Here is a small illustration of how to use the floatrow
package. On first page, a row of illlustrations, with the \floatrow
environment, inside a figure
environment. To have stacked figures, it is enough to use the \fcapside{\caption{…}\label{…}}
command. The side caption can be placed top, center, or bottom, left, right, inside, or outside, through a system of keywords.
\documentclass[12pt, a4paper, twoside]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{fourier}
\usepackage{heuristica}
\usepackage[textwidth =15cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx, floatrow}
\DeclareFloatSeparators{QQuad}%
{\begingroup\hskip 4em\endgroup}
\floatsetup{capbesideposition={bottom,outside},capbesidesep =QQuad}
\setlength{\labelsep}{1.5em}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\begin{floatrow}
\ffigbox{\includegraphics[scale=0.6]{AliceSteadman.png}}{\caption{Ralph Steadman’s \emph{Alice}}\label{stead}}
\ffigbox{\includegraphics{sendak.png}}{\caption{\emph{Where the Wild Things are}}\label{send}}
\end{floatrow}
\end{figure}
\clearpage
\begin{figure}
\fcapside{\caption{Ralph Steadman’s \emph{Alice}}\label{stead}}
{\includegraphics[scale=0.6]{AliceSteadman.png}}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
\fcapside{\caption{\emph{Where the Wild Things are}}\label{send1}}{\includegraphics{sendak.png}}
\end{figure}
\end{document}
floatrow
package instead: it has option for caption placement, incl. sideways caption in the ordinary figure environment, and cooperates with thecaption
package.