Illustration as a synthesis in the visual and applied arts

An illustration is a drawing or image that decorates or documents the text of a book.

Illustration (v.Latin, lat. illustrare), (to illustrate) noun. Print, engraving or drawing that decorates
or documents a book. Graphic component that complements or enhances a text.

Illustrations are images associated with words. This means that we can produce images that carry
a message, such as cave paintings and religious mosaics. A good starting point is medieval
manuscripts. An important aspect of illustration is the use of two-dimensional designs, as opposed
to picturesque, spatial images that try to capture the third dimension.

This is a relatively modern movement. In his early days he had a lot to do with easel painting,
architectural decoration and drawings for illustrated magazines.

The everyday use of illustration has basically been in advertising, lending itself to making
advertisements for any type of product, to decorating the cover of a book, a comic, a computer
game, or to making the image described appear in a story book.

According to Oscar Chichoni (illustrator and comic book artist) “… In a certain genre of painting, a
predominantly aesthetic fact is raised, where the composition and use of color usually have a
preponderance over the anecdote. In illustration, on the other hand, there is always a more
evident and direct narrative charge. Therefore, I believe that an illustration is a sum of aesthetic
quality, good technique and narrative originality.”

Illustration is a fantastic field where high-quality figurative art can be developed with a wide
spectrum of modalities. Each artist can do it in his or her own way; from the classic concept of
illustration as a visual interpretation, generally of a text, to the free creation of a universe of one's
own in a field perhaps closer to painting.

Illustration (graphic design)

An illustration is a drawing or image that decorates or documents the text of a book. Illustration
(v. Latin, lat. illustrare), (from ilustrar) n. Print, engraving or drawing that decorates or documents
a book. Graphic component that complements or enhances a text. Illustrations are images
associated with words. This means that we can produce images that carry a message, such as cave
paintings and religious mosaics. A good starting point is medieval manuscripts. An important
aspect of illustration is the use of two-dimensional designs, as opposed to picturesque and spatial
images that try to capture the third dimension.

Utilization
Scientific illustration

Illustrations of scientific books, where an image clarifies what is explained in the text in a realistic
way. For example, illustrations of anatomy or engineering. Usually made by engraving.

Literary illustration

It was important for cultural development in the 18th centuryhttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/XVIII. It

had a significant number of middle-aged readers and therefore a large number of artists who
created such images. Important representatives were Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Doré.

Of particular importance was the "Arts and Crafts" movement in England from the mid-19th
centuryhttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/XIX onwards. With William Morris and Aubrey Beardsley, the
Renaissance in modern book illustration as we know it today emerged, especially in the so-called
"Art Nouveau".

Also during this time, movements such as caricature and comics emerged, with artists such as
Alfred Dubout, Paul A. Weber, Robert Högfeldt, Flora Paul, Kurt Halbritter, Guillermo Mordillo,
Edward Gorey, Walter Moers, Brian Bagnall, Wilhelm Maier Solgk.

At the beginning of the modern era, illustration began to be used for children's books, with artists
such as Alan Aldridge, Carl Busse, Etienne Delessert, Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Wolf Erlbruch,
Sabine Friedrichson, Janosch, Eva Johanna Rubin, Rotraut Susanne Berner, Jutta Bauer, Lisbeth
Zwerger, Luis Murschetz, Friedrich Karl Waechter, Renate Seelig, Byron W. Sewell, Nicholas
Heidelbach, Roberto Innocenti, Jacky gleich, Gennady Spirin, Hans de Beer, Marcus Pfister, René
Borst.

Advertising illustration

Over the last 50 years, advertising illustration has become extremely important. Not only for the
creation of posters, but also for packaging and various products, as it offers the viewer a quick
visualization of the information to be explained (for example in instruction leaflets).

Advertising illustration also offers an advantage over photography, as it can be loaded with
caricature-like emotional connotations that photography cannot achieve.

The storyboard is also widely used in the world of advertising, for the creation of commercials, as
the first phase in the presentation of a campaign.

Editorial illustration

Another area is editorial illustration, used in newspapers and magazines of all kinds, as well as web
pageshttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web.

