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Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith.

An illustration is a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate textual information (such as a story, poem or newspaper article) by providing a visual representation. Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Wilcox. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Wilcox. ... Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 - May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator. ... An Information graphic or infographic is a visual representation of information, data or knowledge. ... For scale drawings or plans, see Plans (drawings). ... For other uses , see Painting (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Photograph (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ...

Function

Illustrations can:

• give faces to characters in a story;
• display examples of an item described in an academic textbook (e.g. a typology);
• visualize step-wise sets of instructions in a technical manual;
• communicate subtle thematic tone in a narrative;
• link brands to the ideas of human expression, individuality and creativity; and
• inspire the viewer to feel emotion to expand on the linguistic aspects of the narrative.

The word typology literally means the study of types. ...

History

Early history

The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric cave paintings. Before the invention of the printing press, illuminated manuscripts were hand-illustrated. Illustration has been used in China and Japan since the 8th century, traditionally by creating woodcuts to accompany writing.^{[citation needed]} Cave, or rock, paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to pre_historic times. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ...

15th century through 18th century

During the 15th century, books illustrated with woodcut illustrations became available. The main processes used for reproduction of illustrations during the 16th and 17th centuries were engraving and etching. At the end of the 18th century, lithography allowed even better illustrations to be reproduced. The most notable illustrator of this epoch was William Blake who rendered his illustrations in the medium of relief etching. For other uses, see Book (disambiguation). ... Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer Ukiyo-e woodcut, Ishiyama Moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1889) Woodcut is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface... Hercules fighting the Centaurs , engraving by Sebald Beham Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Christ Preaching, known as The Hundred Guilder print; etching c1648 by Rembrandt Etching is the process of using strong acid to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal (the original process - in modern manufacturing other chemicals may be used... Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface. ... For other persons named William Blake, see William Blake (disambiguation). ...

Illustration by Santiago Martinez Delgado.

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Early to mid 19th century

In the early 19th century the proliferation of popular journals, which often serialised novels for mass-circulation, produced a boom in popular illustration. The medium moved away from steel engraving which was the standard in the early century towards wood-engraving which could more easily be incorporated into pages of text. Book and journal publishers would employ workshops of wood-engravers to render artists' drawings onto polished blocks of fine-grained yew or box-wood which could then be locked directly into the printing-chase with the metal type. Notable figures of the early century were John Leech, George Cruikshank, Dickens' illustrator Hablot Knight Browne and, in France, Honoré Daumier. The same illustrators would contribute to satirical and straight-fiction magazines, but in both cases the demand was for character-drawing which encapsulated or caricatured social types and classes. John Leech (August 29, 1817–October 29, 1864), was an English caricaturist. ... Portrait of George Cruikshank Wood engraving published in Harpers Weekly newspaper March 16, 1878 A Young George Cruikshank George Cruikshank (September 27, 1792—February 1, 1878) was an English caricaturist and book illustrator. ... Dickens redirects here. ... His talents in other directions of art were of a very ordinary kind. ... Honoré Daumier (portrait by Nadar). ...

The British humorous magazine Punch, which was founded in 1841 riding on the earlier success of Cruikshank's Comic Almanac (1827-1840), employed an uninterrupted run of high-quality comic illustrators, including Sir John Tenniel, the Dalziel Brothers and Georges du Maurier, into the 20th century. It chronicles the gradual shift in popular illustration from reliance on caricature to sophisticated topical observations. These artists all trained as conventional fine-artists, but achieved their reputations primarily as illustrators. Punch and similar magazines such as the Parisian Le Voleur realised that good illustrations sold as many copies as written content. Look up punch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1889 Self-portrait Caterpillar using a hookah. ... Illustration of the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, by John Everett Millais, engaved by the Dalziels, from Parables of our lord (1864) The Dalziel Brothers were a highly productive firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by Edward Dalziel (1817-1905), assisted by his brother George. ... Self portrait of George du Maurier George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a British author who was born in Paris, France. ...

