Illustrations

Basic principles

The basic principles behind analysing any visual text apply to picture books. It is strongly recommended you refer to 'English Skills, Skills by Mode: Viewing and Representing' for details on the influence of colour, shots and angles.

Design

When you view the illustrations in a picture book you need to be aware of the overall design of the illustrations. Most often, each illustration will have a similar style and format. You need to consider how the use of a particular style, format or colour scheme affects the meaning and effect of the picture book as a whole. Consider some of the possible effects of some of these stylistic design elements.

Element	Description	Potential Effect
Colour/hue	Particular shades or colours	Colours have different connotations. For example red might indicate danger and blue might represent peace. Bright colours can represent happiness and dull colours sadness.
Space	Places within an illustration that are empty or busy.	Empty space might demonstrate isolation, alienation or loneliness. On the other extreme, a very busy, detailed illustration could have connotations of confusion.
Texture	The colours and hues used might be light or bold.	A light texture might have connotations of fantasy or whimsy. A bold or solid texture might make illustrations seem more realistic.

Note: These are only a limited set of possibilities that serve as examples. The actual effect of different elements of design is inexhaustible (endless) and will depend upon each individual picture book that you view.

Layout

The layout or placement of illustrations within a picture book is particularly important. The size, shape and placement on the page will create different effects and emphasis on illustrations. Below is a short list of common layout techniques and some potential effects of their usage.

Double spread

A double spread is where an illustration covers the two open pages of a picture book. This is a particularly effective design technique to emphasise a single moment in time or a particular instant of the plot of a picture book. A double-page spread is also commonly used for landscapes and to give viewers an insight into scenes and to worlds that may have been created for the picture book.

Single-page illustrations

Single-page illustrations are illustrations that take up one page. Often, written text will appear on the other page in the double-page spread. This sometimes results in the reader/viewer being encouraged to compare the written text with the illustration rather than to view the two elements as a whole.

Vignette

Vignettes are smaller illustrations. They are usually placed around the page to add balance to double page illustrations, as variety to add decoration, to demonstrate action (much like in a comic book) or to match with or balance out lines of written text.

Panels

Panels are illustrations that are split into two or more sections. They are larger than vignettes. They can be used to express elements of plot without the use of single- or double-page illustrations and often add an artistic element to the design of the picture book.