HistoryIllustration begins with the birth of the printing press. Since the invention of the printing
press dealt a death blow to manuscripts, miniaturists devoted themselves to illustrating the initials
and margins of what are now called incunabula with their illuminated compositions and rubrics.
The printing of woodcut plates in collections such as the famous Poor Man's Bible, the Speculum
Humanae Salvationis and the Song of Songs in Harlem, prior to the invention of the printing press,
meant that engraved vignettes soon appeared in books.

The first cartoons printed together with the text and engraved in wood or copper appeared in the
following places:

 in Florence in 1496 in the Sermons of Savonarola;

 in Venice in 1499 in the Dream of Polifilo;
 in Lyon in 1487 in the Book of Hours by Simon Vostre;
 in Basel in 1538 in Holbein'shttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_el_Joven
Dance of the Dead.

Until the mid-16th century, image engravers worked virtually unknown to booksellers, with the
advantage that their plates could be printed at the same time as the text, which did not prevent
the insertion of loose plates. During the course of the 17th century and especially the 18th
century, the art of wood engraving was almost completely lost, being replaced by copper
engraving or chalcography, with a burin or etching, engraved in intaglio on the same sheet as the
text. From that time, there are several editions of inestimable value, especially since the print runs
were very short. These include, among others:

 the Decameron;
 Marmontel's Tales andhttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmontel Corneille's
Tragedieshttps://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Corneille, illustrated by Graveloti;
 Lafontaine's Fables illustrated by Eisen (edition called the Tenants-General);
 Daphnis and Chloe, with engravings by Prud'hom;
 etc.
All these volumes, in addition to prints, also contain headers and endings made in intaglio. In
Spain, we can praise the editions of Sánchez and Ibarra and of Don Quixote by the Academy.

With the invention of the arm press, boxwood engraving gained new popularity, especially since
illustrated journalism began to develop. The glory of restoring this art to perfection fell to the
Englishman Thomas Berwick, replacing the pear wood formerly used with boxwood cut crosswise.
This is how engravings using the tools of the intaglio engraver appeared, as did the drawings of
Tonny Johannot, Grandville, etc.

19th century illustration

In France. The illustrated press grew rapidly and if in France they had the Magasin pittoresque
since 1833, L'illustration since 1843, Monde illustré since 1857, etc., in Spain the following
publications existed, and important boxwood engraving workshops were established:

 the picturesque weekly of Mesonero Romanos;

  The Picturesque World of Oliveres, from Barcelona;

 The Labyrinth (1844) published in Madrid by Ignacio Boix;

 the Universal Enlightenment, published in 1854 by Fernández de los Ríos;

 the Universal Museum of Gaspar and Roige.

Advances in the photomechanical arts provided new avenues for typographic illustration, with the
widespread use of cinquegraphy, photolithography, collotype, photochromolithography and
trichromy, thanks to which pen or pencil drawings were reproduced directly without the
intervention of the engraver, as well as direct reproductions of all objects.https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilustraci
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Nowadays, there is more and more interest from collectors in originals used in books, magazines,
posters, blogs, etc. Many magazines and art galleries pay tribute to illustrators from both the past
and the present.

In the world of visual art, illustrators are today compared to fine artists and graphic designers.
Computer games and comics are constantly growing, so today's illustrators are receiving great
importance and popularity in these markets. Especially in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and the USA.

Famous illustrators

Jesu Medina (Spain)  Asun Balzola  Gustave Doré

 Kike Castaño  George Barbier  Nicolas Eekman

(Spain)
 Carl Barks  Erté
 Monica from Rivas
(Spain)  Pauline Baynes

 Juanma Garcia  Aubrey Beardsley

Escobar (Spain)  Elsa Beskow
 Ricardo Hinstz  Ivan Bilibin
 Edwin Austin  Quentin Blake
Abbey
 Mary Blair
 Attila Adorjany
 Priscilla Susan Bury
 Chris van Allsburg
 Howard Chandler
 Yoshitaka Amano Christy
 Rodolfo Arotxarena  Harry Clarke