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What is bleed and why does my children's book need it?
Bleed is one of those printing terms that sounds complicated but is actually quite simple.
If an illustration goes right to the edge of the page, the artwork needs to extend a bit further. That's because the trimming process is an inexact process. 1 mm out of line could leave a line of white unprinted paper down the edge of the page in you shiny new book. Not a good look.
For example, if your finished page ends exactly at the edge of a blue sky and the artwork hasn't been
extended beyond the trim line, even a tiny movement during trimming could leave a white sliver.
With bleed, the artwork continues beyond the area that will actually appear in the finished book.
The exact amount of bleed depends on the printer and the book specification, so I always recommend
deciding on the finished book size you want and getting the printer's requirements before preparing the final artwork. It's so much easier to set the artwork up correctly at the beginning than to try to fix it afterwards.
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