Walter Ratterman, Oil on Canvas, ca1927, Woman at a piano in elegant interior. Illustration for Good Housekeeping magazine.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 276 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (368 × 800 pixel, file size: 322 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Walter Ratterman Illustration Book Painting, Copyright expired, Date of Publication 1920s This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 276 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (368 × 800 pixel, file size: 322 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Walter Ratterman Illustration Book Painting, Copyright expired, Date of Publication 1920s This image is in the public domain in the United States. ... A cover of Good Housekeeping from 1908. ...

Golden age of illustration

The American "golden age of illustration" lasted from the 1880s until shortly after World War I (although the active career of several later "golden age" illustrators went on for another few decades). As in Europe a few decades earlier, newspapers, mass market magazines, and illustrated books had become the dominant media of public consumption. Improvements in printing technology freed illustrators to experiment with color and new rendering techniques. A small group of illustrators in this time became rich and famous. The imagery they created was a portrait of American aspirations of the time.

A prolific artist who linked the earlier and later 19th century in Europe was Gustave Doré. His sombre illustrations of London poverty in the 1860s were influential examples of social commentary in art. He remained with the medium of monochrome engraving in his later more fantastical work, but other artists were discovering the possibilities of color, particularly under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite painters and emulations of hand-printing techniques by the design-oriented Arts and Crafts Movement. Edmund Dulac, Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane and Kay Nielsen were notable representatives of this style, which often carried an ethos of neo-mediævalism and took mythological and fairy-tale subjects. By contrast the English illustrator Beatrix Potter based her colored children's illustrations on accurate naturalistic observation of animal-life. Doré photographed by Felix Nadar. ... The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848 by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt. ... Artichoke wallpaper, by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. ... Illustration to The Garden of Paradise Edmund Dulac (born Edmond Dulac 1882-1953), was a book illustrator prominent during the so called Golden Age of Illustration (the first quarter or so of the twentieth century). ... An illustration from Alices Adventures in Wonderland Arthur Rackham (September 19, 1867 – September 6, 1939) was a prolific English book illustrator. ... Walter Crane (August 15, 1845 - March 14, 1915) was a significant English artist. ... Kay Nielsen (whose first name is pronounced kigh), (1886-1957) was a Danish illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century, the Golden Age of Illustration which lasted from when Daniel Vierge and other pioneers developed printing technology to the point where drawings and paintings could be reproduced with... Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, best known for her childrens books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. ...

The opulence and harmony of the work of the "golden age" illustrators was counterpointed in the 1890s by artists like Aubrey Beardsley who reverted to a sparser black-and-white style influenced by woodcut and silhouette, anticipating Art Nouveau, and Les Nabis. American illustration of this period was anchored by the Brandywine Valley tradition, begun by Howard Pyle and carried on by his students, who included N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Jesse Willcox Smith and Frank Schoonover. Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (August 21, 1872 – March 16, 1898) was an influential English illustrator, and author, best known for his erotic illustrations. ... Vitebsk Railway Station one of the finest examples of Art Nouveau architecture. ... Nabis (or Les Nabis; the prophets, from the Hebrew term for prophet) was a group of young post-impressionist avant-garde Parisian artists of the 1890s that influenced the fine arts and graphic arts in France at the turn of the 20th century. ... Howard Pyle (March 5, 1853-November 9, 1911) was an American illustrator and writer, primarily of books for young audiences. ... Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 - October 19, 1945) was an American artist and illustrator. ... The Dinky Bird, by Maxfield Parrish, an illustration from Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field, 1904. ... Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 - May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator famous for her work in magazines such as Ladies Home Journal and for her illustrations for childrens books. ... Frank Schoonover (1877 - 1972) was an American illustrator. ...

