Illustrator
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The art of the illustrator
My approach to illustration is as a storyteller using ideas that expand and enhance the words written by the author. I usually bring plenty of humour to the books I work on. Illustrations affect the story’s tone of voice, can control the pace and emphasise the qualities of humour, action and drama. Even the art style of the drawings affects how the reader approaches the words – is it funny, sad, exciting or dramatic? The story’s flavour is further affected by the illustrator’s visualization of the characters. Often the words tell you very little about the appearance of a character, maybe just their name and age. The illustrator has to create people with faces, hairstyles, favourite clothes, expressions and body language.
Where characters are and what they are doing is often left up to the illustrator to decide. The author might relate a conversation between Dad and son at home. The illustrator can enrich the story at this point by showing the living room where Dad is practicing his golf swings, or maybe the garage where Dad is working on his robot, or maybe the kitchen where Dad is cooking and wearing a silly apron. The illustrator can bring the characters to life by creating backgrounds for them, which reveal interests and hobbies. For example a child’s bedroom can be drawn full of toys, posters and activity.
Breaking up the words with pictures and deciding where a page turn occurs also has a big effect on the storytelling. Visual punctuation can create a moment of reflection or understanding before the plot continues. Variety and rhythm in the page layouts keeps the storytelling fresh and interesting.
My approach to illustration is as a storyteller using ideas that expand and enhance the words written by the author. I usually bring plenty of humour to the books I work on. Illustrations affect the story’s tone of voice, can control the pace and emphasise the qualities of humour, action and drama. Even the art style of the drawings affects how the reader approaches the words – is it funny, sad, exciting or dramatic? The story’s flavour is further affected by the illustrator’s visualization of the characters. Often the words tell you very little about the appearance of a character, maybe just their name and age. The illustrator has to create people with faces, hairstyles, favourite clothes, expressions and body language.
Where characters are and what they are doing is often left up to the illustrator to decide. The author might relate a conversation between Dad and son at home. The illustrator can enrich the story at this point by showing the living room where Dad is practicing his golf swings, or maybe the garage where Dad is working on his robot, or maybe the kitchen where Dad is cooking and wearing a silly apron. The illustrator can bring the characters to life by creating backgrounds for them, which reveal interests and hobbies. For example a child’s bedroom can be drawn full of toys, posters and activity.
Breaking up the words with pictures and deciding where a page turn occurs also has a big effect on the storytelling. Visual punctuation can create a moment of reflection or understanding before the plot continues. Variety and rhythm in the page layouts keeps the storytelling fresh and interesting.
