Custom scene illustration.
Single spreads, chapter openers, key moments — when a novel or non-fiction title needs one perfect image, not a whole book of them. Drawn to brief, shipped with the source file.
Key facts
- Service
- Single-image custom illustration for novels, non-fiction and chapter openers.
- Starting price
- From $320 per illustration.
- Typical turnaround
- 2 to 4 weeks from brief to print-ready file.
- Output
- Two thumbnail concepts, final rendering, layered source file and commercial release.
- Specialty
- Single spreads, chapter openers and key moments — when a book needs one perfect image.
- Revisions
- Three revision rounds plus thirty days of corrections after sign-off.
One scene, built properly.
Frontispieces, chapter heads, marketing key art and audiobook squares — every one drawn from a brief, not pulled from stock.
- Two thumbnail concepts. Two composition options sketched at small scale so you choose the framing before any rendering.
- Two revision rounds. Two formal rounds on the chosen thumbnail, plus a final polish before sign-off.
- Hand-drawn rendering. Procreate, Photoshop, watercolour or ink on paper — never AI generation.
- Style-match service. If the piece sits alongside another illustrator's work, a short style test runs before the main commission.
- Print & digital exports. 300dpi CMYK for print, RGB at retailer sizes for digital, plus a transparent PNG master.
- Layered source files. PSD or Procreate master handed over alongside the approved thumbnail set.
- Full rights transfer. Worldwide copyright in the artwork passes to you on final payment.
- Two weeks of post-delivery support. Re-crops for ads, print proofs, audiobook formats — included.
Five steps, signed off by you.
The reading.
You send the manuscript passage. We read it, then write back with a quote in 48 hours.
Two thumbnails.
Two small composition sketches — chosen on framing before anything is rendered.
Roughs.
Chosen thumbnail brought to a clean sketch, palette study attached for sign-off.
Inks & colour.
Full render with two revision rounds, plus light polish before delivery.
Delivery.
Source files, print & digital exports, approved thumbnails archived, rights transferred.
Scenes we have drawn recently.
Six commissions from the last eighteen months — chapter openers, frontispieces, audiobook art, ad creative.
What authors say after delivery.
Verified clients from the last twelve months. Names changed on request, never quotes.
Three editions, fixed price.
Priced by complexity, not by hour. You sign off the brief, we deliver the scene.
Single scene
- One illustration to brief
- Two thumbnails, two revisions
- Layered PSD source
- Print & digital exports
Set of three
- Three scenes, one engagement
- Shared style sheet across pieces
- Staggered schedule, feedback rolls in
- Print-ready CMYK exports
- Re-crops for ad & audiobook included
Chapter openers (10+)
- Ten or more chapter-opener illustrations
- Series style guide & motif library
- Marginalia at no extra charge
- Reserved illustrator across the title
Bespoke briefs welcome. Tell us about your scene and we'll write back with a fixed quote in 48 hours.
Four promises, written in.
Layered PSD or Procreate master delivered with every commission — no locked files, no agency vault.
Worldwide copyright in the artwork transfers on final payment. Use it for ads, audiobook, merch — no asking.
Two thumbnails to choose framing from — not three roughs we already favour one of.
Two formal rounds on the chosen thumbnail, plus the small polish round nobody bills for at the end.
More about our custom scene illustration work.
Our custom scene illustration is for authors who don't need a fully illustrated book but want one or two key images for a novel, memoir or non-fiction title. Single-spread illustration, chapter opener art, novel spot illustration and key-moment illustration are the four common shapes the work takes. Most pieces ship in three to six weeks from brief to final art.
Where a single-spread illustration earns its place
A single-spread illustration belongs in a book when one moment carries enough weight to justify pausing the reading. For a novel, it might be the inciting scene rendered in a way the prose can only gesture at. For a memoir, it might be a place — a family kitchen, a hospital corridor — that the writing returns to. We read the relevant chapter before quoting so the brief is grounded in the actual text.
Chapter opener art is the next most common request. A novel with 24 chapters does not need 24 paintings; it usually needs a small, repeatable motif rendered in a consistent hand, sitting at the head of each chapter. We design the motif first, then produce the full set in a single batch. Costs come down because the work is set up once.
Novel spot illustration and key-moment work
Novel spot illustration sits between chapter art and full single-spread work — small pieces of custom book art scattered through the manuscript at scene shifts. Key-moment illustration is the most ambitious shape, usually three to seven full-page pieces commissioned across a novel to mark the inciting incident, the midpoint, the climax and the close. We treat these as a set, not as one-offs, so the visual language reads coherently across the book.
Deliverables: high-resolution print and ebook files, the original layered source on request, and full copyright assignment on final payment. The work is yours to use for the book, the marketing campaign, the merchandise — anywhere you choose.
Questions we are asked.
Short, honest answers. Anything else, send to contact@ebookwriting.ai.
What does the starting figure include?
At ebookwriting.ai, the starting scene illustration fee of $320 covers a single original scene illustration to your brief, two thumbnail concepts, two revision rounds on the chosen direction, and final delivery at print and digital resolution.
How long does a custom scene take?
Two to four weeks per illustration, depending on complexity. Multi-scene commissions run on a staggered schedule so feedback on one piece informs the next without holding up production.
What if the scene doesn't match what I had in mind?
Two revision rounds are included on the chosen thumbnail, and we lock composition and palette early so corrections happen on sketch rather than finished art. If the brief itself needs to shift we re-thumbnail without restarting the clock.
Who owns the finished artwork?
You do. Copyright and reproduction rights transfer to you on final payment, and we hand over both the layered source and any working sketches.
What files come at the end?
Layered source files, a flattened high-resolution master, print-ready CMYK exports, RGB exports for digital use, and any approved thumbnails so you have a record of the development process.
Can you match an existing illustration style?
Yes, within reason. If you're extending an existing series or commissioning art to sit alongside another illustrator's work, we'll do a style-match test before the main commission begins so you can see the fit before committing.
Often paired with this.
One image, drawn well.
A 15-minute discovery call, a written proposal in 48 hours, a fixed-price quote that includes every revision in scope.