A movement was started in Latin America by Santiago Martinez Delgado who worked in the 1930s for Esquire Magazine while an art student in Chicago, and later in his native Colombia with the Vida Magazine, Martinez a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright worked in the Art Deco style. Also in the 1930s the influence of propaganda art and expressionism was felt in the work of the British freelance illustrator Arthur Wragg. His stylised monotone shapes suggested the block-printing techniques used for political posters, but by this time the technology of transferring artwork to printing plates by photographic means had advanced to the extent that Wragg could produce all his work in pen and ink. Master Santiago Martinez Delgado. ... Esquire is a magazine for men owned by the Hearst Corporation. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, educator, and philosopher who designed more than 1,000 projects, of which more than 500 resulted in completed works. ... Asheville City Hall. ... The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893) which inspired 20th century Expressionists Portrait of Eduard Kosmack by Egon Schiele Rehe im Walde by Franz Marc Elbe Bridge I by Rolf Nesch On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Arthur Wragg (1903-1976) was a British illustrator. ... For other uses, see Pen (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Ink (disambiguation). ...

Post World War II period

Disregarded in their own day, the styles of illustration which have since come to characterize the 1950s and 1960s are magazine advertising and comic art. These styles even began to flow back into the mainstream of fine art in the work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein (both of whom had worked as commercial illustrators). Not so admired have been the various styles of illustration associated with pop album cover in the 1970s, often based on airbrush techniques. Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 — February 22, 1987), better known as Andy Warhol, was an American artist who was a central figure in the movement known as Pop art. ... Roy Lichtenstein (27 October 1923–29 September 1997) was a prominent American pop artist, whose work borrowed heavily from popular advertising and comic book styles, which he himself described as being as artificial as possible. // Roy Lichtenstein was born on 27 October 1923 into an upper-middle-class family in... Paasche F#1 Single Action External Mix Airbrush An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of atomization. ...

The 1950s and 1960s were another Golden Age of Illustration, with hundreds of Illustrators working. Illustrations appeared in magazines, on billboards, on magazine covers and on television. The use of Illustrators began to wane in the mid 1950s, but the genre continued to be seen regularly through the early 1960s. The artwork of Norman Rockwell, Harry Anderson, and Charles Kerins, epitomize the era. Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter. ... Harry Anderson (born October 14, 1952) is an American actor and magician. ...

Illustration today

Starting in the 1990s, traditional illustrators confronted a challenge from those using computer software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and CorelDRAW. The use of Wacom tablets and similar apparatus also increased the ability of drawing and painting directly in a computer. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Adobe Photoshop is a bitmap graphics editor (with some text and vector graphics capabilities) published by Adobe Systems. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Wacom Co. ...

Today, many illustration students are made aware of the technology available, with equal emphasis placed upon more traditional illustration techniques. As a result, traditional and digital techniques are often used in conjunction with each other.

While illustrations have been previously been considered just a small part of the creative and entertainment industries, they are becoming a new and significant factor in industries such as video games, movies, animation, advertising and publishing, the former three known for their use of concept art in pre-production. This article is about computer and video games. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of... The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these 6 frames. ... // Advert redirects here. ... For other uses, see Publishing (disambiguation). ... Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in movies, video games, or comic books before it is put into the final product. ...

Illustration art

Today, there is a growing interest in collecting and admiring original artwork that was used as illustrations in books, magazines, posters, etc. Various museum exhibitions, magazines and art galleries have devoted space to the illustrators of the past. 1942 US government war poster. ...

In the visual art world, illustrators have sometimes been considered less important in comparison with fine artists and graphic designers. But as the result of computer game and comic industry growth, illustrations are becoming valued as popular and profitable art works that can acquire a wider market than the other two, especially in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and USA. Graphic design is the applied art of arranging image and text to communicate a message. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized...

See also

• Archaeological illustration
• Art gallery
• Concept Art
• Communication Design
• Graphic Design
• Illustrators
• Image development
• Information graphics
• Posters

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. ... Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in movies, video games, or comic books before it is put into the final product. ... Communication design is a sub-discipline of design (sometimes referred to as Graphic Design) which is concerned with how media intermission such as, print and digital pieces of work communicate with people in a visual way. ... Graphics are often utilitarian and anonymous,[1] as these pictographs from the US National Park Service illustrate. ... An illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing written text by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... The Washington Metro subway map Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. ... 1942 US government war poster. ...

External links

• The illustration news portal
• Illustrations/Free Portfolio Site