An Analysis of the Creative Process of Children's Book Illustration Design

Abstract

The main objective of the work is to prove the assertion that an illustrated book as a method of transmitting information to a not-fully-formed mind has, in addition to the element of entertainment, educational value and lays the foundations for the development of a young mind. To prove the above-mentioned thesis, the author of the work analyses the creative process of creating illustrations and faces the following problems necessary to carry out the above analysis. Firstly, a description is provided of the process of creating illustrations with particular reference to good practices and the selection of shape, colour, and textures fitted to the child's age. Secondly, the author analyses the latest trends in the field of illustration with an accent on their educational aspect. Finally, a link is established between the illustration and the literary text contained in the book, with particular emphasis on the effect of illustrations on children's understanding of the content contained within a book. The target audience of the theoretical part is designers and artists. The author of the work divided it into three chapters, each solving one of the problems mentioned above. The first chapter describes the process of creating illustrations, their place in the literary text, with particular emphasis on research on how they are perceived by children and how they shape them. The chapter gives tips on how to create illustrations that would interest children and maximize their involvement in the literary text. This chapter is directly related to the first problem put forward in proving the thesis of the paper. The second chapter describes new trends and techniques in creating children's illustrations, taking into account the latest technologies available to the artist. The development of these technologies, the best example of which is the Augmented Reality program, adds to the artist’s tools with the use of which they will be able to educate and entertain the young mind. Thanks to the development of new technologies, this range of tools is becoming larger and larger. This chapter directly addresses the second problem posed in the paper. The third chapter describes the creative process, including best practices in creating illustrations. Drawing from scientific works, the author defines the most important issues of the topic and specifies how to use them to maximize the educational character of the illustration in the book. This chapter refers directly to the third problem posed in the thesis. The conclusion of the work presented at the end sums up the issues discussed in chapters and states that the thesis has been proved through the analysis of the problems posed. An illustration – when best practices of the craft are followed – is indeed immensely helpful in the education of the young children. It can reach even the youngest of minds and introduce them to the beautiful world we live in or to the worlds we created. For the readers interested in the subject, the present paper is richly supplemented with bibliography available in several languages.