Should I give illustration suggestions?

The obstacle to writing children's picture books is not having illustrations to go along with the text.

I cannot draw worth a lick.  Sure I can scratch a little stick man on paper, but that's about it.  When I write a full picture book manuscript and have someone else critique it, don't I need to at least suggest how I think the illustrations should look?  Though, I'm sure a publisher would laugh at my ideas and say, "No.  No no no no."  But, when it's time to submit the manuscript, should I include my ideas for the illustrations?

Author-Illustrators

Many famous writers are/were author-illustrators:  Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter and one of my favorites, Mo Willems. I tend to think these people had an unfair advantage as opposed to the plain ole authors, like myself.

Sometimes when I write a manuscript, I have very vivid ideas for illustrations.  The problem is I can't put those images on paper because I'm not an artist.  This usually makes me think, "Aww, man, if only an agent could see the story's potential, they would want this manuscript!"  But, no, here I am, only with text to offer.

I imagine people like Dr. Seuss and Beatrix Potter simply handing a complete book to an agent or publisher, and the agent being blown away by the awesomeness of the complete product.  This makes me feel like author-illustrators have such a huge advantage of just plain ole authors.

Do you think there are picture books that wouldn't have been published without the illustrations complete from day one?

Authors and Illustrators

Once picture books are written, is the writer completely out of the picture?  Do the writers have a voice regarding the illustrations?

So, I have submitted picture books to agents, and one day, one of them will be in the hands of an illustrator (like my optimism here?).  Will the agent ask me my opinions?  Will they ask me if I think anything should be changed?  Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of faith in illustrators, and I believe they know how to make details shine through their artwork, but what if I think they are missing key details?

Is that silly?  After all, I only write the words, but I have no clue what the rules are.  Do you?

Text versus Illustrations

One of the biggest challenges of writing picture books is knowing which details belong in text and which details belong in the illustrations.

If you search the art of picture book writing, you will read many articles that urge writers to eliminate adjectives.  Why?  Perhaps the visual details are entirely up to the editor.  Is it possible the editor will say, "Hey, look, I know you wrote that Bobby's bicycle is blue, but let's leave those details up to the illustrator."?

Many picture book writers constantly look for ways to eliminate unnecessary words from their manuscripts.  Such as quickly, big, fast, etc.  Depending on the target age range, many writers try to keep the word count below 500 words.  Some even prefer to keep it under 350 (wow!).

The problem with relying too much on illustrations is that books should teach the reader new words.  After all, we do want their vocabulary to expand.  If the reader doesn't know the word, they can examine the illustration closely and possibly figure it out for themselves.

When you write picture books, do you include many adjectives, or do you depend on illustrations to cover those details?