How to Draw Story Books for Kids

Make your child a storybook he will love.

Drawing a storybook is not as daunting as you may think. In fact, creating a picture book for your child gives you the opportunity to communicate with him and personalize his own story. Whether you have artistic talent or not, a personalized story that your child relates to will always be preferred over a book purchased at the store. Make the creation of your story book part of the adventure and involve your child in the imaginative journey.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Photographic reference (optional)
• Colored pencils, markers or crayons
• Scanner
• Graphics program
• Printer
• Card stock or glossy photo paper

Instructions

1. 

   Talk to your child about what kind of story he wants.

   Sit down with your child and talk about what kind of story he would like to read. Focus on your child's interests, such as sports, dinosaurs or a mixture of several different things.

2. Plan out the overall storyline with a beginning, middle and end, keeping in mind that imagination has no boundaries in a children's story. Determine what text will be written on each page and how many pages will be needed.

3. Ask your child what the main character and side characters look like to get ideas about how you will draw them. Do a quick sketch of each page, focusing more on flow and placement of characters rather than details. Stick figures are OK.

4. 

   Keep your drawings simple if your drawings skills aren't up to par.

   Re-draw each page, this time adding details like hair, facial features and clothing. If you do not have great drawing skills, use a photographic reference or keep the images simple. If you are not sure how to draw a character in a sitting or action position, have your child pose for you. Do not forget to draw the cover and back cover.

5. 

   Have your child help color if she is good at keeping inside the lines.

   Add color to your drawings with colored pencils, markers or crayons. If your child is good at coloring in the lines, have him help you. After the book is complete, your child will have a sense of pride knowing he played a part in creating the drawings.

6. Place the drawings face-down on a flatbed scanner and scan them into your computer. Open the images in a graphics program such as Broderbund Print Shop or Adobe Photoshop.

7. Select the program's "Type" tool and click on the area where you want the text to appear. Type in the text on each page of the story book.

8. Print each page of the storybook, excluding the cover and back cover. Use the printer's duplex printing feature, if applicable, and follow the directions on how to load the paper into your printer to print double-sided sheets.

9. 

   Get the book bound at a copy-and-print center.

   Print the cover and back cover on card stock or glossy photo paper to make the book look more professional. Bring the book to a copy-and-print center, such as Staples or Office Max, and get the book bound.