Pictue/Text Interaction

The illustrations in Picture Books helps novice readers understand the meaning behind the text as well as the theme or plot. There are four basic mode of picture/text interaction  reinforcing, description, reciprocal, and establish.

Reinforcing:
When reinforcing  ( a mode of picture/text interaction) the text- pictures help to provide more details for simple text, especially in childrens books. This will help novice readers learn new vocabulary, as well as understanding the characters and settings.

Description:
An illustrator such as myself may use color, line, shape , and various uses of composition. It will enhance the readers understanding of the text because it helps set the setting,character, and tone. Colors can play a major role in the use of description, especially when illustrating  a childrens book where text is limited. For example the use of warm colors such as the pink cheeks in snow white can show a warm heart, purity, and kindness that a reader will want to relate too unlike the dark colors of the outfit of the evil queen or pale complexion.

Reciprocal:
Illustrations take on more weight because they provide more detail. Illustrations will provide more insight into the personality of the character. "The story hovers between the words and pictures; remove one and the story disappears. The reciprocal nature of the pictures and text in these books suggest and apt name for this mode of interaction."

Establishing:
Pictures establish the story. Reading the pictures are just as important as reading the text in a picture book. This helps the reader engage actively in all the areas the make the story.

A picture is worth 1000 words

A picture book tells the story through the use of both text and illustrations.When dealing with picture books, the readers comprehension is based " on the readers ability to read the pictures as well as the text."-O' Neil. As an author and illustrator of my own childrens picture book it is my responsibility to accurately portray the meaning through the use of color, shapes, text, and my artistic illustration style. Color helps set the mood. Red can be seen as a very exciting, dangerous, or hot. There are colors that can help enfluence a persons hunger as well, such as yellow. Furthermore, color can help set a focal point. For example if there is a dark background and the character is bright it creates a focal point for the readers eye to be drawn to.

When illustrating a character or anything else, "smooth,flat, horizontal shapes gives us a sense of stability and calm' and ' Diagonal shapes are dynamic" they imply motion. Gestures, facial expressions, posture and positions on the page give a greater depth of meaning to the story without the use of words. Another key concept to keep in mind, is the positioning of the characters. A character who is overlapped by other elements (such as swiper in the show Dora the explorer who hides behind trees and rocks- he is an evil character not ment for children to want to relate to)  can be harder to relate to then a character who is in a more open field or "closer" to the front of the page.
The setting and its colors can play a crucial part in a characters development. For example : If a character begins in a gray city to a green open field it can show that the character has growth potential. The use of illustration can help readers through a sense of meaning derived from the illustrations.

Senior Capstone

I will be creating a Children's Book about my two dogs and their adventures. I am taking a graphic design class called Modes and Methods this semester which will focus on creating and broadening my horizons will illustations, using Adobe Illustrator. I want to understand and learn about all the elements that go into a successful Children's Book through marketing, publishing, design, colors, illustration and narative.

I have already started to record some of my children book story ideas and naratives in another blog.

You can find here : http://canonsadventures.blogspot.com/2011/08/canon-misses-neo.html