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Illustration Report | Q & A

Picture books and illustrated books are often mixed up by many people, they are essentially books with images within, but there some main difference in the function they serve between the two:



Use sequential imagery with small amount of text to tell story, intended to read to children / for younger children. The visual text plays more important role.



Pictures are there to enhance the narrative and assist with story telling.

It's often that both of these book forms overlap and combine- The point is that meanings are generated through the interplay of text and visual elements, by setting the two apart independently will greatly reduce the effect of story telling.

Picture books:

Illustrated books:

In the 20th century, figurative arts were considered outdated, whilst abstract art makes it's way on the stage, dada and other forms of art practice are also rejecting it's traditions.

Visual representational arts alongside text, are eliminated in adult literature, as well as a lacking a demand for illustrations in adult literature ( which is slowly interfered with graphic novels).

As adult are capable to comprehend the text without the aid of images, the market has changed meaning most illustrations only appears in children’s books, as well as the fear of illustrations could potentially ruin reader’s experience and their projections of the story.

Above all, Children's book illustration is intended as a celebration of an art form, that believed to be deserving of greater recognition, both as art and as literature.

Why illustrated books are mostly seen in children's literature?

Book illustrations and picture books are closely related with children's literacy, as they serve a vital role in their education, but this assumption about the form is constantly being challenged to see how wide of it can reach.

There are a lot of children's book out there on the market that is not exclusively for children, although categorised in in children's section.

 Adults should read children's books every once in a while, through reading you are able to redeem your imaginations as a child, and viewing the world in a new perspective.

Using Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince as an example, re-reading it as an adult, has made me realised those planets and characters are a fragments of the society we live in, they were not solely made up characters in a fiction book, but also the little things that we don’t realise, amongst the busy adult-world.

Are children the only audience for illustrated books?

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What is the difference between picture books and book illustration ?

To recap...