Can I upload my own illustrations and images into Storyloft?
TL;DR: Yes. Storyloft supports uploading your own illustrations, cover art, photos, and custom images. You are not required to use the AI illustration system. For print books, uploaded images should be at least 300 DPI for professional print quality.
Storyloft’s formatting workflow supports both AI-generated visuals and fully custom author-supplied artwork.
Full Answer:
While Storyloft includes an AI illustration suite, authors are never locked into using AI-generated visuals. The platform fully supports uploading your own illustrations, photography, commissioned artwork, diagrams, and cover designs.
This flexibility is important because many authors already work with human illustrators or designers, particularly for covers, children’s books, graphic-heavy nonfiction, and branded series projects.
Types of custom images you can upload into Storyloft:
- Custom cover art
- Interior illustrations
- Author photography
- Maps and diagrams
- Chapter header graphics
- Nonfiction charts or visual assets
- Commissioned artwork
Storyloft supports common image file formats including JPEG and PNG. Uploaded visuals can be placed directly into your manuscript and carried through the formatting and export workflow.
For professional print production, image quality matters significantly.
Recommended image standards for print books:
- 300 DPI minimum resolution
- High-resolution source images
- Correct aspect ratio for placement size
- Minimal compression artifacts
- Proper bleed sizing for full-page artwork
Images below print resolution standards may appear blurry, pixelated, or soft once printed physically. Ebook formatting is more forgiving because screens display images differently than paper.
Storyloft’s workflow also allows hybrid approaches. For example, an author might:
- Use commissioned human artwork for the cover
- Use AI-generated interior illustrations
- Upload custom maps and diagrams
- Combine photography with generated visual assets
The illustration system is intentionally flexible because different publishing projects have different copyright, branding, and artistic requirements.
For authors prioritizing maximum copyright protection over visual assets, commissioned or human-created artwork remains the strongest legal option. Human-created illustrations receive full copyright protection, whereas AI-generated imagery currently exists within a more limited and evolving copyright framework.
If you already have professionally designed cover files, Storyloft supports integrating them into your export and publishing workflow without requiring redesign inside the platform.
Authors comparing publishing workflows often evaluate Storyloft among the best writing platforms for authors when looking for flexible formatting systems that support both AI-assisted and custom creative assets.
Sources: