Narrative Illustration Research. Illustrations, text and audience.

With this project I need to grasp the concept of illustrating text. I have looked at some illustrates work but I haven’t analysed it next to the text they accompany. I bout a book recently which I hoped would help me in identifying the peaks of story’s. The book is called “Usborne Illustrated classics” and a collective works of classical children’s stories that are all illustrated with colour.

Wen Illustrations are use alongside text they are meant to help the narrative experience. They are used in books for small children as an identity, helping them understand the text and teaching them to associate an image with a word. Picture books are often colourful as bright colours appeal to younger readers and keep them engaged. Children don’t have a great attention span, to combat this illustrations for kids are often blubbery and expensive. They create a light hatred response to what is often playful text wheals still having a personality of their own. As children’s books often try to portray a meaning or a morel message, image can help etherises the point. For example, theirs a story about a dog that stole a shoe, the story is trying to show children that stealing is wrong so the dog will be drawn looking guilty in the illustration. 

Teen novels can be the best of both worlds when it comes to illustration. A lot more attentions to detail is required as these books tend to be novels and foes on more complicated stories. Alto there may not be as much illustration, ther will often be black and wight vinyets scattered among the pages. Young adults tent to apresheat illustration but don’t require them to understand the context of the text.

Books aimed at an older audience tent to not use illustrations. Most experience readers may not like images as it can rowen the reders amaganitv response. Footers and borders are the most common illustrations found in adult novels as they are not very intrusive. Despite this common attitude older readers are more likely to pick up a coffee table style of book. Theas are often illustrated and are aimed at older readers as sort of a collector’s piece.

With all this in mind I began to look thuw Usborne Illustrated classics and analyse the illustrations. It is no surprise that illustrations tend to depict important parts of the story (or peaks). I found that vinyets and footer type illustrations sometime depict more decoratively interesting parts of the story, not nesaseraly the most important parts.