BEWARE OF FAKE ILLUSTRATORS!
We will reveal their secret!
Look at the images below.
ALL OF THESE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE FAKE!
Most of the authors didn’t realize that their illustrators had cheated them.
They used STOCK IMAGES, which they simply downloaded from Freepik or Vecteezy, slighty edited, and declared as their own art!
Comparing fake images with real ones.
NEVER USE CLIPART FOR YOUR CHILDREN'S BOOK
1. Copyright Issues
You will face copyright issues in the future. If you don't have the license from the real illustrator of the clip art, it means you stole their work too.
Although you already paid the fake illustrator, it doesn't mean you purchased the clip art. Mostly, the fake illustrator stole the clip art, too. It means, your book is illegal to sell.
2. Poor Quality
Basically, the fake illustrator doesn't have any sense of art. They just trying to match the clipart with your book text and edit it. Of course, you will receive a poor-quality of work.
3. Low Originality and Uniqueness
The same clipart will be used for other books by other authors.
HOW TO AVOID FAKE ILLUSTRATORS?
1. Compare the Price
There is a huge difference between a real artist and a fake one. A real one, of course, will charge much more than a fake one.
It usually costs USD 35 - USD 150 or higher just for ONE illustration. They create everything from scratch, spending a couple of hours or days to create a genuine work of art.
In contrast, fake artists will take less than USD 30 for an illustration. Usually, they cost between USD 5 - USD 20. Of course, everything will be stock images, even the CHARACTERS!
2. Ensure that there is a Sketching Process
A real illustrator will show you the sketch first. This is what we always do for our clients: create an original art piece in the sketching phase, show it to the client, and revise based on their feedback.
We only continue the project when they approve the sketches.
3. Investigate the image!
You can easily visit freepik.com, vecteezy.com, or other sites for access to free stock images. Yes, they can download it for FREE and sell it to you.
The images are EDITABLE using particular software, so they can download it and make it suit the story in your book!
They don’t even create an original character. The trick is just to download and edit.
If you don’t have enough money to pay for a professional illustrator, just download the stock image yourself and edit it. Don’t spend your limited funds on fake artists!
Consider opening a campaign on Kickstarter to fund your book project so that you can pay a real illustrator.
THE NEW FACE OF FAKE ART: AI ILLUSTRATIONS
You think an AI image generator solves everything. But there are issues hiding beneath the shiny surface. Here’s what goes wrong when you use AI Illustration
1. Glitches & Weird Anatomy
When you zoom in, things fall apart. Fingers melt. Limbs bend the wrong way. Eyes don’t line up. AI models don’t actually understand biology or anatomy, they mimic patterns. You’ll often see unnatural proportions, strange overlaps, or body parts that seem fused. What seems “okay” on first glance becomes jarring when someone inspects closely.
Fake Illustration
AI Illustration
2. Copy Echoes & Unintended Similarity
AI is trained on huge datasets. That means your final image may accidentally echo styles, motifs, or designs from copyrighted art.
That causes legal risk, it hurts originality.
3. Lack of Intent, Emotion, Story
A great children’s book or a brand image often carries mood, character, meaning. An illustrator thinks about posture, color psychology, light, shadow, and also storytelling.
While AI doesn’t care about your character’s backstory. It can’t sense whether something “feels sad” or “feels hopeful.” The result? Flat visuals.
4. Variable Quality and Inconsistency
Across pages, or across usages (book cover vs inside pages vs marketing), AI output can wildly vary. Styles shift. Lighting changes. Color tones are inconsistent. Characters may look different in different images. This inconsistency breaks immersion. It says “cheap,” “unprofessional.” Even if one image looks good, the next might feel off.
Fake Illustration
AI Illustration
5. Hidden Costs & Legal Traps
You may think AI is cheap. But when you realize you’ve used images that too closely resemble copyrighted works, you’ll face costs like licensing fees, takedown notices, or even lawsuits. Plus, if you hire someone who claims “AI + finishing touches,” you might still be responsible for proving you're not infringing. And clients or readers may lose trust.
6. Generic Feel & No Ownership
Because many people are using the same or similar AI tools, your images risk looking like everyone else’s. You lose uniqueness. You lose the identifiable style that comes from a human illustrator. It weakens brand identity and emotional connection.
How do we know about all of this stuff?
We’ve been working in this field since 2011, focusing on children’s book illustrations, and we have worked with hundreds of authors.
Some clients find us when they’re working on their second books, and when they show us their first book, BOOM! It is full of stock images!
We investigate the images and discover that they used low-priced illustrators. However, the clients often don’t realize this until we tell them.