Illustrations in a novel - yay or nay?

[MatchaChocolate69]

Illustrations in a book, on average, do nothing for me personally.

If it's a comic, cool, I am developing an idea of what everything looks like from the art!

But if it's mostly words, I am developing a view in my head of what it looks like, and illustrations are someone else's take on it, and the most I register them is as "well that's mildly jarring", because you are showing me a picture of a character fifty pages after I already have a vague headcanon of roughly what they look like, and my headcanon looks different than the picture.

That said, illustrations in books have a long and storied tradition, and I don't think everyone reacts like I do to them.

I agree with Succubiome.
One of the great charms of reading is the ability to imagine the characters and places in one's own head. Illustrations somewhat deny this aspect. I'm a bit conflicted about this. On one hand, I appreciate them, but on the other, I would prefer they weren't there.

 

[OatMush]

Honestly I love them, I also love making them (even if I have very limited skills) and I intend to illustrate every chapter when I get access to a computer.

 

[tiaf]

I have them in spoilers, so people can choose to open it or not, because I do know that my descriptions are a bit lacking/I let room for my readers to make their head canon. Can't escape the cover though, so they have to bear with my art

Exception: maps and other things that need to be exact or will get confusing.

Saves me the info dump nobody wants to read.

 

[P.R.S]

I use drawings on mine but only on another site i am posting (still dint figure out how to post images here)

 

[bulmabriefs144]

Yep, but more than the popularity, it helps my readers immerse in the stories I write.

Like these...

View attachment 24281View attachment 24282View attachment 24283View attachment 24284

Though in my case, I limit my volume illustrations to just four per book, because I got limited time with work, business, commissions and writing.

Cute!

I don't have much art ability in terms of drawing stuff myself (I'm far better at digital editing), but I used that some to take up space for short chapters, and some for effect.

Actual art.

(I was heavily inspired by Tolkien)

Edited Art

As you can see, my ability to digital edit is plagued by white lines, as I fear erasing too close. And the layering is rather meh.

 

[JackOfHeart]

I've been wondering lately, if I should try including illustrations in chapters occasionally. I've seen people do this on their novels and personally I like it, but I was curious about what others think

Do you have illustrations in your stuff? Do you think it helps the popularity or is it more trouble than it's worth? What's your opinion as a reader about it?

EDIT: I'm sorry if I duplicated a thread The one time I didn't check... I'll bonk myself out of here as a punishment <-- selfbonk

I've had readers complain that my image isn't the same as what they visualise in their head. It's good for generating engagement from both sides of the fence but doesn't really impact anything beyond that. Sooo, basically comes down to what you want to do

 

[PancakesWitch]

I am originally a comic artist, but switched to novels because I need an assistant, and I can't find one (I have money to hire them, but we're having difficulty of synching our styles). The time I wasted looking for one, and repeating pages, was better spent on writing chapters, so I made that fateful decision by 2019.

As for the time spent on doing illustrations (because I'm the writer and the illustrator as well), in my experience, it doesn't matter much because with how I write my works: it falls into a schedule. I write in bursts, so my deadline for writing a manuscript is one month. After that, I take a break for a month or two, in which I use my break to draw and do other stuff like gaming, watching, reading...etc.

Do you have a job aside from that or do you earn from what you do?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Do it.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Do you have a job aside from that or do you earn from what you do?

I'm currently working as a public school teacher, law consultant, occasional baker, and is managing a printing business. At the same time, I also do commissions whenever someone asks one from me.

Comics/manga/writing novels are hobbies, since I like writing and telling stuff. I never earn from my novels, and my graphic novels, since I don't like being dictated by readers.

Cute!

I don't have much art ability in terms of drawing stuff myself (I'm far better at digital editing), but I used that some to take up space for short chapters, and some for effect.

Actual art.

(I was heavily inspired by Tolkien)

Edited Art

As you can see, my ability to digital edit is plagued by white lines, as I fear erasing too close. And the layering is rather meh.

What editing program are you using? If it's Photoshop, I can tell you some techniques on completely removing those white outlines.

Also, for maps, I use Inkarnate to bring my lands to life, combine with a few tweaks from Photoshop.

Like this:

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Do you have illustrations in your stuff?

Yes

Do you think it helps the popularity or is it more trouble than it's worth?

It's a lot of trouble, and I no longer have a budget for it, but it was worth it to me. I think it helps the popularity to a small degree, but it's mostly for me anyway

What's your opinion as a reader about it?

Love it!

 

[PlatDragon]

I've been wondering lately, if I should try including illustrations in chapters occasionally. I've seen people do this on their novels and personally I like it, but I was curious about what others think

Do you have illustrations in your stuff? Do you think it helps the popularity or is it more trouble than it's worth? What's your opinion as a reader about it?

EDIT: I'm sorry if I duplicated a thread The one time I didn't check... I'll bonk myself out of here as a punishment <-- selfbonk

Nay, because I'm one of those readers that prefer to use my imagination for characters. Usually when the author put up an illustration it fucks up the whole setting I had created for the novel. It's fine if it's once in a while but god I hate poorly made AI illustrations. There are also some novels that put up AI illustrations every single chapter and it actually made me drop it. If you really want to, put the image in a spoiler so that readers can have an option whether to see it or not.

 

[lumiel]

I think an additional illustration in between means more content. It's always something I'll appreciate.

 

[nemonusquam_]

As long as you can maintain design coherence between the illustrations and you don't go overboard, it can actually enhance your story.
What I mean by "design coherence" is that they are all drawn by the same person, or in the case of AI, at least try and make it so that everything is made under the same art style.
It is really jarring when one character's design in an Anime girl and the other one is a hyper realistic dude, by way of example.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

I'm currently working as a public school teacher, law consultant, occasional baker, and is managing a printing business. At the same time, I also do commissions whenever someone asks one from me.

Comics/manga/writing novels are hobbies, since I like writing and telling stuff. I never earn from my novels, and my graphic novels, since I don't like being dictated by readers.

What editing program are you using? If it's Photoshop, I can tell you some techniques on completely removing those white outlines.

Also, for maps, I use Inkarnate to bring my lands to life, combine with a few tweaks from Photoshop.

Like this:

PhotoShop is a waste of money. GIMP is free, and ought to stay that way through advertising or donations.

I also use regular old Paint, and an rpgmaker utility called iDraw. It's limited, as it only works with 256 colors, but I find it good because it lets me do certain tools, and because it checks whether art is rpgmaker 2003 ready.