Illustration has been one of the most sought-after fields with time. It has grown to the extent that many of them confuse an illustrator to be a designer or vice versa.
Before going into details about illustration styles here is a brief explanation of what exactly is meant by an illustrator.
An illustrator works specifically on the imagery rather than the whole design or the product itself. Also, they coexist with the other teams on board. For example, illustrations open a company newspaper articles, storybooks, magazines and other such print media. They most often serve to support and better translate ideas, texts and further explain them. Hence, with a picture alongside a text, it explains itself better. Moreover, illustrators try to keep the balance between visual and text and try not to steal all the focus on the illustration.
With increased demand and competition, professionals had enhanced their skill set, thereby, acting as an illustrator and a designer. Nowadays, fierce competition in the field of art has led artists to show their multidisciplinary skills.
Coming to the main topic of discussion, here are a few illustrations styles.
- Digital illustration
It is ideal for use in books for children of age 2-10 years. Rich expression of illustrations and bright coloring dominates this type of illustration. It makes use of animated style for character designing and detailed coloring by way of bright colors. The reason for the same is that kids are especially attracted to bright colors and expressions. Another reason being, these illustrations are mainly used for stories with much activity going on in the scenes, which is mainly seen in books for children.
The characters are not realistic, or instead, they are semi-realistic with the body proportions maintained to match the age being depicted. Nature and its elements play a very important role in the illustrations so that it does not look unnatural and is rather soothing to the eye of the viewers.
- Whimsical illustrations
As the name suggests, it is used to depict whimsical characters. As in the previous style, it is also suitable for children because of the increased usage of expressions and colors. The major focus is on the main character and their expressions, which in turn enhances the beauty of the entire scene. The background of these illustrations is limited, and only closely placed objects such as buildings are shown.
Illustrations are made manually using watercolors, and in some cases, pencil might be used to sharpen the images.
It is suitable for books for children at the age of 2 to 15 years. This style also makes you say watercolors but with the importance being given to soothing and transparent appearance to the character being displayed. Unlike the previous style, the background is of importance in this style of illustrations. The use of nature adds on to the overall soothing nature of the illustration.
This is not an exhaustive list but gives a brief idea about some of the top illustration styles used by illustrators in various settings.
