Our book illustration services come from an independent publishing house in Lake City, Colorado, that's been making books since 1996. Because we also lay out and publish books, each picture is made for the page it'll sit on, sized to your edition's trim, and to its spine when it's a cover.
We work two ways. Our illustrators draw covers, interiors and comics for adult books, and our children's book studio plans the whole picture book around its page turns. Whatever we're drawing, you approve the sketch before any finished art begins.
A cover with original art starts from $1,800, and every commission is quoted as one fixed fee for your book.
The quote is free and you pay nothing until you say yes. A sample or a description of the book is enough to start, and a person replies within one business day. See every published price
Illustrated books from our own list
These are books we published, shown as they appear on the cover, from pen and ink to full color.
The pictures are the first thing a reader judges
Someone browsing a bookstore table judges your cover at a glance. A parent choosing a picture book flips through a few spreads (two facing pages) and either keeps going or puts it back. The art has made the sale, or lost it, by the time anyone reads a sentence you wrote.
When illustration goes wrong, it's usually because the art was made without the book in mind. A cover painted at the wrong proportions, so the spine swallows the author's name. A spread where the child's face falls straight into the gutter, the fold down the middle of the book. A main character whose hair and height change between page 4 and page 30. Files exported at screen resolution that look sharp on a laptop and print soft.
Full-color art is the most expensive thing in the book, so it should come last. A mistake caught at thumbnail size costs a few minutes with a pencil. The same mistake caught after the art is painted costs a redraw, and sometimes a launch date.
Hiring a better artist won't fix any of this on its own. You need someone planning each picture against the printed book, which is what a publisher does all day.
You need someone planning each picture against the printed book, which is what a publisher does all day.
What our book illustration services cover
We make each commission for one book, matched to its genre and the shelf it will sit on.
Book cover illustration
Original art built to the trim, spine and jacket flaps of your edition. Where it suits the book, the lettering is drawn by hand as part of the art. Some books are better served by a designed cover built from type, image and layout, and its fees start lower.
Interior line art, maps and diagrams
Chapter openers, maps, diagrams and vignettes, prepared for print and ebook. A regional history reads better when the reader can see where the mine sat in relation to the river. A memoir gains warmth from a drawn farmhouse at the head of each part. A Western novel often needs one clear map more than another page of description.
Comic and graphic novel art
Pencils, inks, color and lettering, paneled to a finished script. We say "finished" on purpose: panel layouts depend on every line of dialogue, and a changed script after pencils means redrawn pages. If your story is still a rough draft, start with our comic book writing service and bring the script back when it's locked.
Video book trailers
We can also cut a trailer from animated art, type and score, for retail pages and social media. Ask about one with your cover quote.
Art that holds across a series
For a series, we build a style guide and character sheets on book one and carry them forward. The look of the art and each character stays consistent from book to book, so a reader who picks up the third book knows at once it belongs with the first.
Not sure what your book needs drawn? Ask, and we'll tell you.
Children's book illustration services, from a separate studio
Picture books are their own craft, so they have their own studio. In a picture book the art carries half the meaning, and the page turn is part of the storytelling. Most picture books run 32 pages, and some run 24 or 40, because printers bind the pages in groups of 8 or 16. We storyboard the whole book to one of those lengths first. That way the big moments fall where the reader has to turn to find out what happens.
We design the cast first: turnarounds from every angle, a sheet of expressions, and scale drawings showing how tall each character stands beside the others. We draw each scene from those sheets, so the child on page 30 is plainly the child from page 1.
The whole book is thumbnailed first, so you see its pacing before any finished art. The storyboard decides which moments get a full double-page spread, which get a single page and which get a spot, a small drawing set into the text. For the background, read how a children's book gets illustrated, step by step.
