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Time
Thursday, 13.00 – 14.00
Venue
MaKS Room 101.
Type
Taught unit with hands-on
application.
ECTS credits
2
Assessment method
Assignment (20%); final
practical project (60%); mid-unit practical assignment (20%)
(*).
Description
A unit intended to introduce the
student to the theory and practice of illustration as a commercial
and fine art form. Through understanding the many forms and formats
the genre can take, the student is helped to understand better how
illustration can 1) clarify, and/or 2) and/or illuminate, 3) and/or
amplify, and/or 4) complement text. Illustration can also stand
alone, with no accompanying text, but be used decoratively and/or
suggestively, creating inference, mood, and/or be specific
content-significant. The unit also contains a short history of
illustration from prehistoric times to the present day. It examines
different style formats of traditional, hand-drawn illustration, as
well as found-image, text-as-image, and collage productions.
Materials pertaining to these are also discussed. It also explores
digital and digitally enhanced illustration. Contexts are also
examined for explicit effects on output. This includes: books,
magazines, comics, graphic novels, newspapers, stamps, cards,
fashion, the internet, gaming, animation, etc. A hands-on component
encourages students to create their own illustrations, working to
specific briefs. These are assessed by the lecturer, and also by
each member of the class through instructive, guided peer
evaluation.
Study-unit Aims
– Introduce illustration in its
different forms, styles and formats;
– Understand the theory behind the art: contextual, aesthetic and
commercial;
– Be informed about the history of the genre;
– Help foster the practice of illustration, with assessed and
criticised output.
Learning Outcomes
1. Knowledge & Understanding:
– Understand the concepts infusing the aesthetic theories of
illustration;
– Learn how to problem-solve the translation of text into images;
– Learn about the history of illustration and how different
movements and styles influence present-day output;
– Understand how to fit the style to the text, context and
readership;
– Learn about individual contexts for illustration;
– Be able to evaluate text to image inter-relationships.
2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
– interpret texts in visual terms, resulting in the practical
creation of illustrations following a brief;
– Utilise different artistic and found materials to produce
hand-made illustrations;
– Enhance hand-produced illustrations or completely generate digital
illustrations on-screen.
Preliminary reading list
Heller, S., and Chwast, S. (2008). Illustration: A Visual History.
New York, NY: Abrams.
Male, Alan (2007). Illustration: A Theoretical and Contextual
Perspective. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications.
Whalley, J. I., and Chester, T. R. (1988). A History of Children's
Book Illustration. London, UK: John Murray and The Victoria and
Albert Museum.
Zeegan, L. (2012). The Fundamentals of Illustration (2nd ed.).
Lausanne, SW: AVA.
Other books and journal articles related to the topic will be
suggested throughout the duration of the unit.
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