Brief History Of Illustration

By Sophie Scott
 Cave Paintings
For the duration of history, humans have used narrative
images to tell all kinds of different stories. The earliest
recorded illustrations appear in the cave paintings
created in Lascaux, France, ca.15,000 B.C. These
images featured pictorial representations or logograms
in succession, which detailed important events for them
at the time.
Illustrative wall paintings & Vessels
In the ancient culture of Greece and Italy, art had risen
to honor humankind, gods, and the cultures
themselves. Illustrations of the many different heroes
and mythological tales, festivals and literature, funeral
scenes, and sporting events were drawn and engraved
into all different types of vases. Illustrative-like wall
paintings and floor mosaics were also very popular and
were created to mostly decorate the homes of only the
most powerful and rich people.

I love the look of the vase above and how they were
able to get so many small details in especially the
repeating pattern around the trim of the vase.
 Illuminated Manuscripts
During the Middle Ages, narrative pictorials popped up
in illuminated manuscripts. Christian belief in the
sanctity of religious writings was the major reason for
the preservation and replicating of books. Monasteries
were the main thing of cultural, educational, and smart
activities and studio spaces called "scriptoria" were
given for writing, copying, and illuminating books.
Woodcuts and Engraved Prints
Starting in the beginning of the 14th century, artists of the
Renaissance showed big new literature, music, art, and
publications that could be easily mass-produced and disposed
out because of a new and never seen before invention of a
mechanical printing process invented by the amazing Johannes
Gutenberg (in 1452). The making and giving out of woodcuts
and engraved prints brought ideas, images, and entertainment to
a wider audience and provided people outside of the wealthier
upper-class people to have art all their own and experience it for
one of the first times in history!
 Illustration Prints
With the launch of the Industrial rising (in the mid-1700s),
printing technology improved swiftly, and a lot more issuing's
were given out and seen by way more people of all different
cultures and class. Illustration became more regular in daily
life for everyone. English wood engraver and publisher the
amazing Thomas Bewick set up a brand-new studio to create
a lot more printing of business illustrations that was used for
many purposes this includes the works for children, materials
for schools, natural history plates, and title-page art for
books. Newspapers are now commonly garnisheed with
engravings.

I absolutely love both illustrations. And I like how there

are so many different shading techniques used from
hatching work to stippling!
 Caricaturists and Engraved Prints
The occupation/Job of illustration had just begun to betake quite
seriously and seen as an actual job (in the early 1800s). The
English and the French caricaturists independently earned a
good living as full-time illustrators by selling either etched or
engraved prints through small, gallery-like print shops and city
street bookstalls. This made so many more illustrations
obtainable and reasonably cheap for all different kinds of
people of class. Even Books by Charles Dickens and other very
well-known writers started to get illustrated all around.
Illustrations in Magazines
Under the impact of the first generation of successful
American narrative illustrators in the late-1800s led by
Howard Pyle, dedicated young artists like Frank E.
Schoonover, Jessie Willcox Smith, N.C. Wyeth,
Elizabeth Shippen Green, and many others saw that
careers could be achieved, and a massive amount of
talent entered the specialty. Publishers soon
recognized that illustrations helped to sell magazine
subscriptions and increase advertising revenue. Strong
and consistent sales allowed more commissions of
original art, and the business of illustration was fully
established.
Illustrations in Magazines and Newspapers
With bigger and additional efficient distribution
networks, illustrated newspapers, books, and
magazines were enjoyed by millions of different people
around the world as affordable entertainment. News
magazines, family magazines, humor magazines,
Women's magazines, children's magazines, literary and
art journals, satirical and political journals, and full-color
newspaper comics brought the art of illustration into
daily life.
 Illustrations for War Posters
illustration was now starting to be viewed by many publishers
as an essential, and competition between all the different
publications for the limited number of fine illustrators led to a
massive increase in budgets for art, instituting higher fees and
higher recognition for the artists used. The illustrators that
were the top dogs became very well-known figures some
being, like Charles Dana Gibson and John Held, Jr., achieved
celebrity status. Magazine covers and story illustrations by
James Montgomery Flagg, Howard Chandler Christy, C. Coles
Phillips, J. C. Leyendecker, and Norman Rockwell were
viewed by millions throughout America/USA.

I really liked the story of this piece being about the night
before Christmas for a mother. I also love how they got
the texture of the wall down and the colours are super
pretty! I could take some inspo from this painting for my
Final piece in my FMP
 Illustrations In Film
Walt Disney quickly became a very big name across the
world. He established himself in the big playing field by
making popular cartoon shorts like for example,
Steamboat Willie (1928), the first sound cartoon, after
they became more popular, they went on to create full-
length animated feature films - Snow White began
production in 1934 (released in 1937), and Pinocchio in
1936 (released in 1940).
Illustrations in Entertainment
As well as just Illustration in general growing,
the magazine publishing industry grew swiftly (in the 1950s),
after long and sad years through the Great Depression and
World War II. The Saturday Evening Post and Look were one
of the very few remaining general interest magazines that
decided to continue to publish articles of current events,
Cosmopolitan, short fiction, and features about family life,
the arts, and entertainment. Women's magazines of the era,
including Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and
others were powerhouse publications that were carefully
illustrated. They paid very high wages to top illustrators of
the day, including Al Parker, Bernie D’Andrea, Jon Whitcomb,
Austin Briggs, Coby Whitmore, Joe De Mers, and Lorraine
Fox, among many others.
 Illustration In Entertainment
Within the 20th century, loads of people who had just
graduated from the television cartoons and Walt Disney
features (of the 1990s), as for examples like Aladdin, Beauty
and the Beast, and The Lion King observed the evolution of
animated films like Shrek, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo that
improved advanced digital production. The gaming industry
also had evolved remarkably, and technologically advanced
video games for example like Final Fantasy were perfect to
turn into a film as well as staying as a video game. The
publishers of the very well-known Marvel comics decided to get
into the movie business and very quickly became popular with
both live-action movies and animated movies. The relationship
between the gaming industry, the comics industry, and the film
industry became more closely connected and illustrators
played an important role in many aspects of production,
helping to visualize otherwise unimaginable worlds.
Illustrators I Look up to Today
Here are some artists that I look up to today.
Rosa Kusabbi (AKA RosaIllustrations)
Rosa Kusabbi is an illustrator, animator and printmaker
based in Liverpool. She was named by the AOI as one of
the top 10 graduates to watch in 2020. What I love about
her work is that she is very experimental and the use of
bright colours really makes her work stand out!
Meg Garrod
Meg Garrod is a body positivity illustrator. Her work
centers around self love and feminism. What Garrod
strides for in her work is to help people love their bodies
by representing them in her work and showing them their
beauty!
Meg does alot of youtube and does,
“Studio Vlogs” Which is very popular
now in the Illustration field and in art
now
Thank you for reading <3