How To Draw A Book Step By Step
Dreams of grandeur, exploration, and adventure flit through our minds when we think of books. And while it may seem like a daunting task to learn to draw your own book, creating your own fantastical tales in your very own illustrated book can be incredibly fulfilling! Drawing your own beloved stories brings characters and stories to life right before your eyes.
Leave outlines in the past and let’s take an artistic foray into how to draw a book step by step! We’ll have you creating your own adventures in no time!
Step 1: Have Fun Playing with Proportions and Scale
The first step to drawing a book is to have a lot of fun with the proportions and scale. Because a book is a tangible item, you don’t need to be exact in measurements, so feel free to be creative and playful with sizing and scale.
If you’re drawing a children’s story book, make the book bigger so your characters have room to dance around it, or even place a character inside of it! When making a book as an adult, feel free to make it as big or small as your heart desires. Do you see your protagonists huddled around a grand tome or peering into a tiny, secret book?
The possibilities are endless when it comes to sizes, so no matter the story, size it up in order to create the perfect scale for your book.
Step 2: Start Sketching Out the Pages and Spines of the Book
Once you’ve had your fun sizing the book and distinguishing how big it should be, it’s time to make those pages articulate. Sketch out the pages of the book. When sketching out the pages make sure to envision what the cover looks like, what the endpapers look like, and what the spine should look like.
A trick of the trade is to use a ruler to make sure the pages are mostly uniformed and symmetrical. Another fun trick is to draw out “video game-like” dividers between the pages to make the pages appear to be tucked into the spine.
Step 3: Add Color, Lines and Shading
Now onto the fun part: adding color and lines. Depending on your artistic skill and aesthetic, you can make your book look like it’s from the Renaissance, from the Early Victorian era, from the French Enlightenment, or from modern times. No matter the choice, give your book a unique, creative twist.
Fill it in with a variety of pencils, pens, markers, watercolors and other pigmenting agents, and don’t be afraid to add line or shading. These shading techniques will add depth and subtle contrast to your book, making it look and feel like a real book!
Step 4: Dare To Dream, Create and Innovate Your Ideas
The last and most important step to drawing a book isn’t a step at all, but it’s an invitation to create and innovate. Now that you know how to draw a book, use this knowledge to create your own works of art. Take your book drawing, your hand-drawn characters, your storylines, and let your imagination fly!
Dream up new stories, fantasize about timelines and plots, let your fictitious characters come alive, and create an entire new world that you can escape to when times get tough. Drawing a book is an astounding way to temporarily escape from the hustle-bustle and find a new reason to create art and expression from the comfort of your home.