The studio delivers full-bleed spreads and print-ready files for hardcover or board book, with bleed and safety built in (Step 3 below explains both). We place the text by hand on each spread, keeping lines clear of faces and out of the fold. For a general picture of how trim, bleed and margins work, see Amazon KDP's trim size, bleed and margin requirements. Hardcover and board book printers set their own specs, and we size the files to your printer's.
The format depends on who the book is for. Babies and toddlers usually mean a board book: thick pages and a line or two of text. Readers from about 3 to 8 usually mean a hardcover picture book. We'll talk it through, because format changes the page count and trim.
Get the text edited before anyone picks up a pencil, because in a picture book one cut sentence can leave a whole spread with nothing to show. Our children's book writing services can get the story ready.
Tell us about the project
Send a few details about book illustration services and a person on our team will reply with a fixed quote. You'll know the price before any work begins.
Prefer to talk? Call (336) 565-6915, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Mountain Time.
What every commission includes
Whether it's one cover or a full picture book, you get:
- A read of your manuscript, and a style brief agreed with you.
- An illustrator matched to your genre, whose portfolio you see before you sign the brief.
- Thumbnails and character roughs, with two rounds of changes included.
- Finished, print-ready art sized to your book.
- The artist's fee and the license to use the art, both included in the price, plus the layered source files. Your book, text and copyright stay yours.
- A nondisclosure agreement, so the story stays private while it's being drawn.
- A fixed fee in writing, with the scope agreed before work starts. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices.
Sketch first, always: how a commission runs
Nothing is rendered until the thumbnails work.
We read the manuscript, and we agree the style with you in writing: medium, palette, detail and mood. The most useful things to send are the manuscript or script, your trim size if you've chosen one, three to five books whose pictures feel right, a line on who the reader is, and anything you know you dislike.
The illustrator produces thumbnails and character roughs. This is the stage to be fussy: moving a character, cropping a scene or choosing which moment gets the big spread is quick work at this size.
Approved roughs are rendered at 300 dpi to the exact trim, with bleed and safety. In plain terms, the trim is the page size after the printer cuts it. Bleed is a strip of extra art past that edge, so the cut never leaves a white sliver. Safety is the inner margin that keeps faces and words clear of the cut and spine.
The finished files are handed over, ready for any printer you choose. If we're also laying out the book, our book formatting team places the art and text for print and ebook.
When a printed proof arrives, read it once at arm's length as a reader would, then go over the edges and the gutter up close. Look for faces or words drifting into the fold, a white sliver at any trimmed edge, and colors that print darker than they looked on screen. Note each one with its page number.
Get a quote for your book
We price from your book, not a package: if there's text, we read a sample before quoting. Your quote sets out the stages it covers and a date. If the brief changes later, we requote rather than add to the invoice.
What book illustration costs
Cover with original art: from $1,800
Commissioned illustration or hand lettering for your cover, including the artist's fee and the license.
Cover design without commissioned art: from $850
Handled by our book cover design team.
Illustrated interior: from $1,400
For picture books and photographic books, where images and text are placed together.
The number of pieces
Double-page spreads take longer than single pages, and single pages longer than spots.
Color or line art
Full-color painting costs more than black-and-white line work.
Detail and backgrounds
A busy town square takes longer than a character against a plain wash.
The cast
Each new character needs its own sheet.
Format
A board book and a hardcover picture book are planned differently.
Series work
Sheets built on book one save time on every later book.
A 300 page novel with a painted cover
Cover art from $1,800, interior layout at $2.20 a page ($660), and print setup at $280 plus the printer's own cost. That's from $2,740 before printing and any editing.
A 32 page picture book
The art is quoted per book from your text, using the list above. Around it, the published fees are fixed: print setup at $280 plus the printer's cost, and an ISBN with barcode at $125, bought in your name.
Budgeting the whole book? For a typical independent book, editing, cover, layout and files run $2,500 to $6,000. Our guide on what a picture book costs to self-publish breaks the numbers down.
