My ideas usually start small and then grow into something bigger.
It’s a problem, really. When I decided to make a book for my sons’ birthdays, I first thought that I would write something, and figure out how to import images for the illustrations. As the idea grew, I wanted to teach them a spiritual lesson about life being all about God, then I decided to use them as the main characters. As it developed, I eventually self-published a children’s book entitled, It’s All About God, with Obadiah and Eli as the main characters.
I’ve had some very kind comments from people who picked the book up online, and I have had some questions how I made it. First off, I am not an artist and I’m not that talented. I just learn to be clever (aka budget, ghetto, whatever adjective you might use here). So, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make a children’s book on a budget.
1. I take lots of pictures of the boys. I then put them in iPhoto. I changed some effects on some of the shots to give them a bigger color boost.
2. I downloaded a free program called “Gimp” to edit the pictures. It is a software designed to give budget people like me a shot at Adobe Photoshop capabilities. In Gimp, I cut the boys’ heads out of the picture to isolate their faces.
3. I drew all the bodies and scenes in Keynote (Mac’s version of Power Point). I used simple shapes or the hand-drawn tool. I gave most of the objects an outline that made it look like a child’s drawing. I then placed all the objects together.
4. I wrote the text for the page. I then would have the slides as a different page. Example: slide #12 would be the left page, slide #13 would be the right page. So I would start with the slide #12. Make the background. Copy and paste the slide (which would be #13) so that when they were beside each other the scene would appear seamless. Here is an example of the left page:
Here is the opposite page.
And, when printed, the spread looked like this:
Anyway, it was a fun project. The boys love it which makes me a happy daddy. And it showed me that you can make special gifts for people on a budget that give memories for a lifetime.
If you would like a copy of the book, you can get yours here.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.travisagnew.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Travis-2021-2.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1)
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
Nate loves it! We read it a lot at our house. Very creative!
Awesome. Thanks so much, Leah!