Key Points from G.A.R.P Mind Map

GARP Project Proposal: What Is The Significance of Children's Book Illustration?

The research I have gathered has really challenged my thinking. Initially, I assumed that all illustrations in general are universally understood, however I now see that the way we understand and interpret certain images depends on our awareness of certain cultural conventions. Understanding images depends on our ability to learn to recognise certain codes and the words these images symbolize.

• I am particularly interested in the work of illustrators who deal with sensitive topics in a sophisticated manner
  
• The non-textual elements of a picture book can help establish mood. In picture books with few words, 'The emotional quality of what is asserted must be conveyed by the pictures, which then inform those who look at them about the tone of voice in which to read the words- the attitude to take toward them.'-Perry Noddleman
  

How are picture books educational?

• Picture books can help raise a childs’ awareness of different cultural perspectives.
  
• ...helps build visual literacy.
  
• Alphabet Books
  
• It would be ignorant to suggest that alphabet picture books aren't educational, as they are the foundations of our understanding of literacy.
• I feel that picture books should enrich a child and add something meaningful to their understanding of the world. 
  
• Some people may argue that children's picture books illustrations are not educational, and therefore insignificant in the educational sense. However through my research I hope to challenge this view
  
• Through symbolic representation, for pre-school children, picture books introduce the idea that words represent things that are around us. 
  
• As Perry Noddleman states in 'Words About Pictures', 'In relation to books for the young, the fact that illustrations inevitably arouse interest causes them to be understood as a means of manipulating children into paying attention to books and consequently the words in them.' 
  
• I’d like to explore the significance of illustrations in picture books, and the relationship between word and image. I feel that the illustrations in picture books are equally significant as the words.
•  Perhaps the most successful picture books are the kinds where the illustrations compliment the words by telling us something that the words do not, the images should work with the words to illuminate our understanding of the story. As Perry Noddleman states words and images ‘come together best and most interestingly not when writers and illustrators attempt to have them mirror and duplicate each other but when writers and illustrators use the different qualities of their different arts to communicate different information.’
  
• 'images drawn by children's book illustrators are interpretations, filled with potential meaning and are anything but uninteresting.'- Perry Noddleman
  

Do picture-books limit or enhance our ability to imagine?

• Furthermore, picture books can help broaden a child’s understanding of emotions. As Susanne Langer states; ‘the art we live with- our picture books and stories and the music we hear- actually form our emotive experience’ (71-72)

Children's Book illustrators I Find Particulary Striking... 

• Illustrator and author Alexis Deacon- picture book 'Beegu' 
  
 
• I particularly like Alexis Deacon's work because his draughtsmanship is traditional although it has a refreshingly contemporary feel. I would like to develop the ability to use traditional methods in a contemporary way. He has the skill of 'breathing-life' into his characters. In 'Beegu' Deacon successfully captures the feeling of loneliness and alienation. The spreads in this picture book are beautiful and really leave a lasting impression on the viewer. His work is a great marriage between the observed and imagined.
  
• Nicoletta Ceccoli- 'The Princess and The White Bear King'
• Ceccoli conveys a great deal of emotion through her characters;her images connect with the viewer on an emotional level. Ceccoli's characters are very convincing. I would like to develop the ability to convey that level of sensitivity and emotion through my own characters There is a beautiful luminous quality to her colour palette.

 

• Gennady Spirin- 'Tale of the Firebird'- His watercolor illustrations are beautifully delicate and richly detailed.

• Shaun Tan- 'The Red Tree'

• Shaun Tan has painterly approach to children’s book illustration his work could be viewed as fine art. The layer and layers of paint give his work a rich depth of texture. I would really like to see his original artwork up close to appreciate it on a large scale, with its almost three-dimensional paint effect. There is very little text in Tan's book 'The Red Tree' but the illustrations tell most of the story, it's one of the greatest picture books I've ever seen- it's a masterpiece! Tan's work is rich in symbolism and he shows a real understanding of the human condition. As Tan says his picture books ‘…are best described as ‘picture books for older readers’ rather than young children, as they deal with relatively complex visual styles and themes, including colonial imperialism, social apathy, the nature of memory and depression.’
  

• Lisa Evans- 'The Flower'

• Lauren Child- 'Clarice Bean'
  
• I went to Illustrator Lauren Child's Exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery; 'Green Drops and Moonsquirters: The utterly Imaginative World Of Lauren Child'. The exhibition was very lively and interactive.  I had a look at Lauren Child's sketch books; her illustrations are part drawn, part collage, part patchwork she uses pieces of fabric from clothes she had as a little girl. She has a very childlike drawing quality. 