Why authors commission art from a publisher
Editing, layout and print setup sit in the same house as the illustrators, so the art and the files are checked against each other before the files go to the printer. Once the art is done, the book still needs readers to find it, and our book marketing services start with the listing and a launch plan.
You see whose hand is drawing your book, and what they've drawn before, while the brief is still being agreed.
One project manager runs your book from brief to final file. You tell the story once, and when you have a question about a spread or a date, you ask the same person.
If a style or format is outside what we do well, we say so up front and tell you what the book needs instead. Sometimes that's a designed cover rather than painted art, or an edit of the text first.
From an author whose cover we designed:
"Western Reflections Publishing took my half-baked idea and turned it into something beautiful. Sarah, my editor, was incredibly patient with me. The cover design team nailed my vision, and the publishing process was smooth. Seeing my book on Amazon is surreal. I'm beyond grateful for their services." Amy Tosh, Editing & design
Who our illustration studio is for
Our book illustration services work best for authors who know what their book is:
- First-time picture book authors with a finished, edited text.
- Novelists and memoirists who want original cover art rather than a stock photo.
- Historians and nonfiction authors who need maps, diagrams and chapter openers that explain as well as decorate.
- Comic and graphic novel writers with a finished script.
- Series authors who need every book to match the first.
- Self-publishers who want art and files that pass a printer's checks the first time. Our guide to self-publishing a book with illustrations covers the rest of that road.
It's not the right fit if you're an illustrator hoping a publisher will buy your own art. For that, see our list of children's book publishers that accept illustration submissions.
What authors ask us before they commit
"Will the art be AI-generated?"
Not the final art. A person draws every finished piece. It's more than taste: AI-made art may not be protected by copyright, which counts if you ever want to stop someone copying your cover.
"What if I don't like the roughs?"
Then we change them. You get two rounds of changes at rough stage. If you think you'll want more, tell us when you ask for a quote, so the agreed scope covers it.
"Can I afford original art?"
Original cover art starts from $1,800. If that's out of reach, a designed cover from $850 can do the job, and we'll tell you which suits your book. Your quote covers only the pieces your book needs. Editing, design and production, illustration included, are paid half on booking and half on delivery. We do not ask for a full project fee up front.
"Do I have to publish with you?"
No. Authors publishing on their own buy illustration at our published rates, and the files go to whichever printer you choose.
"I already have art or sketches. Can you just lay it out?"
Yes. Send the finished art with the text and we'll quote the layout. Rough sketches of your own? Send those too, and we'll tell you whether we can work from them.
Questions to ask any illustrator before you sign
Whoever you hire, ask these:
- Will the person who drew the samples draw your book? A studio gallery can show many hands.
- When the art is paid for, what does the license let you do with it: reprints, new editions, translations, merchandise? For background, read the US Copyright Office's guide to commissioned work and ownership.
- Does the fee cover both the cover and the interior, or only one of them?
- What do changes cost once the art is finished?
- Which files come back to you, and are the layered files included?
- Is the art sized for your printer's trim and bleed, or for a screen?
Get each answer into the agreement itself, and if one is vague, ask again.
Questions we get asked
How much does it cost to have someone illustrate a children's book?
The price follows the work: a 32 page book in full color with busy backgrounds takes far longer than one in line art with a few spots. We read your text, count the spreads, single pages and spots it needs, and quote a fixed fee in writing.
How do I find an illustrator for my book?
Start with books on your own shelf and note whose art would suit your story. Then look through a whole book by each illustrator, not a single image, and before you sign, agree the style and what you're allowed to do with the art and files. If you'd rather skip the search, we'll match your book to one of our illustrators by genre.
What do illustrators do for books?
They draw covers, interior art, maps and diagrams, and design characters. In picture books they also storyboard the story and pace it across the page turns.
Is it legal to use AI to illustrate a children's book?
