Children's Book Coaching & Illustration Blog | Story Quest

A gallery painting can simply be beautiful. A picture book illustration has to do something else entirely, and most people never learn the difference before they start.

A Story Quest Books guide for self-publishing author. You've written your book and poured your heart into illustrations, design, and story. Now it's out in the world, and you're wondering how to help readers discover it. Here's something every author should keep in mind: a book award seal is one of the few marketing assets that keeps working for you year after year. It sits on your cover at every school visit, every bookstore pitch, and every Amazon page view. But the world of book award contests is crowded, confusing, and — let's be honest — not every contest deserves your money. ‍This guide describes how children's book awards actually work, which ones matter, and how to choose the contests most aligned with your book.

If you're writing a children's book right now, you've probably had this conversation with yourself many times.: Should I hire a traditional illustrator, or can AI do this?You may have seen some stunning AI images online. You've probably also seen the disasters — characters whose faces change on every page, hands with six fingers, a beloved dog who mysteriously becomes a different breed halfway through the story. And you're aware of the strong opinions on both sides.I have a different kind of answer, because I sit in an unusual spot. I'm a digital illustrator with ten published, award-winning children's books. I illustrate traditionally with digital art tools, I work with AI, and most often I do both for every illustration. I was an early adopter of AI image generation — early enough to learn, through a great deal of trial and error, what these tools genuinely can and cannot do for a picture book.So this isn't a defense of AI, and it isn't a warning against it. It's what I tell my own coaching clients when they ask.

People often assume illustrating a children's book is mostly about being able to draw well. As a children's book illustrator for over a decade — first entirely by hand, now with AI as part of my process — I can tell you that's only the beginning of it. Illustrating a children's book is a completely different craft than illustrating a single beautiful image, and almost nobody tells you that before you start. If you're a self-publishing author thinking about illustrating your own book, here's what I actually learned, not the polished version.

Discover how AI tools allow self-publishing children’s book authors and all content creators to produce high-quality, beautiful picture book illustrations.