• 
  Some people assume that the children’s picture book is simply a source of enjoyment; however I would like to challenge this view. I believe that certain children’s’ picture books can have a profound impact on the mind, and are not merely a source of entertainment; rather they are educational in a deceptively entertaining way.As illustrator Tony Ross states; ‘‘I don't think illustrations are important as opposed to words rather WITH words. Of course preschoolers cannot read, but are read to. At that age, they can recognize the importance of words, and have ambitions to decipher them one day, yet at the time, gain understanding from the pictures, which should relate and entertain without pomposity.’’

Useful References:

'How Picture Books Work (Children's Literature and Culture) by Maria Nikolajeva

'Art Narrative and Childhood' by Morag Styles

'Off withTheir Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood' by Maria Tatar

'Words About Pictures: The Narrative Art of Children's Picture Books' by Perry Nodelman

• Irony in children's picture-books can be used to create humor, particularly when the images tell a different story than the text. The element of humor is dependent on us reading the text with the image.

Argument Against; Why Children's picture book illustration could be viewed as insignificant :- 

• Some people may argue that fairy-tale illustrations are insignificant when the images in the book simply mirror what is stated in the text. As Brian Alderson remarks in 'Looking at Picture Books'; 'Traditional tales are essentially an oral art-form. They were told before ever they were printed and they carry within themselves all the illustration that they need'' (37). 

However...

• Illustrators such as Lisbeth Zwerger and Nicoletta Ceccoli have illustrated traditional fairy tales; both have illustrated versions of ‘Red Riding hood’. As Joseph Schwarcz states’ it is in the illustrator’s power to shift accents and express opinions by what they draw, how they draw it (and) by what they omit to draw’ (Ways of The Illustrator 100). People may argue that fairy tale illustrations are unnecessary as these stories were originally spoken aloud, as Brian Alderson remarks in Looking at Picture Books, ‘traditional tales are essentially an oral art-form. They were told before ever they were printed and they carry within themselves all the illustration that they need’’ (37).  I strongly disagree with that statement, as I feel that certain illustrator’s in particularly have the skill of bringing something unique to the traditional tales; they look for the gaps in the original story. Their unique interpretations and pacing’s of illustrations give the original story a different feel. Ceccoli’s version brings the traditional tale to the contemporary audience. Furthermore, with regard to whether or not traditional stories should be illustrated as Walter J.Ong remarks, ‘In terms of conventional ideas about, literature, in fact, fairy tales are not good fiction: they lack the detailed visual description, the richly textured ‘reality’ we tend to demand as a quality of good written narrative. Paradoxically, however, the very deficiencies of oral tales as literature make the written texts of fairy tales surprisingly similar to the texts written especially for picture books. Consequently, the addition of pictures is a logical move; it transforms a successful oral text into a successful written one without actually changing the text itself.’

• Perhaps its significance is a matter of personal opinion; the significance of certain children's picture books could be measured by the emotional impact they have on the viewer and whether they leave a lasting impression. 
  

What Is The Significance of The Contemporary Children's Picture book?

• Picture books can teach empathy and understanding of others.Picture books have a great scope for opening up new ways of imagining.

• In 'Words About Pictures' Perry Noddleman states that, 'In regard to books for the young...pictures are a visual aid, a means of transmitting information to inexperienced listeners and readers that could not be conveyed by words alone.'
  
• Therefore, picture book illustration can be viewed as a significant means of helping people to understand what words mean.
  
• 'If actual objects speak so richly of cultural connotation, then so must the objects depicted in pictures...all objects are signifiacntly meaningful in the context of the network of connotations we attach to them.'- Perry Noddleman
  

• In The Picture Campaign
• The 'In The Picture' Campaign attracted my attention particularly because it encourages illustrators, writers and publishers to embrace diversity by including children with disabilities in mainstream literature.
  

• In 'The Visual image' E.H.Gombrich remarks that 'the visual image is supreme in its capacity for arousal.' Perhaps this suggests that images can have a greater impact on us subconsciously than words.
  

What is the role of the contemporary children’s picture book in society?
What should its role be?

• In my view, the children's picture book has an important role in society; it should help raise a child's awareness of the culturally diverse world we live in, and therefore make children accepting of others. 
  
• 'Picturing Text:The Contemporary Children's Picture Book' By David Lewis
  
• Picture books can be used as a vehicle to teach children about the importance of equality in society. 
  
• Perhaps its significance can be measured by how it influences a child's perceptions
  
• 'Our expectations define our attitudes to the stories books contain; and picture-book artists can therefore use conventional expectations to give the tone and imply the attitude they desire to the words they illustrate.'- Perry Noddleman
  
• 'The varying formats of books and varying uses of predominating colour, line, and shape influence our attitude toward the events a book describes' - Perry Noddleman