Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” It’s true that works of art created by children, from messy fingerpaintings and gluey collages to carefully drawn pictures, all exude the amazingly unrestrained delights of their vivid imaginations.
For parents who love their kid’s art, but might be less enthusiastic about displaying or storing every single piece, Mixbook has the perfect solution. Turn your child’s works of art into a custom photo book! This fun project preserves the artwork forever, so you’ll have zero guilt over discarding some or all of the originals. Reduce the clutter while creating a beautiful portfolio that shows your child how proud you are of their artistic passions and creativity.
Tip: Kids’ art books also make great gifts for grandparents.
From clutter to the printed page: How to digitize kids’ art
The first step in creating a kid’s art book is to digitize their works of art. For smaller, 2D drawings or paintings on paper, it’s as straightforward as scanning any other document.
However, parents are well aware that children’s art projects are often elaborate, fragile, or oversized creations such as collages, sculptures, greetings cards, and mobiles. Precariously stuck things like dried beans, pasta shapes, popsicle sticks, feathers, beads, shells, and chenille sticks are all common in kids’ art projects. Digitizing these takes a more inventive approach, but is definitely doable.
Read our comprehensive guide here: How to Incorporate Your Artwork into Photo Books
Scan kids’ artwork
If your child’s work of art fits on a flatbed scanner, this is the best way to digitize it. You can also use a flatbed scanner to scan works of art with 3D elements, as long as you can carefully close the cover, or alternatively cover the art with a larger piece of paper to block the light while scanning. Adjust the scanner settings to a minimum of 300 dpi for a high-resolution file.
Smartphone scanning apps are a handy alternative to flatbed scanners. Use an app, rather than your smartphone’s camera, for the best results. Lay the artwork on a flat surface in a well-lit area, preferably with a natural light source e.g. beside a window. Shoot straight down from above, and use a tripod to hold your phone if you have one.
Find more tips for digitizing artwork here: How To Digitize Photos: 6 Simple Scanning Steps
Photograph their works of art
For many types of art, especially anything 3D such as sculptures and models, taking a photograph is the best approach for creating a digital file you can use in a photo book. Good lighting, preferably natural light, is a must. There are two different approaches to consider when photographing kids’ art:
- Set the art against a plain, neutral background, such as an uncluttered table or taped up on a blank wall or cork pinboard. This lets the artwork capture all the focus in the photograph.
- Create a composition around the artwork. This could mean choosing a colorful or patterned paper or fabric backdrop that complements the art, making a “still life” with other objects, or photographing the art in a fun setting like a garden or playground.
Creative ideas for capturing art
There are endless ways to capture kids’ art for a photo book. Get the kids involved and put their creative imaginations to good use for this project. Here are some ideas:
- Have your child hold their work of art
- Take photos of your children while they’re working on their art. You could arrange the work-in-progress or artist-at-work photos next to a scan of the finished piece.
- Mount the artwork on a wall or corkboard using decorative washi tape or push pins
- Create a temporary gallery wall with various works of art and take a photo of the whole wall
- Mount the artwork on a wall or board and have your child stand admiring or pointing at it for the photograph
- Take a photo of the work of art alongside the subject of the picture e.g. place a stuffed animal next to a picture your kid drew of it, have them hold up a picture of their house while standing in front of the house, or get Grandma and Grandad to hold up their painted portraits.
The best themes for a children’s art book
Once you’ve digitized your child’s art collection (and happily decluttered your home), it’s time to create your custom photo book. To make this project super-easy, Mixbook’s collection of kids’ photo books features several themes designed especially for showcasing kids’ art:
Made for little artists
For older children or anyone seeking a more minimalist design for a kids’ art book, consider these versatile portfolio themes:
Clean, modern ways to showcase their art
Starting with a theme makes it super-easy to create an art book with a cohesive design and kid-friendly style. Just upload the photos or scans of your child’s artwork, drag and drop the pics onto the pages of the book, and customize as desired. Use the suite of intuitive tools in Mixbook Studio™ to change backgrounds and layouts, add or edit text, create fun photo frames, decorate the pages with stickers, and more.
Content and layout ideas for a kid’s art book
Mixbook’s photo book themes feature professionally designed layouts to transform your art into a visually appealing portfolio. You can, however, change the layouts to suit your particular art collection and personal style preferences. Navigate to the “Layouts” panel in Mixbook Studio to browse alternative layouts and filter by the number of photos per page or two-page spread. You can also adjust layouts on the page by clicking and dragging photo frames.
You’ll also want to put some thought into the choices of artwork for each page or spread. Here are some suggestions for thematic pages/spreads or categories to help organize your kid’s artwork:
- Create collections of holiday or seasonal artwork and follow a chronological format through the seasons. For example, start the book with a New Year’s fireworks painting, continue with spring flower pics, then sunny summer scenes, then Halloween-themed art, and end with a collection of Christmas art.
- Group portraits of family members and friends together. You might pair portrait pics with photos of the same person.
- Gather artwork with a common theme, such as animals, your kid’s favorite cartoon characters, or pictures of their favorite activities.
- Create collections of artwork by color, shifting through the colors of the rainbow as you flip from page to page.
- Group art by media type. For example, create two-page spreads for fingerpainting, clay creations, coloring pages, collages, textile arts, colored pencil drawings, and pour paintings.
Related: Creating a photography portfolio: 8 steps to success with Mixbook
Add captions and quotes from your young artist
Captions, page headers, and other text elements are optional for a kid’s art book, but they can be a fun and helpful addition. The art portfolio will be a keepsake they’ll enjoy for many years, but your child might forget the meaning or inspiration for some works of art, especially the more “abstract” examples. Help them treasure the memories behind the works of art by recording them in the book.
Ask your kid to give names or titles to their artwork, and also note down the date that they created key pieces. Open-ended questions like “tell me all about this picture” can lead to some interesting stories about your kid’s inspiration for each piece of art. You could write captions similar to art gallery placards, with a brief summary of the media and inspiration for each piece. Or, just note key details such as “A “fall leaves” painting project for Mrs. Jones’ art class, by Timmy, age 6.”
It’s a nice idea to dedicate a page to an “artist’s profile.” Choose a favorite photo of your child, or perhaps a picture of them working on an art project, and write a short bio alongside it. You might invite your child to write an “artist’s statement” and tell readers about their favorite types of art projects, favorite colors, materials, memories of art classes, and things to draw or paint.
Create a giftable kid’s art book before the holidays
A kid’s art portfolio is a true treasure for your family. As your child grows older and their artistic skills and interests evolve, they’ll love looking back on their previous works of art. (They’ll also never need to worry about what happened to the originals!)
Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family members might also love to receive a copy as a holiday gift. Head over to Mixbook to create your kid’s art book, and order as many additional copies as you need. Holiday shopping—done!
