this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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A few years ago I became seriously ill. I was in a coma on heavy duty meds, and had a kidney transplant. I'm much better than I was, but I can't do a lot of things like I could before.

We've now got quite a few kids in the extended family, so a while ago I wrote a short story to try to make it easier for them to understand. My wife and family like the story and have suggested making it into a picture story book. Problem is, I can't draw and my imagination isn't very good.

How can I get pictures for the story if I can't do it myself and don't have the money to hire someone? I want to avoid using AI tools because of the potential copyright issues.

I haven't tried the services like Fiverr because I've heard that they force a race to the bottom on prices, but does anyone have any experience, or have any ideas of what I can do please?

Thanks in advance :)

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[–] kaniwalla@lemmy.world 59 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I want to acknowledge that this question is generally well-intended, but also want to point out that artists are working just like anyone else. If you want good artwork, you should expect to compensate the artist for their time and expertise. I’m not an artist, but IMO paying someone on Fiverr values art more than looking for a free option. I think that’s probably your best bet for the criteria you have. Alternatively you might try to commission someone you find online. Hope you find what you’re looking for!

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Thanks for the advice, you've hit the nail on the head.

I'm in an awkward position where I think I've got something that will make the kids happy, but I can only do part of it, and I don't want to take advantage of someone for the other part. I'm looking for something that can hopefully do both.

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Artists are people just like everyone else. Which means they are capable of consenting to giving away free work.

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[–] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This made me laugh, thank you :)

While I'm not averse to sailing the seas on occasion, this is one of those times where I should do everything by the book.

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[–] livus@kbin.social 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

@Tippon if you are going the traditional publishing route, publishers don't actually expect children's book authors to provide the illustrations necessarily.

If you are self-publishing, I suggest you reach out to the kidney transplant community (support groups etc) to see if anyone can volunteer.

There might be someone else in your shoes who can draw and not write, who would love to be part of this project.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's a great idea, thanks :)

I've just mentioned in another reply that the book is currently a bit too personalised, so probably wouldn't appeal to other people. If I can rewrite it a bit to remove any personal details, that could work though :)

[–] livus@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think that might be a good thing to do if you can; there are probably others in your situation who would love to have a book like this.

You could even do something like donate proceeds to a kidney charity or hospital.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

That's a good point. I'm lucky enough to have received my kidney from a live donor, and the story is about how they saved the day, and because of that I was able to have a family with my wife, so it could go down quite well. I'd have to remove the personalised information, but that shouldn't be too hard :)

[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Use AI but lie to people about it.

[–] CouncilOfFriends 4 points 11 months ago

Put a sepia filter on it if you want to get creative.^...or^hide^a^dickbutt

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

I like your style :D

[–] JoBo@feddit.uk 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Use a whiteboard notebook so the kids can do the drawings themselves?

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 11 months ago

That's a good idea, thanks :)

Now to see if any of the little buggers can draw :D

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'll double this, I've got a kid's game called CoraQuest where they got kids to make drawings/sketches of their ideas, and had an artist touch them up for production. The art in the game is great because of this.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 11 months ago

Why would you do that to me! :o

CoraQuest looks amazing, but it's out of stock everywhere here :(

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Talk with people about the book until you find someone who’s excited, and who has some artistic skill. Then go halfsies with them in terms of the credit for the book.

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[–] Saigonauticon@voltage.vn 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, here in Vietnam a lot of art students and graduates would probably be quite happy to take this on.

I recall RMIT has a local job forum, for small jobs for current students and alumni. The instruction is all in English, so communication should not be a problem. Maybe other universities have the same.

Or maybe an art school in the Philippines where English language instruction is also common? I bet they have job forums too.

In my workplace we've got a 3D designer or two, probably not ideal for your task though :(

BTW using AI to generate an image as an artistic brief is a great application that supports both human and machine artists. This is my biggest use of the tech in production so far -- really great especially when language barriers are present.

[–] cakeofhonor@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Whoa I didn't expect to see a fellow Vietnamese on lemmy.

Could you link to the RMIT art forum?

[–] Saigonauticon@voltage.vn 4 points 11 months ago

I'm an even more unlikely thing! I wasn't born with any Vietnamese heritage -- I immigrated to Vietnam and integrated. I've met as many as five others like me in the last decade or so!

The RMIT forum isn't specific to art, it's just a job forum where you can post jobs available to students:

https://rmitvn.careercentre.me/employer/default/RMIT-Careers-Portal

I've used it once to hire a software developer. It was much better than VietnamWorks, the big online HR thing in those days. I don't like VW much.

BTW you should have a budget, scope, and timeline when you post a job. It will make it much easier to hire someone, e.g. how many illustrations, what format (Width x Height), what style, when do you need it done by, and a pay range. I would estimate at less than 80$ or so, it would not be worth the trouble for most illustrators who are any good. Notably, most RMIT students are from wealthy families.