The bigger legal question is who owns the result. The US Copyright Office's guidance on AI-generated material ties protection to human authorship, so you may not be able to stop others copying art a machine made. That's general information, not legal advice. The art we deliver avoids the question because a person draws it.
How do I get someone to illustrate a children's book?
Get the text edited first, then settle on a format and a rough page count. Our children's studio can take it from there: it reads the text, matches an illustrator and quotes the whole book.
What rights come with the artwork?
The price covers the illustrator's fee and the license to use the art in your book. We agree the scope of that license with you before any work starts, so raise reprints, new editions or merchandise then. Your book, its text and your copyright remain yours. Keep the signed agreement with your book files in case a printer or retailer ever asks about the art.
How many illustrations does a picture book need?
In a 32 page picture book, a few pages usually go to the title page and other front matter. That leaves the story about 14 spreads, or a mix of spreads, single pages and small spots.
How long does book illustration take?
Covers are the quickest. A full-color picture book takes the longest, because every spread goes through thumbnails, roughs and finished art. Color or line art, the size of the cast and how quickly roughs come back all move the date. Your quote gives a date for your book, so you can plan the launch around it.
Can you match the art across a series?
Yes. Tell us it's a series when you ask for the first quote, so the cast is designed with later books in mind: room for a character to grow a year older, new friends who fit the same world, and a palette that can stretch to a winter book.
Are there free children's book illustration services?
"Free" usually means stock images, AI output or unclear ownership. One route costs nothing: if our editorial board acquires a book, the house pays for editing, design, printing and distribution. Our list leans to regional history, biography, memoir and Western writing, so a picture book has a better chance if it belongs in that world. You can submit your manuscript with no reading fee and get a written reply either way.
The testimonials of all our wonderful clients
Our clients love to share how it felt to work with us. Here is what some of the authors we have partnered with had to say about the experience.
★★★★★“Working with the Western Reflections Publishing team was a great experience. I came to them with a book idea but needed help structuring it into a finished manuscript. They took the time to learn my objectives right away, communication stayed consistent throughout, and the writers did a great job keeping my voice while improving the structure and flow. I was impressed by how well the finished manuscript reflected my vision.”
Olivia Adams
★★★★★“Western Reflections Publishing took my half-baked idea and turned it into something beautiful. Sarah, my editor, was incredibly patient with me. The cover design team nailed my vision, and the publishing process was smooth. Seeing my book on Amazon is surreal. I'm beyond grateful for their services.”
Amy Tosh
★★★★★“I'm beyond impressed with the editing team at Western Reflections Publishing. They didn't just fix my grammar; they truly understood my voice and helped refine the narrative flow of my book. The transformation from my initial draft to the final version is incredible. If you want your book to stand out, this is the place to go.”
Dakota Bailey
★★★★★“I've published multiple titles, but working with Western Reflections Publishing for my latest release was the smoothest experience yet. From editing to marketing to distribution, their team was professional and responsive. It's clear they truly care about their authors' success, and the best part was that they valued my input and let me take the lead.”
Betty Lentz
★★★★★“I honestly didn't expect the publishing process to feel this smooth, but Western Reflections Publishing made it surprisingly easy. Their editing and formatting teams were thorough and attentive, and they guided me step by step. I felt supported the whole way, which gave me the confidence to finally share my book with the world.”
Caleb Hudson
★★★★★“I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the process was with Western Reflections Publishing. Their developmental editing brought new clarity to my manuscript, and the formatting team delivered a polished, professional final version. The team's support and clear communication made the entire publishing experience easy to navigate.”
Madison Palmer
Tell us about the book you want illustrated
Hiring us for book illustration services starts with a short note. Tell us what needs drawing and roughly how many pages, and attach any text you have. Books whose art you love help, but they're optional. Once we've read what you send, we'll match an illustrator to your book and put together your free quote. Reach the office Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Mountain Time, on (336) 565-6915 or at info@westernreflectionspublishing.com.
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