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 :)

  • Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
    2·
    7 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
      51·
      7 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
        3·
        7 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

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

            That’s a very good point. I’m hopeless at practicing. I’ve got ADHD, so find it hard to do something that I don’t want to do at the moment, and when I was younger I could pick up new skills fairly easily, so never bothered learning properly. I would do as much as it took to be ok at something, then usually stop there.