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Begin Illustrating Books
Do not be surprised! No knowledge of drawing and painting is necessary in order to illustrate in the new, easy fashion. Decide upon some short story you wish to embellish; then look among your scraps for appropriate pictures. Should you not find exactly what you want, make the pictures over to suit.
If the story introduces a jolly little maiden full of fun, and describes her as feeding her pet dog and laughing at his antics, and there is no such maiden in your collections, look for one with the style of face you think the girl in the story ought to have. When this is found and the body is not satisfactory, cut off the head and hunt up an appropriate body to fit it; that obtained, paste the pretty head on the new body and cut out the entire figure. Find a dog, in the correct position, in some old magazine or newspaper, cut out the animal, and before pasting the group in place try the effect of both on a blank piece of white paper. Slide the figures together and apart until you have them where they look best; then paste the girl and dog neatly in position on the white paper, and the full-page illustration is ready for insertion in the book.
Fig. 160.
Always leave a wide white margin on all illustrations; never crowd the picture up to the very edge of the page if you desire it to look well, and be sure to dampen the wrong side of each picture before attempting to paste it in your book, that it may be smooth and not wrinkle. The new leaf for the picture should be cut wide enough to allow a quarter-inch projection or more over on the opposite page, as in Fig. 160, OO, where it can be pasted down on the inner margin of the other leaf. The dotted line indicates the centre of the book.
Bound books will not admit of many extra leaves being inserted, so you can select only a few of the incidents in the narrative for illustration. Use care that the picture shall express your idea of the event or place you desire to represent. Sometimes it may happen, by lack of suitable material, that you cannot finish certain pictures for days or weeks after they are begun. In such a case bide your time until the wished-for designs appear, and in the meantime go on with the other illustrations.
If the book is paper-covered, you can take it all apart, insert as many pictures as you desire and fasten it together again. When obtainable use
Colored Pictures and Photographs