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 :)

  • Paragone@lemmy.world
    51·
    10 months ago

    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.

    _ /\ _

    • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Have you considered www.OpenClipArt.org ?

      I hadn’t, mainly because I hadn’t heard of it before :D

      It looks like a great resource though, so thank you :)

      Unfortunately, the chances of me learning to draw are slim. I can draw a passable doodle if I can get my head in the right place, but as I said in the post, my imagination is awful. I can’t picture things properly, so can’t get a mental image of what I want the thing on the paper to look like. I’m waiting on a diagnosis of autism and ADHD and possibly aphantasia. Trying to get things down on paper is very difficult for me.

      • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        Before cheap, ubiquitous photographic reproduction, drawing was taught to people as a skill.

        You might not be the next Gary Larsen (I’m no dillitente) but I bet if you tried you could become a good illustrator.

        Having said that, you still have to learn inking, coloring, etc.

        Just wanted to say I think most people can learn the skill in the same way most people can learn to write a rhetorical essay or do arithmetic.

        Edit: not trivializing your issues, friend, just offering encouragment!

        • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          not trivializing your issues, friend, just offering encouragment!

          Don’t worry, that’s how I took it :)

          You make a good point. I need to try drawing and keep practising. Even if it does turn out to be useless for the book, I can still draw with the kids.

          I might even make them feel good be being so much better than me! :D

    • nhoad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Can you help me understand what you mean by “ 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?