Picture books selected for reading aloud especially by parents and preschool and kindergarten
teachers should offer something to boast listener an reader and promote interaction .multiple
layers of meaning child an adult perspectives an humor or sources of enjoyment in books that
adults willingly read an re read to children .generally picture story books lend themselves to
being read aloud
If the amount of takes on a page is appropriate to the child audience ?the amount of text on
the pages of a picture book determines how long it will take to read and generally the longer
the text the older the intended audience
Understanding the contributions of illustrations begin with knowing the visual elements the
basic elements that reflect the choices made by illustrator as they decide what and how to
illustrate parts of the story and how to move the illustration from page to page these visual
elements are line shape colour light space perspective and texture as they come to gather to
create a composition. knowledge of these elements is essential to understanding and selecting
high quality picture books. we will start by line and shape.
Lines are the continuous stroke marks in a picture that they find shapes an create texture artists
may choose to use lines that are dark or pale heavy or light solid or broken wide or thin straight
or curved. Lines are maybe mostly where to call horizontal or diagonal.
Lines should help create an Conway the meaning and the feeling of the story. Curves and
circular lines suggest warmth, coziness, and security. As you can see in these illustrations, they
show the warmth and coziness of a house and a feeling of security by the mom figure and a
family and a home.
David Shannon’s jagged diagonal lines in no David Conway the constant motion of an exuberant
toddler and the resulting chaos.
the horizontal lines in song of the water boatman and other pond poems by Joyce Sidman on
the other hand suggest peace and tranquility, while the policeman in officer buckle and Gloria
by Peggy Rahman has a strong vertical line suggesting stability, and the diagonal placement of
the mice and their line of sights creates an implied line in Barbara Reid’s the subway mouse
that focuses readers on the interaction between the two mice .
Shapes or the spatial forms of a picture is produced by lines and areas of colour joining an
intersecting to suggest outlines of form. shapes can be simple or complex large or small clearly
defined or amorphous and rigid or flexible .shapes helps to create moods and carry messages
The three key elements of colour are Hue, value or lightness and saturation. you is the colour
itself with predominant colours ranging from the cool and of spectrum which are Blues greens
and gray violets or from the warm end like Reds oranges and yellows. the colours may be bright
and intense or pale and dull that is more or less saturated and range from diaphanous to
opaque. The mood of a picture can change by using different Hues, values and saturation.
The colours must complement the text, as in the use of cool muted Blues greys black and white
to convey the still quiet mood and cold dark setting of polar bear night by Lauren Thompson.
Value describes the overall intensity or strength of the light. Darker values are usually
associated with gloomier subjects, while lighter ones with happier subjects.
Saturation refers to the dominance of hue in the color. More saturated colors seem more
vibrant, while less saturated ones seem gentler.
as you can see in these illustrations, warm colors suggest excitement, warmth, happiness.
However, red can also signify danger or boldness, and yellow cowardice or cheerfulness.
blue and green colors suggest calm or quiet. However, blue can also signify soothing or
melancholy, and green envy or illness but also life and renewal.
A space refers to the distance from one point to another in illustration . Space is actually what
draws our attention to objects on the page.
The lack of open space on a page may contribute to a claustrophobic or uneasy feeling or
perhaps confusion or chaos.
The generous use of space in a picture suggests quiet serenity, but it may also imply emptiness,
loneliness, or isolation.
Space can also create the illusion of distance.
Perspective is an aspect of space used by illustrators to highlight particular aspects of their
visual images .perspective creates the point of view from which an artist observes a scene and
gives a sense of action by varying perspectives from faraway views to close up and from Birds
Eye view looking down at a scene or a worms eye view looking up or at oil level looking straight
at the scene . The closer we appear to be to the action, the more engaged we are likely to be.
The farther away we seem to be, the more detached we are.
The tactile surface characteristics of pictured objects comprise the texture of a picture . Texture
is achieved through the skillful use of the medium – paint layers, brush strokes, pencil marks,
and so on.
Textual effects generally offer a greater sense of reality to a picture.
Less realistic styles may make use of texture to enrich the visual experience and to stimulate
the viewer’s imagination.
Composition refers to the arrangement of all of these visual elements and the way in which the
visual elements relate one to the other and combined to make the pictures the artist decides
on proportion, movement, balance, harmony, an dissonance within the various elements to
produce the desired visual impact .
Composition is important to the narrative quality of the picture as well as to its emotional
impact.
A very important concern of composition is the organization of the shapes. Grouping many
large shapes may suggest stability, enclosure, or confinement, or perhaps awkwardness. On the
other hand, lighter, delicate shapes more loosely grouped may suggest movement, grace, and
freedom.
next we will study the artistic media used by the artists to create pictures.
Artistic media refers to the material and technical means used by the artist in creating these
pictures technique refers to how an illustrator uses a particular material like watercolor.
although this variety of techniques and materials used by book illustrators is virtually unlimited,
some of the more common media found in children books are as you can see in the slide.
Pen and ink-coloured pencils, pastels, charcoal pencils, and scratchboard. As you can see the
illustration on the slide two excellent examples of drawing are Peter Sis autobiographical, The
Wall: growing up behind the Iron Curtain in which he uses pen and ink and coloured markers
and the other one is Brian Selznick’s the invention of Hugo Cabret in which he uses charcoal
pencil. these illustrators use scratchboard where artists scratch white lines through the surface
of a special per paper with a black coating and then add colour into the scratched areas using
an oil of pigment.
