A studio service
Paint-with-water books, drawn for the reveal.
A paint-with-water book is ordinary line art with a hidden layer underneath: colour or a picture that appears when a wet brush passes over it. We illustrate the pages and prepare the separate reveal layers that the specialist printer needs, for authors, brands and small publishers.
N° 01What goes in the book
Two layers on every page.
01
Line-art pages
Bold, simple outlines sized for a toddler's brush, one subject or scene per page.
02
Colour reveal layers
The hidden colour for each area, drawn as a separate layer so the printer can apply it as water-reactive ink.
03
Hidden-picture reveals
Pages where something appears that was not visible dry: a fish under the water, stars in a night sky.
04
Reusable water-pen pages
Designs for books that fade back to blank when they dry, so the same page is painted again.
05
Simple activities
Reveal the answer to a matching question, count what appears, find the hidden animal.
06
Cover and brush pocket
Cover illustration and layout that allows for a pen pocket or a bound-in brush if your printer offers one.
N° 02The part that goes wrong
The printer makes the magic.
Paint-with-water is a print process, not a design trick, so the printer is chosen before the artwork is finished.
01
No print-on-demand route
Amazon KDP and other print-on-demand services cannot print water-reactive ink. These books come from a specialist printer with a minimum order.
02
Layers that do not register
Colour layers must sit exactly inside the outlines at the printer's tolerance. Outlines are drawn thick enough to hide small shifts.
03
Detail too fine for a wet brush
Water spreads. Areas are kept large and simple so colours do not bleed into each other.
04
Paper and safety
Paper weight, ink and small parts such as a brush pen are decided with your printer and tested by them or a lab for your market.
N° 03How it runs
Plan first, artwork after.
01
1. Page plan
We agree the age band, the number of pages, whether pages are single-use or reusable, and request the layer and template specification from your printer.
02
2. Sample pages
Two or three finished pages in the agreed look, so you approve the style and the difficulty before the rest is made.
03
3. Full interior
Every page produced to the plan, with answers or instructions where the format needs them, then one consolidated round of changes.
04
4. Cover and files
Cover design, front matter and print-ready files at your trim size, set to your printer's or platform's template.
N° 04Investment
Three ways to work together.
Single-format
From $1,600
A short paint-with-water book on one theme.
- Cover illustration and title design
- Up to 12 painting pages
- Separate reveal layers for every page
- Print-ready PDF
- 1 round of revisions
Signature
From $3,200
A full paint-with-water activity book.
- Cover illustration and title design
- Up to 24 painting and activity pages
- Separate reveal layers for every page
- Character integration
- 2 rounds of revisions
- Social marketing pack
Series
From $7,000
A themed range: animals, vehicles, seasons of the year.
- 3+ titles
- Shared characters, palette and cover system
- One outline weight and layer system across titles
- Full print files per title
- Series style guide
What every package includes, and what it does not
What you get
- Original artwork made for your book, with full commercial rights
- Editable source files as well as print-ready PDFs
- A written page plan agreed before artwork starts
- Files set to the template of the printer or platform you name
What we don’t do
- Printing, binding and shipping
- ISBNs, publishing account setup or marketing campaigns
- Licensed or trademarked characters
- Printing with water-reactive ink, brush pens or packaging
- Product safety testing
Page counts above are caps. A longer book, extra revision rounds or a second language are quoted in writing before we start them.
N° 05Questions
The answers we give most often.
- Can a paint-with-water book be printed through Amazon KDP?
- No. The colour reveal is a special ink applied by a specialist printer, usually with a minimum quantity. We prepare the files to that printer's specification.
- What do you deliver?
- Line-art pages, a separate colour or reveal layer for each page, the cover, and the files set to your printer's template. Printing itself is your printer's job.
- What age are these books for?
- Most are made for toddlers and preschoolers, which is why the outlines are thick and the areas large. The age band is agreed in the page plan.
- Can the pages be reused?
- Some printers offer coatings where the colour fades as the page dries, so it can be painted again. If your printer offers that, we design to it.
- Do I own the artwork?
- Yes, with full commercial rights and the layered source files.
Start your book
Have a book like this in mind?
Tell us the audience, the page count and where it will be printed. You get a page plan and a fixed quote in writing.