An illustrator tells the other half of the story in a picture book.
Whenever we talk about children’s picture books, most of us would dive straight into how funny or moving the stories are.
Stories are very important. (No dispute over this. Wouldn’t have gone into writing if I did.)
But in picture books, so is Art.
What A Young Child Enjoys
A picture book reader is most often a young child, whose vocabulary and reading ability are limited. Hence writers use shorter sentences with the right academic level of vocabulary for that reading age-group to express a scene or an emotion in its clearest form. A young child can only handle so much in reading.
But he/she will not have the same trouble with enjoying pictures. Word descriptions can now by conveyed through details in the artwork. And the child reader will get what the author is trying to say.
{Story + Art} is a tag-team that wields Power and Magic and conveys Humour/Grace and Depth in a book.
A Birdy Example on Art Details
Take this line for example:
“Birds are hopping on my big rain tree.”
The picture on this page would tell us what sort of birds they are: yellow canaries, sparrows, or ravens? Why are they hopping around? Are they looking for something? Playing catch? Ducking from raindrops? And more importantly, the picture would show us who and where the narrator is: A girl peering out her window? Is she alone? Is she lonely or enjoying the morning scene quietly? Is she sick ~ is that why she’s looking out the window instead of getting dressed for school like her sister is? Or is the narrator a stray cat eyeing the birds from below the tree? Aah, the story’s tone immediately flips!
In a picture storybook, words tell half of the story. Art tells the other.
(Unless it’s a wordless picture book, in which the entire story is told through pictures only. Yep, these precious babes do exist.)
My Salute Begins
I’m honoured and excited to be currently working with a young, local illustrator. This is our first project together and I love how it’s coming along. I see how complex yet gratifying her job (and mine, in writing) is and hope to introduce her to you all when our book is out before the end of the year.
This post is only the beginning of my salute to wonderful, dedicated artists I’ve worked with or whose pictures I’ve enjoyed tremendously. I may love writing to nuts, but I, too, like many children, pore over the illustrations in a book before I smile, contented, and return to the words to find out more about the story.
In our next blog post, I shall share more about my favourite illustrators of the big picture book rain tree. I might have mentioned some of them already in previous posts, but so what? People who are amazing at doing what they love are worth mentioning twice, or more!
Help Me Share More
Are there illustrators whose art you (or your child) love? Tell me about them so we can share more with our readers here!
My list of great illustrators includes: (in no particular order, for I love them all)
· James Mayhew
· Alison Jay
· Barbara Cooney
· Helen Cooper
· Chris Van Allsburg
Come add to it!
Stories are very important. (No dispute over this. Wouldn’t have gone into writing if I did.)
But in picture books, so is Art.
What A Young Child Enjoys
A picture book reader is most often a young child, whose vocabulary and reading ability are limited. Hence writers use shorter sentences with the right academic level of vocabulary for that reading age-group to express a scene or an emotion in its clearest form. A young child can only handle so much in reading.
But he/she will not have the same trouble with enjoying pictures. Word descriptions can now by conveyed through details in the artwork. And the child reader will get what the author is trying to say.
{Story + Art} is a tag-team that wields Power and Magic and conveys Humour/Grace and Depth in a book.
A Birdy Example on Art Details
Take this line for example:
“Birds are hopping on my big rain tree.”
The picture on this page would tell us what sort of birds they are: yellow canaries, sparrows, or ravens? Why are they hopping around? Are they looking for something? Playing catch? Ducking from raindrops? And more importantly, the picture would show us who and where the narrator is: A girl peering out her window? Is she alone? Is she lonely or enjoying the morning scene quietly? Is she sick ~ is that why she’s looking out the window instead of getting dressed for school like her sister is? Or is the narrator a stray cat eyeing the birds from below the tree? Aah, the story’s tone immediately flips!
In a picture storybook, words tell half of the story. Art tells the other.
(Unless it’s a wordless picture book, in which the entire story is told through pictures only. Yep, these precious babes do exist.)
My Salute Begins
I’m honoured and excited to be currently working with a young, local illustrator. This is our first project together and I love how it’s coming along. I see how complex yet gratifying her job (and mine, in writing) is and hope to introduce her to you all when our book is out before the end of the year.
This post is only the beginning of my salute to wonderful, dedicated artists I’ve worked with or whose pictures I’ve enjoyed tremendously. I may love writing to nuts, but I, too, like many children, pore over the illustrations in a book before I smile, contented, and return to the words to find out more about the story.
In our next blog post, I shall share more about my favourite illustrators of the big picture book rain tree. I might have mentioned some of them already in previous posts, but so what? People who are amazing at doing what they love are worth mentioning twice, or more!
Help Me Share More
Are there illustrators whose art you (or your child) love? Tell me about them so we can share more with our readers here!
My list of great illustrators includes: (in no particular order, for I love them all)
· James Mayhew
· Alison Jay
· Barbara Cooney
· Helen Cooper
· Chris Van Allsburg
Come add to it!
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