Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47525
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It's an entirely Western thing to not have illustrations in novels. The general consensus I found in other boards is that, "Illustrations lack maturity, thus they are only in children's to YA books." The other drawback is the cost [of hiring an artist and having them draw stuff](https://misssnark.blogspot.com/2007/01/illustrations-in-novels.html).

The artistic reason is that a "good" author should be able to paint the picture in your head, while a "bad" author needs to rely on visuals to get their point across. Graphic novels, where the art _is_ used to convey the story (as opposed to illustrations showing a few scenes) falls into a middle ground, however there is still the cost of hiring an artist (unless, as OP is, you are so inclined).

If you want examples of novels with illustrations, you need to look East a little ways. Japanese light novels, the cheaper alternative to their manga, are exactly what you describe. Even there, however, the images are added later (since many modern light novels are adapted from web novels, which are even cheaper to produce) and are used as a marketing tool rather than artistic choice.

Original score: 1