If you can read/write Vietnamese, let me know and I can maybe point you toward better resources. English-language-only leaves few options here.

[–] ReCursing@kbin.social 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Search for creative commons or public domain artwork - Wikimedia Commons is a good start, or a google image search (under the image search bar select tools -> usage rights -> creative commons rights)

Or don't worry about the copyright issues of AI and learn to use that to create things you want - I suggest SDXL is the best option

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[–] Shepstr@feddit.uk 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Contact your local art college and see if there are any students looking for work experience and a bit of cash.

[–] BellaDonna@mujico.org 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Then prepare for more paying in exposure memes on the Internet. There is nothing wrong with AI art, and honestly it's better from an ethical standpoint to use AI art versus not paying someone for their time and energy.

[–] Shepstr@feddit.uk 2 points 11 months ago

My idea isn't about exposure, but experience, and I said they would be paid. They won't get paid as much as a 10 year designer but some beer money seems reasonable and they have some work for their portfolio.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

That's a good idea and could work. I'm a bit concerned about taking advantage of someone though, especially if they're young. I'd have to be careful.

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

making it into a picture story book

As in formally publishing it? Or just sending it to your family?

The only way copyright, especially around AI, could conceivably be a factor is if you intend to publish and sell it.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

You can use royalty free stock photos, like from https://unsplash.com

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[–] ReCursing@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Another option is to shop it around agents and publishers and make the illustrations someone else's problem!

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[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Have you considered www.OpenClipArt.org ?

XOR, you can simply learn actual-drawing, which isn't difficult, it does require a kind of honesty/patience & the actually right instruction...

The book you'd need is "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the 4th Definitive Edition", by Betty Edwards.

These drawing-pairs are from her 5-DAYS killer-class.

https://www.drawright.com/before-after

Unless you're autistic, like me, 5 days is possible.

_ /\ _

[–] nhoad@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Can you help me understand what you mean by β€œ Unless you're autistic, like me, 5 days is possible”? Are you saying you think you can’t learn to draw in that time frame because of your autism?

[–] ellabee@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

not the OP you replied to, but someone else who loves the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain book.

I think 5 days is ambitious. but a lot of what the exercises are doing is training you to see a different way. so it's not impossible.

someone neurodivergent may struggle to get what the exercises are trying to teach or to reach the point they're aiming for, so it might take them longer. those more inclined to pick it up faster probably aren't going to need the exercises in the book; it's already natural to them.

as we grow up, we learn "this is what a tree looks like, this is a dog looks like, this is what a car looks like", etc etc. the way we see a new car then goes through that filter of "this is what a car looks like". those filters are great for quickly identifying things and generally being a human in the world, so you don't get hit by a car while you're still figuring out if it is a car.

but those filters get in the way of drawing accurately. your eyes aren't literally filtering anything; that's all in your brain. so you need to learn to stop that part of your brain when you draw. that's the biggest part of being able to draw decently. the rest is technical skill you get with practice.

I'd still recommend the original OP look for an artist collaborator, since children's books need the illustrations to be as strong as the writing. there's no way to get there in just 5 days.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

Someone neurodivergent might also see those things faster.

[–] lukecooperatus@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago (3 children)

One possible interpretation is that autistic individuals can sometimes tend to go a bit overboard when finding a new hobby. We will sometimes find a new topic so engaging that we develop a "special interest" in it and spend days/weeks delving into every possible piece of information and niche knowledge available about that topic, considering all the implications and what-ifs and following all the informational leads.

Spending merely the minimum time required (which in this example is apparently 5 days) to get proficient is harder to estimate because an autist may instead need to spend weeks learning everything. Or, they might not.

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[–] LOLjoeWTF@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Another option would be to hire an illustrator and draw up a contract where they may have a small upfront cost, and give them a cut of the sales.

Or you can contact a school and see if anyone would like to do it for ~~free~~ the experience

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

Thanks for the suggestions :)

It's not something that I'm planning on selling, hence the low budget and why I haven't gone down that route. If it did sell I'd be over the moon, as well as really shocked :D

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You can try Wikimedia Commons

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

That's a good idea, thanks :)

[–] rufus@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

There aren't that many options. Either you commision it, or you learn to draw, or you use AI.

If you don't like Fiverr, maybe look for another platform. Or find someone by some other means. You could also use AI to draft it and then use that as a basis to start with the proper art.

I don't really understand the issue with copyright. Are you afraid of infringing on other people's copyright, or that you won't be able to protect your work if it's made by AI?

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[–] HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

make shitty artwork on purpose, its cool

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago

Then I might be the coolest person you've ever met :D

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

When my dad made a book for me, he had me illustrate it. When I want cards for people I get the kids to illustrate it.

I think getting them together, telling the story, letting them draw them getting THAT bound and sending it to them would be better than ripping off an artist, the kids won't mind artless illustration if they created it and the story will have somewhere to land since they will have heard it.

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