Matthew James Taylor Matthew James Taylor

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Book Cover Design & Book Illustrations

Table of contents

I've written, illustrated, and self-published two books and I did all the graphic design for them too.

There's nothing quite like seeing your art in book form! =)

Babysitting Business Secrets

I wrote this book to compliment my babysitting blog and I did all of the design work too.

Cover design

Babysitting Business Secrets
Babysitting Business Secrets cover design

Illustrations

There are over 100 color illustrations that I drew in Inkscape. The kids in the illustrations are caricatures of my three kids:

Sylvie, Arlo, and Summer caricatures
Sylvie, Arlo, and Summer

I kept notes in my phone of all the funny things my kids said when they were young and I used their quotes for the chapter page illustrations.

Here are some examples:

Kidsit book illustration 2
Kidsit book illustration 3
Kidsit book illustration 1
Kidsit book illustration 6
Kidsit book illustration 4
Kidsit book illustration 5

You can buy my babysitting book on Amazon as a full-color paperback or an ebook.

The Land of No Horizon

I co-authored and published The Land of No Horizon with my father in 2001. It's a weird, unique, and crazy book about the hollow Earth theory. It took approximately 12 years to research and write and there's nothing else like it on the planet!

Cover design

The Land of No Horizon
The Land of No Horizon

Illustrations

There are over 80 diagrams in the book, I drew these in CorelDraw.

The Land of No Horizon
Example diagrams in the Land of No Horizon books (English and Japanese versions)
Matthew James Taylor

I've been creating art all my life and running this website since 1997! During this time I've found many amazing tools and services that I cannot live without.”
— Matthew James Taylor

I highly Recommend:

Canva

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Squarespace

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See more of my recommended design tools.

Logo design concept & colors

Logo Design Concepts, Branding & Colors

A charcoal portrait of Angela reading a book

Portraiture (Exploring Different Mediums, Styles & Techniques)

My standard life drawing equipment

Best Life Drawing Equipment (What to Bring to a Class)

Detail of a male model in white charcoal

White Charcoal Life Drawing On Toned Paper

Sepia ink life drawing

Ink Life Drawing (6 Experiments with Nibs & Brushes)

A close-up painting of pistachios with Gouche

Gouache Paintings (Still Life Illustrations)

Vector portrait of Crystal the Doll

Vector Art (Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Flash & Inkscape)

A pencil drawing of a stand of trees

Trees (Drawings, Illustrations & Other Artwork)

A close-up of my Ikea pig oil painting

Oil Painting (Still Life & Landscapes)

A fractal tree made by recursive drawing

Create Fractals With This Amazing Recursive Drawing Tool

Watercolor illustration example

Watercolor Painting & Illustration

A selection of life drawings in different mediums

Best Life Drawing Mediums (Examples, Tips & Techniques)

Charcoal still life drawing of my shoe

Still Life (Drawings & Paintings)

Graphite Pencil Life Drawing

Graphite Pencil Life Drawing (Rendering & Sketch Examples)

My optical illusion mural

Optical Illusions (Artwork That Tricks The Eye)

A nice sharp pencil

The Art of Sharpening Pencils (Styles & Techniques)

A charcoal life drawing of a female model

Charcoal Life Drawing (Examples On White & Toned Paper)

A black ball-point pen doodle

Doodles, Little Drawings & Sketches

Black and white charcoal study of folded fabric

Drapery Drawing (Folded Fabric Studies in Charcoal & Pencil)

A fractal artwork of an owl in a tree

Fractal Art (Exploring Fractals & Art Based On Fractals)

AI-generated art nouveau portrait

Art Nouveau (Drawings, Vector Illustrations & AI-Generated Art)

Chalk life drawing with Conté Crayon

Chalk Life Drawings (Conté Crayon Vs Chalk Pencil)

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