Illustrations for children's books

Children's book illustrator

My name is Sabine van der Ploeg, I am an illustrator and I illustrate children's books, picture books, and young adult books. I draw with an eye for detail and, where appropriate, with a touch of humor..

It's wonderful to bring the characters in the story to life through drawing. Imaginative and original illustrations stimulate the reader's imagination.

Do your children's books come to life with illustrations?

Children's book illustrations

As an illustrator, I first immerse myself in your manuscript. Then, I conceptualize illustrations that fit the essence of the story. The first ideaëI sketch with pencil.

For my children's book illustrations, I use various materials such as ink, pencil, watercolor, and gouache. I combine this with digital techniques to achieve an optimal final result.

To bring the story to life and highlight its essence, I play with color contrast, light and dark, lines, and proportions in my illustrations. Whatever suits the story.

This is what others say about my work

Movement, color, and cheerfulness
When I saw the five illustrations Sabine had created for five stories from the Rotterdam writing contest for elementary school students—organized in collaboration with the Foundation for the Promotion of Public Power and De Schoolschrijver—I was really excited. There was so much movement, color, and cheerfulness in the illustrations. I hoped that Sabine would one day illustrate one of my books, and that opportunity came. In February 2025, Boom Primair Onderwijs published my book *The F of Fantasy: Twenty Read-Aloud Stories Enriched with Lesson Suggestions and Creative Writing Assignments*. Sabine created incredibly beautiful illustrations for each story. My favorite is the girl jumping over the fence! It’s no surprise that this became the cover illustration.

She has painted the emotions very realistically.
Sabine has created a unique dune world for our new Trefwoord picture book. With beautiful, colorful characters that you will fall in love with. She has painted the emotions that alternate throughout the book in a very touching way. Her style is fresh and dreamy, with a touch of humor here and there. What we liked about working with Sabine is that she thought carefully and was open to our ideas. She has truly made the story her own, so the text and images now complement each other beautifully. We are very pleased with the end result!

We are very happy with the professional result
For our new children's book (The Allsorts Club), we were looking for an illustrator and came across Sabine's beautiful website. We were immediately drawn to her drawing style. Contact was easily established, and communication was smooth, clear, and friendly. Sabine was involved, came up with ideas, incorporated adjustments without any problems, and adhered to agreements/deadlines with plenty of time to spare. In short, it was a pleasure working with Sabine, and we are very happy with the professional result. We look forward to (hopefully) creating a next installment with her.

Sabine has beautifully translated the ideas for our children's book into lovely and cheerful illustrations. She's truly brought the story we came up with to life. We look back on a very pleasant collaboration.

Sabine created 20 illustrations for a book published by Boom. She’s a pleasure to work with. She understands exactly what’s needed, is creative, and always delivers on her commitments.

The illustrations are made with care and love
A very enjoyable collaboration from a distance. Despite the distance, communication went well, and Sabine from Het Illustratiekabinet created wonderful illustrations for my children's book. Her own input was also greatly appreciated. The illustrations were made with care and love.

Children's books

The cover and a snippet from one of the 20 stories from ‘The F of Fantasy’ written by Marlies Verhelst published by Boom Publishers.

The cover and an illustration for the story about Ocean Cleanup Day. One of the 20 stories with creative writing assignments from ‘Dagen vol fantasie’ (Days Full of Fantasy). Written by Marlies Verhelst and published by Boom publishers.

Three reading books from the Leesvlam series. A series of reading books for children aged 9 to 12 years old that are new in the Netherlands and are learning the language and reading for the first time. Written by Marlies Verhelst and Ineke Kraijo and published by Schoolsupport and the publisher eenvoudig communiceren.

‘Brave Jo’ (‘Stoere Joon’) a reader about a girl who is both scared and brave. It's a book from the reading series for 'Veilig Leren Lezen' by Zwijsen publishers.

Picture plates and illustrations made for the Mini information books from Schoolsupport publishing house. Educational children's books for children aged 6 to 9 years.

The “Club of All Sorts”(De club van allerlei) series from Scrivo Media publishing house is a series of children's books for children aged 5 to 9 years old. Here is the cover and one of the illustrations for "The Club of All Sorts"(De club van allerlei) from Scrivo Media. The book covers are in color, with black and white illustrations on the inside.

The series consists of

The Club of All Sorts (De club van allerlei) builds a clubhouse, The Club of All (De club van allerlei) Sorts celebrates Sinterklaas, and The Club of All Sorts (De club van allerlei) takes action.

Illustration and cover for the children's book ‘Stella and Stinky Save the Bees’ written by Christine Algera. The cover is in color, the inside is black and white illustrations.

Illustration and cover for the picture book ‘Otis is Underestimated” (Otis wordt onderschat) These illustrations are drawn with a digital pen.

How does it work?

Step 1	We are discussing your book and the desired illustrations. Who is it written for, what is the essence of the story, and what illustration style fits that.
Step 2	If this is clear, I will give you a proposal with the costs, timeline, and delivery method. If you want that, I will make a paid trial illustration.
Step 3	Do you agree? After approval, I will get started. Each illustration begins with one or more sketches.
Step 4	I will present the sketch to you, and based on your feedback, I will adjust it or fully develop the illustration.
Step 5	I will deliver the illustration as desired and in the agreed-upon (digital) format.

Cost of children's book illustrations

Illustrating a children's book is always a case-by-case situation. Usually a book is published by an editor.

When you publish your book in your own hands, after an initial consultation I usually make a price quote. That quote is based on the number of hours I expect to work on it. The number of hours depends on the topics, the dimensions, whether it’s in color or black and white, the number of characters and details.