Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith. Jessie Willcox Smith ( September 6, 1863 &ndash May 3, 1935) was an American Illustrator famous for her work in magazines

An illustration is a visualization such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of Information, Data or Knowledge. Drawing is a Visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e A photograph (often shortened to photo) is an Image created by Light falling on a light-sensitive surface usually Photographic film or an electronic Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual 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. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint.

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.

History

Early history

The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric cave paintings. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times Before the invention of the printing press, illuminated manuscripts were hand-illustrated. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image An illuminated manuscript is a Manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration such as decorated Initials borders and Illustration has been used in China and Japan since the 8th century, traditionally by creating woodcuts to accompany writing.

15th century through 18th century

During the 15th century, books illustrated with woodcut illustrations became available. A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together For the origins of the technique and non-artistic use see Woodblock printing; for the related technique invented in the 18th century see Wood engraving The main processes used for reproduction of illustrations during the 16th and 17th centuries were engraving and etching. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it For other uses of etch or etching, see Etching (disambiguation, for the history of the method see Old master prints. At the end of the 18th century, lithography allowed even better illustrations to be reproduced. Lithography is a method for Printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface The most notable illustrator of this epoch was William Blake who rendered his illustrations in the medium of relief etching. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker.

Illustration by Santiago Martinez Delgado.

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. John Leech may refer to John Leech (caricaturist (1817&ndash1864 English caricaturist George Cruikshank ( September 27, 1792 — February 1, 1878) was an English Caricaturist and book illustrator praised as Hablot Knight Browne ( July 12, 1815 - July 8, 1882) was an English artist famous as Phiz, the illustrator of the best-known Honoré Daumier ( February 26, 1808 &ndash February 10, 1879) was a French Printmaker, Caricaturist, 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.

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. Sir John Tenniel (28 February 1820 &ndash 25 February 1914 was an English Illustrator. Dalziel Brothers were a highly productive firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by George Dalziel (1815-1902 and his brother Edward (1817-1905 George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier ( 6 March, 1834 &ndash 8 October, 1896) was a French -born British 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. The Thief of Paris ( Le voleur) is a 1967 French film directed by Louis Malle and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a professional thief (Georges

Walter Ratterman, Oil on Canvas, ca1927, Woman at a piano in elegant interior. Illustration for Good Housekeeping magazine. Good Housekeeping is a women's Magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests product testing by The Good Housekeeping

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. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters Poets, and critics founded in 1848 by The Arts and Crafts Movement was a British, Canadian, and American Aesthetic movement occurring in the last years of the 19th century and the 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. Edmund Dulac (born Edmond Dulac, October 22, 1882 &ndash May 25, 1953) was a French book illustrator prominent Arthur Rackham ( 19 September 1867 &ndash 6 September 1939) was a prolific English book illustrator Walter Crane (15 August 1845 &ndash 14 March 1915 was an English artist and book illustrator Kay Nielsen (whose first name is pronounced "kigh" (1886-1957 was a Danish Illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century the "golden By contrast the English illustrator Beatrix Potter based her colored children's illustrations on accurate naturalistic observation of animal-life.

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. Aubrey Vincent Beardsley ( August 21, 1872 &ndash March 16, 1898) was an influential English Art Nouveau ( nu vo anglicised /ˈɑːt nuːvəu/ ( French for 'new art' also known as Jugendstil ( German for 'youth style' is an international Les Nabis were a group of Post-Impressionist Avant-garde artists who set the pace for Fine arts and Graphic arts in France in 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. 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) known as N Maxfield Parrish ( July 25, 1870 &ndash March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustrator. Jessie Willcox Smith ( September 6, 1863 &ndash May 3, 1935) was an American Illustrator famous for her work in magazines Frank Schoonover (1877 - 1972 was an American Illustrator. Born in New Jersey he studied under Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia

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. Santiago Martínez Delgado (1906 - 1954 was a Colombian painter sculptor Art historian and writer Esquire is a Men's magazine by the Hearst Corporation with a strong literary tradition Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8 1867 &ndash April 9 1959 was an American (of Welsh descent Architect, Interior designer, Writer, and educator who Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial Also in the 1930s the influence of propaganda art and expressionism was felt in the work of the British freelance illustrator Arthur Wragg. Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an Emotional effect it is a subjective art form Arthur Wragg ( 3 January 1903 – 17 August 1976) was a British illustrator 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. A pen (Latin pinna, feather is a Writing instrument used to apply Ink to a surface usually Paper. An ink is a Liquid containing various Pigments and/or Dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an Image, text, or

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). For the song by David Bowie, see Andy Warhol (song. Andrew Warhola (August 6 1928 &ndash February 22 1987 known as Andy Warhol Roy Fox Lichtenstein (October 27 1923 &ndash September 29 1997 was a prominent American Pop artist his work heavily influenced by both popular advertising and Not so admired have been the various styles of illustration associated with pop album cover in the 1970s, often based on airbrush techniques. An airbrush is a small air-operated tool that sprays various media including Ink and Dye, but most often Paint by a process of Nebulization

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 &ndash November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and Illustrator Harry Anderson (August 11 1906&ndashNovember 19 1996 was a Seventh-day Adventist Artist. Charles M Kerins ( December 7, 1915 &ndashJanuary 1988 American illustrator and painter

Today

Starting in the 1990s, traditional illustrators confronted a challenge from those using computer software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and CorelDRAW. Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. CorelDRAW is a Vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. The use of Wacom tablets and similar apparatus also increased the ability of drawing and painting directly in a computer. (pronounced in English as /'wɑːkɒm/ or /'wækɒm/ ( is a world-wide company that produces Graphics tablets and related products headquartered in Otone, Saitama

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. One form of this is fusion illustration which crosses the boundaries of fine art and commercial art in a world where illustration, graphic design, typography, and photography work together as one glorious being.

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. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view 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

Illustration art

Today, there is a growing interest in collecting and admiring original artwork that was used as illustrations in books, magazines, posters, etc. A poster is any piece of printed Paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface Various museum exhibitions, magazines and art galleries have devoted space to the illustrators of the past.

In the visual art world, illustrators have sometimes been considered less important in comparison with fine artists and graphic designers. A graphic designer (also known as a graphic artist and communication designer) is a professional within the Graphic design and Graphic arts industry 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. A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

See also

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