An assemblage of materials such as real objects, cut or torn paper, fabric, and clay. The
illustration from the subway mouse includes found objects of feather torn newspaper, crayon,
fabric, twine, and a button.
Montage is also the collection and assembling of a variety of different pictures or designs to
create a single picture
Woodcuts, linoleum prints, lithography, etching. As you can see in the illustration from Becky
Prange, it is a hand colour woodcuts in” song of the water boatman and other pond poems
“that perfectly capture the woodsy spirit of nature and wetland wildlife .
The linocut technique used to make the illustrations in polar bear night resembles that of
woodcuts, but uses linoleum as a relief surface.
Photographs are often used in concept books to help young children make the connection to
their world. The art of photography is the art of composition and The result is intellectually
stimulating.
Oils, acrylics, watercolors, watch, tempura. Oils are acrylics, temperature, and guac paints
produce an OPAC surface with the possibility of brilliant rich colours and solid appearance.
watercolors are more transparent and price for the luminosity achieved by the white paper
surface shining through the paint , the tools with which the artist supplies the paint affect its
look and can be as well ride as brushes, airbrushes, and sponges to apply paint , the bold
colours in David Shannon’s acrylic illustration from no David enhanced the chaotic in and the
characters ebullient personality .a close look at the painting reveals the artist actual
brushstrokes .
the last one to cover is computer as an artistic media. Digital painting, digital application of
colour to hand drawn art, digital manipulation of images such as photographs. Using software,
drawing pads, and scanners, artists can achieve unique artistic effects. In knuffle Bunny: a
cautionary tale, move Williams used a computer to colour his hand drawn characters, create
the sepia tone of the background photographs, and remove unwanted items from the
photographs
Next, we're going to cover the artistic styles of lustrations. children can identify the distinctive
features that identify the work of their favorite illustrators like Mo Willems.
Although the style of a picture is individual to each artist artwork in general can be grouped by
style similarities. 5 broad categories of artistic styles recognized in the western world are
realistic, impressionistic, expressionistic, abstract, and surrealistic. first artistic style that we are
going to cover is Realistic art.
Realistic art represents natural forms and provides accurate representations without
idealization bill Thompson's almost photographic painting and Mo Williams use of actual
photographs as backgrounds are excellent examples of realistic art
Impressionistic art depicts natural appearances of objects by rendering fleeting visual
impressions with an emphasis on light. Chris Raschkas rendering of the house in northern
juste’s the Halo, goodbye window exhibits these qualities with extensive use of white space to
create a light and lack of detail to suggest a fleeting image
Impressionism is also a 19th century French movement. The most influential impressionists
were Monet and Cezanne, who wished to convey more of the artist’s emotional responses in
their paintings.
Color is the most distinctive feature of this style, especially the interplay of color and light, often
created with splashes, speckles, or dots of paint.
Expression is art communicates an emotional experience more than an external reality. The
artist draws attention to the central message by exaggeration and by eliminating competing
details. David Shannon distorts the figure of the boy to emphasize his noisy exuberance and
keeps background details to a minimum in no David .
Expressionism flourished in France toward the end of the 19th century. Painters such as Vincent
van Gogh sought new freedom of expression, rejecting traditional uses of line, color, space, and
so on.
abstract art Uses intrinsic geometric forms and surface qualities with little direct representation
of objects to emphasize mood and feeling. Some abstract art is considered graphic design,
adapted from the fields of commercial art as seen in a Steven Savage economy of line an
emphasis on elemental triangles and circles in polar bear night to suggest the harsh , barren,
frozen landscape of the architect in winter
Surrealistic art emphasizes the subconscious by juxtaposing incongruous dreamlike and fantasy
images with realistic ones .In Chester I know in my juxtaposes the relatively realistic images of a
dog and two humans against the fantasy of Flowers growing out of the table suggesting a
positive outcome and a bright future, along with depicting smoke coming from the chimney of
the dogs house, a visual metaphor for finding a happy home . The most famous practitioner of
surrealistic art was Dali. Surrealism is a very intellectual response to a subject.
it can also be mentioned that
The expressionist and the impressionist make us feel, but the surrealist makes us think.
Folk art usually seen in picture books set in the distance pass or in ruler an printer serial
societies, is often representative of the artistic style prevalent in the culture of that story .folk
art thus varies by culture but typically involves flat stylized figures .
Folk tales are sometimes illustrated in folk art style to give a sense of the culture and the
ancient setting of the story such as the illustration from Chris Smith one city two brothers, a
story based on folk tale shared by Israel’s and Palestinians.
Cartoon art often features rounded figures, exaggerated actions, and simplified backgrounds.
Peggy Rathmans humorous illustration for officer buckle and Gloria are reminiscent of those
found in comic books
Cultural styles developed overtime within the traditions of particular cultures, such as the use
of simplified forms and bright colours in African art and painting on silk and rice papers with flat
designs for scenes in traditional Japanese art. These styles are particularly important in
traditional literature or picture books of historical time period dominated by data style within a
culture
now we get to the different types of picture [Link] picture books the fair in intended
audience, purpose, format, and relative amount of text and illustrations.
These differences are not absolute , but picture books can be grouped according to
characteristics into several specific types although overlap between types in his inevitable the
following kinds of picture books are available for children today the types here are organized by
the intended age of the audience from youngest to oldest. We should also know that Some
types of picture books such as poems nursery rhymes and song books are going to be covered
in another chapter