Illustration

An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept

or process,[1] designed for integration in published media, such as posters, flyers,
magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video games and films.

The origin of the word illustration is late Middle English (in the sense
illumination; spiritual or intellectual enlightenment): via Old French from Latin
illustratio(n- ), from the verb illustrate.[2]

Contents
Contemporary illustration
Technical and scientific illustration
Illustration as fine art
History
Early history
19th Century
Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith
The Golden Age
(18631935)
See also
References
External links

Contemporary illustration
Contemporary illustration uses a wide range of styles and techniques, including
drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, montage, digital design, multimedia, 3D
modelling. Most illustrators work on a freelance basis.

Depending on the purpose, illustration may be expressive, stylised, realistic or

highly technical.

Specialist areas[3] include:

Archaeological illustration
Botanical illustration
Concept art
Fashion illustration
Information graphics
Technical illustration
Medical illustration
Narrative illustration
Picture books
Scientific illustration "Illustration beats explanation"
Western Engraving & Colortype Co.
(1916)
Technical and scientific illustration
Technical and scientific illustration communicates information of a technical or
scientific nature. This may include exploded views, cutaways, fly-throughs,
reconstructions, instructional images, component designs, diagrams. The aim is "to
generate expressive images that effectively convey certain information via the visual
channel to the human observer"[4]

Technical and scientific illustration is generally designed to describe or explain

subjects to a nontechnical audience, so must provide "an overall impression of what
[5]
an object is or does, to enhance the viewer's interest and understanding".

In contemporary illustration practice, 2D and 3D software is often used to create

accurate representations that can be updated easily, and reused in a variety of
contexts.

Illustration as fine art

In the art world, illustration has at times been considered of less importance than
graphic design and fine art.
The White Rabbit from Alice in
Today, however, due in part to the growth of graphic novel and video game Wonderland, illustrated by John
Tenniel (18201914)
industries, as well as increased use of illustration in magazines and other
publications, illustration is now becoming a valued art form, capable of engaging a
global market.

Original illustration art has been known to attract high prices at auction. The US
artist Norman Rockwell's painting "Breaking Home Ties" sold in a 2006 Sotheby's
auction for USD15.4 million.[6] Many other illustration genres are equally valued,
with pinup artists such as Gil Elvgren and Alberto Vargas, for example, also
attracting high prices.

History Exploded-view diagram of a gear

Historically, the art of illustration is closely linked to the industrial processes of pump (c 2007)
printing and publishing.

Early history
The illustrations of medieval codices were known as illuminations, and were
individually hand drawn and painted. With the invention of the printing press during
the 15th century, books became more widely distributed, often illustrated with
woodcuts.

1600s Japan saw the origination of Ukiyo-e, an influential illustration style Cutaway drawing of the Nash 600,
characterised by expressive line, vivid colour and subtle tones, resulting from the an American automobile of the 1940s
ink-brushed wood block printing technique. Subjects included traditional folk tales, (1942)

popular figures and every day life. Hokusais The Great Wave of Kanazawa is a
famous image of the time.

During the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, the main reproduction processes for illustration were engraving and etching. In 18th
Century England, a notable illustrator was William Blake (1757827), who used relief etching. By the early 19th century, the
introduction of lithography substantially improved reproduction quality
.
19th Century
In Europe, notable figures of the early 19th Century were John Leech, George
Cruikshank, Dickens illustrator Hablot Knight Browne, and, in France, Honor
Daumier. All contributed to both satirical and serious publications. At this time,
there was a great demand for caricature drawings encapsulating social mores, types
and classes.

The British humorous magazine Punch (18412002) built on the success of

Cruikshank's Comic Almanac (18271840) and employed many well-regarded Oberon, Titania and Puck with
illustrators, including Sir John Tenniel, the Dalziel Brothers, and Georges du Fairies Dancing by William Blake
(1786)
Maurier. Although all fine art trained, their reputations were gained primarily as
illustrators.

Historically, Punch was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s. The magazine was
the first to use the term "cartoon" to describe a humorous illustration and its
widespread use led to John Leech being known as the world's first "cartoonist"[8]. In
common with similar magazines such as the ParisianLe Voleur, Punch realised good
illustration sold as well as good text. With publication continuing into the 21st
Century, Punch chronicles a gradual shift in popular illustration, from reliance on
caricature to sophisticated topical observation.

The Golden Age

From the early 1800s newspapers, mass market magazines, and illustrated books had
become the dominant consumer media in Europe and the New World. By the 19th
Century, improvements in printing technology freed illustrators to experiment with
color and rendering techniques. These developments in printing effected all areas of
literature from cookbooks, photography and traveling guides, as well as children's
books. Also, due to advances in printing, it became more affordable to produce color American Turk's Cap Lily, Lilium
photographs within books and other materials.[9] superbum by Georg Dionysius Ehret
(170870), c 17503. Watercolour
In America, this led to a "golden age of illustration" from before the 1880s until the and gouache on vellum. V&A
early 20th Century. A small group of illustrators became highly successful, with the Museum no. D.589-1886[7]
[10]
imagery they created considered a portrait of American aspirations of the time.

See also
Association of Illustrators
Association of Medical Illustrators
Communication design
Graphic design
Illustrators
Institute of Medical Illustrators
Posters
Society of Illustrators

An engraving by Georgius Agricola

References or Georg Bauer (14941555),
illustrating the mining practice offire-
1. cf. the freely available internationalDatabase of Scientific Illustrators
setting
1450-1950 (http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/hi/gnt/dsi)with 20 search fields
 and nearly 7000 entries of illustrators in science, medicine & technology active prior to 1950
2. "Oxford Dictionary" (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/illustration).
3. "Prospects.ac.uk" (https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/illustrator).
4. Ivan Viola and Meister E. Grller (2005). S
" mart Visibility in Visualization (http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/public
ations/2005/Viola-05-Smart/Viola-05-Smart-Paper.pdf)". In: Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and
Imaging. L. Neumann et al. (Ed.)
5. Industriegrafik.com (http://www.industriegrafik.com/TIE1.htm)Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2009081412505
2/http://www.industriegrafik.com/TIE1.htm)2009-08-14 at the Wayback Machine. website, Last modified: June 15,
2002. Accessed february 15, 2009.
6. Norman Rockwell's Rising Value Prices Out His Museum (http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/norman-rockwell-
art-rises-in-value-and-his-museum-gets-priced-o/19366251/)Zac Bissonnette, AOL Daily Finance, 2-22-10
7. "American Turk's cap Lily" (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88258/watercolour-american-turks-cap-lily-lilium/)
.
Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
8. "How Punch Magazine Changed Everything"(http://illustrationchronicles.com/How-Punch-Magazine-Changed-Every
thing). Illustration Chronicles. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
9. Lyons, Martyn (2011). Books: A Living History. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 193196.ISBN 9780500291153.
10. The R. Atkinson Fox Society: What Was the Golden Age of Illustration?(http://www.rafoxsociety.com/what-was-the-g
olden-age-of-illustration/)

External links
Media related to Illustrations at Wikimedia Commons

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