The article expounds the method used when the author created three book illustrations on a given historical theme: “The Feast of Ivan the Terrible”, “Ermak” and “Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich”. The step-by-step description explains how the artist worked on a concept of the composition, a story behind the illustration, a foresketch, a sketch, detailed preparatory drawing, and an illustration in the egg tempera painting technique. The paper describes the sequence of actions when construing the plot of the illustration, the iconography of the characters, the search for stylistics and color solutions, and also explains the choice of the optimal technique. The work on the illustration was carried out in parallel with the study of a large array of historical visual materials, primarily the Russian iconographic tradition of the 16th -17th centuries, which was subsequently elaborated and adapted to a specific artistic task. The author also tells about the process of creating an initial sketch of the composition, achieving a more precise image in the course of studying the sources, the search for a multi-level solution and semantic overtones of the illustration, the elaboration of characters and color symbolism, work with silhouettes and contrasts. As a teaching and learning aid in book graphics the article is relevant to teaching artists, students of art schools, professional and amateur artists, as well as art historians.