Illustrations in picture books have evolved from simple illustrations to become an art form in their own right. This is because they go beyond telling a story to spark the reader’s imagination, and the pictures and text interact to create new meaning.
The pictures in picture books are called illustrations to distinguish them from pure paintings. Illustration comes from the verb “illustrate,” which means “to explain easily, for example, by example. In a picture book, the illustrations illustrate the story the book is telling. For a long time, picture books were read by adults to pre-literate children, and illustrations were used to decorate the books. During this time, illustrations were seen as mere visual aids to the story, helping children understand the story more easily.
However, it wasn’t until after World War II that picture books began to develop significantly as a genre of their own, with illustrations taking the leading role they do today. As society changed after the war, so did the role of picture books, and illustrations began to be recognized as an art form in their own right, rather than merely as an aid to the narrative. Illustrations became more than just a visual representation of the story’s content, but an important artistic tool to stimulate the reader’s emotions and spark their imagination. Today, illustrations in picture books are not only increasingly painterly, but also pushing the boundaries of what used to be considered artistic merit in order to illustrate a story. The better the illustrations, the richer the story. The illustrations that work together in a picture book make it three-dimensional.
Illustrations in picture books are now more than just illustrations. A good picture book is one that combines the spatiality of a painting and the temporality of a movie with simple language and three-dimensional images. It goes beyond simply telling a story and leaves room for readers to discover new meanings through the pictures and text and to imagine their own stories. This is a book of pictures that carefully fulfill the descriptions and narratives left out of the text. A careful consideration of the way words and pictures are combined is hidden in a picture book that invites the reader’s active participation in exploring new relationships between what is drawn and what is not.
The illustrations, with their thin lines that seem to break off at the edges, give the impression of passivity and fumbling. Fluent drawing makes the figure feel like it’s about to take flight. A drawing that visually reveals the hopelessness of the characters, as if they were ruined by the lines drawn with a signature pen. Charcoal rubbed on a white background to create a wistful feeling of snow, etc. These kinds of picture books are interesting to look at. The pictures tell their own story, and the different visual elements stimulate the reader’s imagination to explore the different meanings behind the pictures. The pictures themselves are rich in emotions that they convey to the viewer.
In addition, some picture books have almost white backgrounds or white with pale colors, and thick or thin lines representing objects with many breaks. Where those broken lines are erased, there is light. The light surrounds each picture like an aurora borealis and makes it come alive. Imagination and thought are fostered in these spaces where words are reduced. This can also be seen in architectural design, where form, ornamentation, and space are among the elements that can be varied.
Therefore, a good picture book is not just a book with illustrations, but a book where the words and pictures work together to tell a story. In such picture books, the text and pictures do not exist independently, but interact and complement each other’s roles. Colors are created from existing paints, and when line meets line, color meets color, or line meets color, something unexpected happens on the canvas. The British painter Francis Bacon said: “While I am painting, suddenly, regardless of the picture itself, these forms and directions that I did not expect appear from the outside somehow just appear.” To look at a picture book is to go beyond the written concepts or objects, and to encounter and communicate with the unknown.
