1. Babies/Toddlers:
First Object Books
For new-borns/young babies might be suitable an impressionism style with
elements of a realistic style. When we bear in mind the age and an adaptation
issue of physical development of child, we should remember that they have a biological features, i.e. the development of biological
peculiarities associated with vision. Images required to be clear
understandable, having big shapes and forms as well as a pure colour itself and
high contrast in layouts (backgrounds).
For
instance, the rhythm book ‘I’ll see you in the morning’ by Mike
Jolley and Mique Moriuchi might be good companionship for bed
time as illustrations are like soft blended colors with added tender
words in a text. I suggest illustrations were painted avoiding complicate
design elements.
Jolley, Mike and Moriuchi, Mique. (2005) I’ll see you in the morning.
San
Francisco, Chronicle Books.
Second
one might be the illustrator’s Peter Horacek ‘Where Do You Live
Snail?’. Here are employed painting and drawing elements featuring richness
of outcomes of a characters: snail, bird and fish. Colours are bright from warm
colour pallet; creatures have a big size to recognize them and rendered
expressions are soft, and appropriate for the age of audience.
Horacek, Peter. (2014) Where Do you Live Snail? London,
Walker books Ltd.
2.
3 - 6 year old audience: Picture Books
For
the audience aged 3 - 6 year old tend to be classified in a category of young
readers, who have educational parameters and are developing reading skills as
well as explore the world. These images should have an intellectual
visualization, somehow be curious, evoking and boosting a creativity of a
child. Most suitable artistic style could be: 1) expressionism mixed with
the realistic style (Brian Wildsmith) and 2) impressionism and assemblage
(collage) style (Sara Fanelli).
There is a
brilliant example of the illustrator Brian Wildsmith ‘The Lion and
the Rat’. Pages of the book are exploding with colours. There are a lot
patterns of nature, textures of animals outcomes and characters tend to educate
recognize emotions such as absorption, astonishment, light fright and etc.
Artist’s watercolors paintings combined with drawing give tender messages about
the life of wild animals demonstrating the mix of expressionism with the realistic
style. This approach is suitable for picture books’ readers, because clarity
with elements of humor explains what happens and illustrations are narrative.
Wildsmith, Brian. (2015) The Lion and
the Rat. Oxford, Oxford
University Press.
The artist Sara
Faneli ‘Mythological Monster’ book is really playful, distorted by
outcomes characters remain to be friendly, soft and narrative visually.
Deconstruction of compositions rises interest to explore bit bizarre, but the
tender world of characters.
Faneli, Sara. (2006) Mythological Monster. London,
Walker Books Ltd.
3.
9 - 11 year old audience: Information/Reference
title
This
group of young people grows from a picture book to a fiction tiles and here are
almost developed ability to read text and start to gain flashes of the wisdom.
In bias of the style suitability, here might fit best the realistic style with
flakes of expressionism and impressionism. When I have looked at books’
market for this age, I found out that most of pictures generally are made in
black and white drawings, nor exist images having full colours.
For
instance, the artist Brian Selznick ‘Wonder Struck’ book is like a big
encyclopedia of pencil drawing covering everything what we see in the world:
buildings, people, and different variety of emotions. There is a lot of
rendered details, ‘zooming’, and the balance of a light and a dark space. The
story is about two young teenagers who have different dreams in their life
trying to achieve faced difficulties. The book is massive containing 460 pages
with stunning artworks. There can be found adventures, surprise and perfect
usage of symmetry and balance in drawings.
Selznick, Brian.
(2011) Wonder Struck. New York, Scholastic.
The book ‘Where My
Wellies Take Me’ illustrated by the artist Olivia Lomenech Gill (authors are Michael and Clare Morpurgo)
covers a field of the childhood scrapbooks with poems and
pictures. I have seen illustration like a rainbow: paintings and watercolors,
line drawings and collage techniques. A hand writing typography gives a sense
of romanticism of passing away the childhood and transferring to a
contradictive age of teens.
Morpurgo, Michael and Clare. (2012) Where My Wellies
Take Me. London,
Templar
Publishing.
Have a nice reading!
