Picture Book Illustrations
EECE 441
Spring 2003
P. Werre
Visual Elements of Picture Books
Line -- Artists use line to suggest direction, motion, energy and mood.
 Vertical lines – suggest lack of movement.
 Horizontal lines – suggest calm, sleep, stability, and an absence of strife.
 Vertical lines and horizontal lines at right angles – depict artificial elements.
 Two vertical lines connected by horizontal line – give feeling of a solid, safe place.
 Diagonal lines – suggest loss of balance and uncontrolled motion.
 Triangles on a horizontal base – suggest safety.
 Jagged lines – suggest danger.
 Curved lines and circles – seem less definite and less predictable than straight lines.
 Thin lines – suggest being delicate and ephemeral.
 Thick lines – suggest boldness and strength.
Color – Color is an extremely important element in book illustration. Combining line and color
is perhaps the most common way in which artists convey mood and emotion in picture
books.
 Red, yellow, and orange – associated with fire, sun, and blood. Usually have warm or
hot connotations: friendliness, high energy, or anger.
 Blues, greens, and some violets – most associated with air, water, and plant life and
their coolness or coolnesss can suggest moods and emotions ranging from tranquility to
melancholy.
 Primary and bright colors – suggest excitement, happiness, and action.
 Pastel and muted colors – calm and quiet mood.
 Dark colors and shadows – may suggest fear and danger.
 Natural colors (browns, greens, yellows, and oranges) – suggest nature and are calming.
Shape – Lines join and intersect to suggest shapes, and areas of color meet to produce shapes.
Different shapes have different connotations depending upon lines and colors used.
Shapes are another way to emphasize the mood of a picture and story.
 Organic shapes – irregular and curving are common in nature and in hand-made objects.
May be used to convey anything from receptivity and imagination to frightening
unpredictability.
 Geometric shapes – exact, rigid, and often rectangular usually have mechanical origins.
May be used to connote complexity, stability, assertion, or severity.
Texture – Illustrators use line, color, shape, and artistic media to create textual imagery.
Picture Book Illustrations
Design: Organizing the Visual Elements of Picture Books
Important or dominant image in an illustration
 Size of the image.
 Color of the image.
 Placement of the image.
 Use of strong lines to provide visual pathways to dominant image.
 Nonconformity of the image.
Balance and Unity
 Symmetry of elements in an illustration
 Repetition of elements.
 Use of frames for text pages or illustrations.
Formality of the Text
 Very formal – Text placed opposite illustrations on adjacent pages. A border or frame
around the text or illustrations is even more formal.
 Formal – Text positioned above or beneath illustrations.
 Informal – Text shaped with irregular boundaries to fit inside, between, around, or to the
side of illustrations.
 Very informal – Text combined with two or more arrangements and in different forms,
colors, or sizes.
 Most informal – No text at all.
Norton, Donna E. and Saundra E. Norton. Through the Eyes of a Child: An Introduction to Children’s Literature. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall, 2003.