Nowadays, the word ‘illustration’ is used in many different fields – from architecture to
science to fashion. This Bachelor thesis, The Attributes of Quality Narrative Illustrations, was
created with the aim of exploring illustrations in their primary role, the role of narrating
stories or other written texts, e.g. literary illustrations.
The thesis is composed of a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part starts with an
in-depth overview of the history of literary illustration and its development over the
centuries, the aim of which is to define narrative illustration as its own genre of art. I
highlight key figures, periods, inventions and technological innovations that contributed
both to the practical development of creating illustrations and to the understanding of
illustrations by the general literary public.
The next chapter focuses on the meaning and influence of narrative illustrations on child
development, since literary illustrations are the first works of art that children have contact
with. Observing illustration and thumbing through picture books are an important part of
childhood, as this helps children develop their imagination and creativity. Illustrations also
influence the development of aesthetic sensibility, which isn’t innate, as well as emotional
and cognitive development. This is why it is so important that the illustrations children are
in contact with are high quality.
I continue with a chapter in which I explore the opinions of different professionals about the
attributes that influence the quality of illustrations. These attributes are firstly
distinguishable on an artistic level and on a level of content, although I focus solely on the
artistic part and further examine the criteria and attributes that lead to high quality
illustrations.
In the middle part of the thesis I analyse the illustrations of two authors who received
international awards for their work in the field of children’s literary illustrations in the last
two years. The aim is to compare my conclusions about the attributes of quality illustrations
from the theoretical part with the practical use of contemporary artists.
I then widen the analysis to include my own original illustrations that were created in the
practical part of this thesis. I examine my own use of artistic expression and the suitability of
the illustrations based on the age group of the target audience of the initial text.
The main purpose of this thesis is to discern the attributes that make qualitative illustrations
and to apply these same attributes to my own work while painting original illustrations.
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