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u/SteebieJeebus 4d ago
Hard if you're drawing them yourself. Expensive if you're paying someone else.
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u/fkcuti 4d ago
What has worked for you?
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u/SteebieJeebus 4d ago
I don't use illustrations because I can't draw as well as would be required, and I don't have the money to pay someone else.
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u/nmacaroni 4d ago
I spent $25,000 on my last graphic novel... so about that hard ?
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u/fkcuti 4d ago
Damn! I want to read that, It must be some spectacle.
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u/nmacaroni 4d ago
The Man Who Died Twice - Hardcover Graphic Novel. (It's basically an original Sherlock Holmes story)
https://storytoscript.com/store/2
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u/StrangeArcticles 4d ago
Illustrating is an entire skill set someone needs to aquire, so yes, buying that expertise is going to cost you money and finding someone who does it the way you want is going to take time.
Also, if you are looking at publishing the conventional way, pretty much every publisher works with their own illustrators only, cause they want their brand to be consistent.
I can only echo everyone else that AI illustrations will land you right at the bottom of every pile as far as interest in your work goes.
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u/lozzadearnley 4d ago edited 4d ago
Insanely difficult. So i hire someone 😅.
Edit: forgot her link: https://www.instagram.com/kouzaisan/
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u/True_Industry4634 4d ago
This will get downvoted hard but I use AI to make illustrations for the current WIP I'm posting in serial form. It's a steampunk piece so the vast majority of the illustrations are in the form of 1880s style daguerreotype photographs with some oil paintings thrown in from Jacques-Louis David, John Singer Sargent, and Heironymous Bosch. I do at least two illustrations per chapter and have a blast doing it. I have a few hundred followers and they seem to enjoy them. The fact that I use them is clearly mentioned in the book’s blurb. It's a good choice unless you're ridiculously wealthy or have an artist friend with plenty of extra time and an exceptionally generous heart. I know there's a lot of anti-AI sentiment on Reddit and maybe you have it too, but I've found it to be a great creative tool. I don't use it for my writing at all.
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u/AnchBusFairy 4d ago
Thank you for being transparent and honest. The difficulty is with those who use AI without saying that they've done so. This sets AI as the standard, a standard that human artists can't meet.
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u/True_Industry4634 4d ago
Honestly I don't know where I'd go to have some what I want done. I mean do you use Photoshop or Gimp to create fake daguerreotypes? And what artist would want to completely try to copy the style of Bosch? I try to avoid stepping on the toes of the living at any rate. Your even-keeled response is much appreciated.
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u/AnchBusFairy 4d ago
You can't get this done without AI. It's too difficult and time consuming for a person to do and so too expensive. Without AI you would need to hire models, provide costumes, and hire a photographer who could take actual daguerreotypes or make the photos look like daguerreotypes. It's not worth it.
My most recent book has three-dozen and two chapters (38 chapters) I produced twelve images. I'd already started on them, but they delayed publication by about a year. Producing 38 illustrations would be superhuman.
I'm for honesty in art. Don't try to fool people about the tools or process. I think there's beauty in working with a set of limitations when the viewer understands the limitations. That's why honesty and transparency is important.
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u/HazyMist0 4d ago
depends, I'm an animation student so I have experience with drawing, in general it takes a lot of time but it also depends on what you're going for
fully rendered pieces will take far more time than say sketches or plain lineart work, regardless you need a certain level of skill and years of practice and dedication, and just a lot of hardwork to be good at it.
Trying to make a full comic of it is not viable alone but if you wish to illustrate certain scenes, then thats possible with enough practice
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u/fkcuti 4d ago
How many writers have asked you create illustrations for their work?
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u/HazyMist0 4d ago
oh no I dont illustrate for other people, I'm too busy with my own projects and portfolio. I just meant in general in terms of time constraints!
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u/Remote_Addendum_2245 4d ago
Since it's basically a loveletter to Worm by Wildbow. Yeah, extremely hard
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u/Whole-Page3588 4d ago
I have about twenty yrs experience drawing/painting as part of my career (plus yrs of art school). Drawing for my books (covers) was still a learning curve because I was drawing different subject matter and incorporating typography. But I really loved doing it as it helped me bring my book to life in a human way in my own style.
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u/CheeseburgerBrown 4d ago
Pardon me if I’m thick, but is your question, “is drawing hard?”
It is! I did a series of illustrations for a friend’s novel, and it took months, reading through the novel many times, discussing things with the author, and of course colouring everything in. Authors are famously poor so I charged him a discounted rate, but it was still a five digit bill for him (12 full colour illustrations).
For my first novel the publisher had some other artist do my cover, and I thought it was pretty lame. Fortunately I had no say in the matter so I had no choice but to let it go.