For young ones who have yet to learn to read, the colorful illustrations in their children’s books bring the words of the story to life. Today, you can still close your eyes and see pictures from your favorite children’s books like Where the Wild Things Are, The Snowy Day, and Eric and the Purple Crayon. As the name says, an illustration in meant to illustrate, or illuminate a point. In fact, some of the earliest illustrated texts, the elaborately decorated gospels and holy books of the Middle Ages, were called illuminated manuscripts. Are you someone who is interested in learning more information about illustrations? Do you have a love for gaining knowledge? If so, then you should pay close attention to the paragraphs below as we are going to walk you through the meanings of illustration.

An illustration differs from a painting, drawing, or other piece of fine art because its main focus is the subject. It is trying to get its point across, rather than be an object of beauty in and of itself. Of course, many illustrations are absolutely stunning, but that is secondary to their job of expanding and clarifying text. In children’s books, illustrations are tools to help young ones to learn to read. At the same time the illustrations reinforce the lesson by pairing the text “brown bear, brown bear” with a picture of a brown-colored bear. Illustrations can also turn a simple story into a work of art. One of the foremost children’s illustrators is Maurice Sendak. An artist in his own right, today there have been many well-received art shows of Sendak’s work. In this book his illustrations sometimes take the place of words and allow your child to tell the story himself.

Many think of illustrations as something that is just for children. However, did you know that they are not just for the children of the world? They serve many functions in our modern society. Any instruction manual worth its salt is full of illustrations showing how all the parts should fit together or how the screen should look. The photographs that are in a newspaper are also considered illustrations as they further the points brought up by their accompanying article. Graphic novels and comic books also liberally employ illustrations to tell their stories. All around us, illustrations are helping to color and clarify our world.

The toughest part of developing a character is the very beginning. Now it is time to plan and write down everything. Anything that comes to your mind about your character is worth writing down because you can never know exactly which odd detail from your sketch will actually stand out in the story. What is your character’s target audience? Where will your character be seen? What are your character vices and strong qualities? What will be the typical daily schedule of your character? What are the pet peeves of your character? Does your character have a nickname? These are all details that can have a bearing on your character’s appearance.

You never know which queer detail will distinguish your character and grab people’s attention. Don’t concentrate only on those parts of the character that are closely connected with the story. Ignore all rules and try something unusual – a peculiar skin color, twice bigger than the normal-sized head, exaggerated features. Characters that lack individuality will lack people’s interest in them too. How will your character express his or her emotions? Is your character communicative or shy? Is your character evil or good? Does your character own strength of will? Does your character have any dreams, any goals? These are all parts of your character’s personality and it can all be conveyed in the way your character has been drawn. Don’t forget that even on a two-dimensional surface your character has more than one side. Think of your character in its entirety and see how he or she would look like from every viewpoint. Show your work and ask people to describe how they see your character’s personality judging only by its appearance. This is a great way to test whether you have conveyed well the personality you want. No matter how great your talent is, you should always be prepared for some struggle when developing your character. Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged if a certain feature does not fit the way you would like or if your character does not quite convey the desired mood. Creating a character requires you to give life to a drawing and that is never a simple task.