(Short) History and Art of Children's Book Illustration

Children's Book Illustration would be defined like any type of picture or decorative work produced for books specifically intended for a youthful audience. This article tend to give people a large idea of what is children's book illustration. I'm not going into details, but speaking a bit about what we do (illustrators) is another step to recognize that our job is an entire form of Art.

Also, this article will be added to the library of our deviantART group *childrensillustrators

A short History of Children's Book Illustrations.

+ The beginning.

Although children's literature had its beginnings in the early seventeenth century, with books intended to teach rather than to amuse, it was not until the mid-eighteenth century that books intended specifically for children books began to emerge. By the nineteenth century there was an established market for children's books and a need for illustrators of these books. George Cruickshank was perhaps the best known illustrator in Britain in the early nineteenth century. His work included illustrations for the first English edition of Brothers Grimm's fairy tales.

Most illustrated books produced in the early years of the nineteenth century contained wood engravings; By the 1860s colour printing was in widespread use. Chromolithography had been used some time but the images printed in this way were often garish and unappealing, and, later, the introduction of photographic processes had a significant impact on illustration.

A further technical development was the introduction of offset printing, a commercial variation of the lithographic process, in the 1920s. Offset printing offered several advantages : the reproduction of very fine lines, a wide variety of paper stock could be used and original artwork did not have to be reversed prior to reproduction. Offset printing allowed for variations in the placement of text and illustration, resulting in an increased integration between image and text.

+ Today.

During the twentieth century the illustrated children's book emerged as an important component of the publishing industry. Improvements in print technology have made it possible for illustrators to work in a variety of different ways and the range of styles seen in illustrated children's books is immense. Children's Book Illustrators never had as many freedoms and possibilities of creation as today. Traditional approaches such as pen and ink, watercolour, paint and coloured pencil are popular, as are techniques such as collage and assemblage and the use of computer 'digital' generated imagery.

Children's Book Illustrators: who they are.

Children’s book illustrators have a difficult job. Unlike the artist who creates a self-contained piece, the illustrator works within the constraints of the "book." In a picture book, each illustration must respond to the story. While the artists may interpret and add details, it is not their job to retell a tale. At the same time, the illustrator is responsible for enhancing the story through visual clues. The artist also needs to layer the illustrations, so that each reading brings new visual discoveries.

Children's book illustrators may have a degree in illustration (Art institutes, Beaux-Arts, University...), or in "Art" in general. They also may be self-taught artists. In both cases, they are totally aware of the market, and they know how hard it is to convince a publisher, and to create, launch and promote a children's book. The most difficult part of the job is not the creation, nor to find some awesome ideas, but probably the "waiting phase". When you are waiting for the revisions the Art Director or publisher may ask you.

Working on a children's book.

_{exemple of steps you may encounter while working on a children's book.}



- A few personal question before starting anything: Think of the contract. What you want, what you absolutely don't want to do. How many pages / spreads is the story. What is the size of the pages. How many samples will I be provided. Deadline for first sketches. Deadline to see finals. Deadline for delivery... and a lot of other questions.

The planning phase is important and necessary.

- And here come the research phase, and the first sketches.
Then you submit your sketches to the publisher. Generally by e-mail. It's very important to provide them your sketches in good form. Good quality of jpeg or pdf files. Invite feedback from the publisher.

- You're now waiting (several days most of the time) for them and what they think of your work. It's the first damn waiting phase! grrr...

- They send you their thoughts. And they ask for some revisions. Sometimes you have to change everything and it's important to provide them as soon as possible some new sketches. Sometimes they like the piece, but they ask to change some minor details. You're lucky, you got it. Depending on the publisher, they can ask you 1, 2, 3,... 10 revisions. You must be able to say "stop" when needed.

- Working on finals. The best part of the job if you want my opinion. You add colors on your sketches.

- Submitting Finals.

- Another waiting phase... for approval. Sometimes this can take some time (one week in most of my assignments). Your work has to be reviewed by a lot of people, and it's a good thing.

- New revisions, but very rarely at this stage. They may ask you to change a color or two, not important things.

- Waiting phase..

- It's ok. You'll have to send them your illustrations, via FTP or postal services. And that’s it! Now you have to wait to see your books published. Often this can take several months.

- Don't forget to ask for payment (;

- Promote your new baby!


As I said, this is only some examples. Each illustrator may work in a different way than another one. These are steps I always encounter when I work.

-----

I hope this little article has helped you to understand a bit more our world. I also hope that the dear members of *childrensillustrators will appreciate.

If you are interested in joining us, at *childrensillustrators, please send a note, entitled "join". Talk a bit about yourself and your attraction to children's book illustration. You must be a children's book illustrator or a wannabe to join us. You must have a great amount of children's book illustrations in your deviantART gallery.


[ sources:
Charles Sturt University, Wikipedia]