From Cindy Rushton's Desk(TOP!)!

What About Illustrations? Ideas to Get You Started! By Cindy Rushton

What About Illustrations? Ideas

To Get You Started!

Feeling a bit “CHALLENGED” when it comes to illustrating your Lapbooks? The sky is the limit! Illustrations do not require that you step out of your comfort zone. Here are some ideas for the reluctant artists in the crowd…

For Illustrations...

©       Use your own original drawings! Our children have both enjoyed illustrating their own books. On some of the pictures, they had drawn them ahead of time and decided during the writing of the book that they were perfect in the story. Other pictures were drawn specifically for a spot in the book while we were setting up the pages and story in the final format. Their original artwork made each of the books very, very special. 

©       Make your OWN illustrations using a digital camera!  One of our greatest investments ever was our digital camera.  We have enjoyed using it to snap pictures for our books, magazines, and articles for publication. If you will take a look in the back of this book, the pictures showing step-by-step instructions on how to create your own homemade books were taken with our digital camera and inserted into the book using clip/paste. My son’s newest book on the history of the Glock Auto-pistol begged for original pictures of the different models and uses. In his section detailing how to clean a weapon, the digital pictures perfectly illustrated each step, enhancing his verbal instructions. Some books require other illustrations, but don’t forget to use your digital camera to make your own original illustrations as much as possible!

©       Add clip-art from computer programs and clip-art books! Yep! Another of my favorite ways to adorn a book—can you tell by this page? The border is from a clip-art program by D.J. Inkers. The chapter title is a font from a clip-art program designed by Creating Keepsakes (They have several great programs available!).  The cute little bears on the shelf at the beginning of this chapter comes from Graphic Garden. It is just a touch, but a touch of clip-art can make the book that you write develop your personality! Look in the listing of websites for many great websites with free clip-art. You can find a special touch or specific pictures for each of your studies. Just have fun!

©       Add pictures from their notebooks!  This has been one of the most popular ways that we have collected great illustrations for our books. Matthew loves to collect pictures, maps, art prints, sketches, etc. in his notebook. Inevitably, these same treasures have made their way into his books that developed from his most favorite topics.  In his book, Famous Copywork From the Civil War, he chose to use old photos of each of the men quoted in each section. It was easy because he had collected so many of them in his notebook.  He chose his favorites, scanned them using a computer scanner, then paste/clipped them into his book. He did the same with his book Fearless Warriors: A Chronological History of the US Marine Corp. The pictures were perfect illustrations for the book.  Elisabeth just finish a cute Lapbook on Presidents and Elections that is full of great clips that she had collected in her notebooks. All she had to do was pull them back out and make copies for the Lapbook. They were ready to use!

©       Decorate with rubber stamps!  Rubber Stamps are perfect for adorning the pages of your books. You can now find great borders for your pages, cute quotes, and of course, really nice pictures. Plus! The investment can keep on giving and giving because rubber stamps can be used for Scrapbooking, card-making, etc!

©       Add cute stickers!  Want a easy and cute touch to your pages? Why not add stickers? We wait for specials at our local craft stores. Then, we stock up! You can use stickers as sweet accents, neat borders, bullets for your lists, etc. The sky is the limit! Again, if you will take a peek at Elisabeth’s Presidents and Elections Lapbook, you can see an example of how she took stickers from our scrapbooking stash to add the perfect touch to her Lapbook. Stock up. You never know when they will add that perfect touch to a Lapbook.

©       Use die-cuts for a special touch!  Talk about the sky being the limit—die cuts are just abundant! You are sure to find the perfect die-cuts to accent your Lapbooks. Many craft stores or scrapbooking shops have dies available for you to use at any time. Take your paper, punch away!  Elisabeth and I have spent whole evenings punching with their alphabet dies to use for our scrapbooks and books. What a great way to accent with the perfect accents and for hardly any investment at all!

©       Pull out those old stamp pads!  Yes! You can use different colors to make your Lapbooks perfect. You can also use lots of fun techniques straight from your scrapbooking classes to make your pages special.

©       Decorate using stencils!  OH! Don’t forget your stencils! You may have stencils from other fun projects already. Or you may find some great stencils that beg for use in your book. Keep them handy as you work. You never know when it will make the page just perfect!

©       Add a special touch by embossing! Talk about one of my NEW passions! This is SO fun! It does not take much of an investment to begin embossing, but that small investment opens the door to an elegant touch to your Lapbooks and scrapbooks. Just begin small, but you are sure to become addicted!

©       Draw or color with regular or brush markers! Whether drawing or coloring free-hand or using stamps and stencils, you will soon be addicted to illustrating as you use a good variety of markers. Remember to use 110 lb. paper for any marker illustrations.

©       Sketch with black or colored pencils!  Oh, yes! Don’t forget your pencil sketches. Simple black pencil sketches make pages very special. Add colored pencils and you will find yourself addicted to sketching! You may even have to begin other great books because you will want to keep on sketching!