A 32-page picture book might contain somewhere between 12–16 main illustrations, if they're spreads, much more if you're including Spot illustrations, Vignettes or half pages. But those illustrations don't appear magically one after another.

​

With my 32 page picture book package I like to say up to 14 double page spreads. That's 28 pages of illustrated story because 4 pages are usually assigned for copyright, dedication, title page and author or publisher bio. These are obviously guidelines. If you want more pages in your book, you can but I tend to think 32 is the magic number. Any more and the story can drag and you don't want your readers thinking that. Any less and your readers may feel cheated.

​

There is character development, visual planning, rough sketches, composition, revisions, finished artwork, cover design, typography, page layout and preparation for print.

​

The time also depends enormously on the style of the artwork. A relatively simple graphic style can be much quicker to produce than highly detailed painterly artwork.

 

I also think it's a mistake to rush the early stages. A problem discovered in a rough sketch is relatively easy to fix. The same problem discovered after a finished illustration has taken several hours to paint is much more expensive to fix.

 

A good picture book is usually built in stages, with the important decisions made before the final artwork is produced. I think it's important to keep the authors in the loop as the process progresses. Finding flaws whilst they're easy enough to fix. This back and forth can be time consuming but it should be. You're creating something that will outlast all of us, you want to get it right and enjoy the process.

​

As a ballpark, which should not be clung to rigidly, I tend to take between 3 and 8 weeks. But circumstances can increase that.