Art styles
The same characters, in the style you choose.
40 illustration styles in 9 families. Every page is painted with your character sheet as a reference, so your hero looks the same from the cover to the last page. Prefer something else? Describe your own style or upload a reference image.
Picture book
Classic children's book media: watercolor, gouache, pencil, collage, cartoon.
- Watercolor storybookSoft, traditional watercolor with visible paper grain and gentle blooms: the timeless picture-book look.
- Gouache picture bookOpaque, matte gouache with bold simplified shapes and chalky dry-brush edges, like a contemporary award winner.
- Soft digital paintingCozy, grainy digital painting with rounded shapes and warm rim light: modern and very readable.
- Modern cartoonClean 2D cartoon with confident outlines, flat colors and expressive faces. Converts to clean line art for B&W.
- KawaiiUltra-cute chubby characters, sparkly eyes and pastel candy colors. Also great as bold coloring pages.
- Colored pencilHand-drawn colored pencil with visible hatching and paper tooth. Also works as graphite for B&W books.
- Crayon & oil pastelWaxy, joyful crayon strokes in bright primaries, as if drawn by a gifted child.
- Paper cut-out collageLayered cut and torn paper with visible edges and soft shadows: graphic, tactile and bold.
- Felt & fabricA handmade felt-and-fabric craft world with stitched seams, photographed in soft light.
- Classic ink & watercolorEdwardian-era nib pen linework washed with transparent watercolor, vignetted on white paper.
- Soft pastel & chalkDreamy powdery pastel on toned paper with glowing night light: made for bedtime stories.
Painterly
Fine-art painting looks for storybooks and covers.
- Classic oil paintingRich impasto brushwork and warm chiaroscuro light with a fine-art storybook feel.
- Naive folk artFlattened perspective, decorative patterns everywhere and bright saturated color with handmade charm.
- Fantasy digital paintingCinematic concept-art painting with volumetric light and deep atmosphere for epic stories.
- Ink wash (sumi-e)Expressive East Asian brushwork in graded black ink with abundant negative space.
3D & crafted
Animated-film, clay and plush looks.
- 3D animated filmA polished family-film look: stylized characters, soft global illumination and cinematic color.
- ClaymationStop-motion plasticine characters with fingerprints and tool marks on a handcrafted miniature set.
- Plush toy dioramaCute plush toys in a miniature tilt-shift diorama with warm nursery light.
Line art
Black-and-white line work for coloring pages and B&W interiors.
- Bold & easy coloringThick uniform outlines and big simple shapes: the best-selling coloring style for kids, beginners and seniors.
- Kids coloring (cartoon)Cute cartoon scenes in clean medium-weight outlines with regions sized for crayons.
- Pen & inkClassic black nib linework with crosshatching and stippling: the chapter-book and novel interior standard.
- Intricate adult coloringEvery shape filled with fine decorative patterns (florals, paisley, feathers) for relaxing, detailed coloring.
- MandalaRadial, symmetrical mandala patterns woven around the subject.
- Realistic line drawingAccurate, naturalist contour drawings: animals, plants and places as they really look.
- Pencil sketchExpressive graphite sketch with soft tonal shading and visible construction lines.
Comics & manga
Inked comic styles for panels and graphic novels.
- American comicBold inks, dynamic angles and flat cel colors with a subtle halftone texture.
- Manga (screentone)Clean G-pen inking, speed lines and screentone dot shading in pure black and white.
- Ligne claire (BD)Franco-Belgian clear line: uniform outlines, flat bright colors and detailed backgrounds.
- AnimeCrisp anime line art, two-tone cel shading and vibrant key-visual color.
Photo-real
Photographic looks for cookbooks and non-fiction.
Vintage
Mid-century, 70s, engraving and risograph print looks.
- Mid-century storybook1950s–60s limited-palette lithograph look with geometric shapes and slight misregistration.
- 1970s storybookEarthy mustard, olive and burnt-orange palette with soft grain and nostalgic warmth.
- Victorian engraving19th-century wood-engraving hatching in high-contrast black: perfect for novels and classic puzzle books.
- Risograph printIndie-zine riso look: two or three spot colors with grainy overprints and misregistration.
Minimalist
Flat, one-line and folk-pattern styles.
- Flat vectorGeometric flat shapes in a limited modern palette with subtle grain: clean and editorial.
- One-line drawingA single unbroken black line with elegant loops and lots of white space: calm and contemporary.
- Scandinavian folkSymmetrical flowers, leaves and birds in red, navy and mustard with cozy hygge warmth.
Educational
Diagrams and naturalist plates for fact books.
Make it with kdpbook
Pick a style, keep your characters.
Start with a sentence, choose a style and meet your characters before a single page is painted.
600 free credits · no card required