Chapter 4 was insightful regarding the importance of illustrations. Personally I have always valued illustrations in regards to books. Most of my favorite books from my childhood I remember not only the main characters and their journey but the pictures as well.
Chapter 4 even referenced one of my favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I remember how important the pictures were in allowing the reader to visualize Max’s adventure. The pictures are pastels and it was nice to find out in I was correct about the illustrations being watercolor. I had presumed they were. It was interesting to find out watercolor is one of the most common artistic media for illustrations in children’s books. I am able to understand all the terms in regards to illustrations and the importance of pictures within a book, especially for children.
Identifying the purpose of color in illustrations and the association to feelings and moods was important for me to understand. It will be helpful in choosing a book for the classroom mood or atmosphere. This knowledge could also be used when assisting a student in finding a book especially if they are feeling sad.
It was also insightful and useful to read about artistic style, such as Pablo Picassos’ abstract paintings, which I feel are impressionable, beautiful, and at times are wordless to describe. I also valued the list of illustrators and the summaries providing detail on their artistic styles. This is another piece of information which is going to be useful when I begin to teach. The Teaching with artists and their illustrations section of the chapter could be useful as well. Most of all I felt his chapter displayed the underlining importance illustrations have in literature and how in result they allow children to be inspirited and creative.
Chapter 4 was very good... I enjoyed reading all about illustrations. I never really looked into the depths of it all before. Once they talked about the difference and why the illustrator uses different colors and techniques and designs, I started thinking back at the pictures in the books and realized how true it is. Emotions going along with colors is very true. I couldn't agree more with Jade about using color when choosing out books for the classroom to go along with the student's mood.
Chapter 4 was interesting. I fully agree that illustrations in books are a must and are extremely important in telling a story. My son is 7 and in the 2nd grade, he is reading a lot of the A to Z Mystery books, these are chapter books, however there are illustrations thrown in throughout the book, helping tell the story. Illustrations can sometimes tell just as much or more of the story then some of the texts. The way it is submitted, the Emotions that Hillary speaks of is totally true. When I am looking for books for my son, I intentionally look for books with fun illustrations, cause I know my son will enjoy that.
I liked the introduction in this chapter. It just goes to show that children do judge books by their cover. There is so much creativity used in illustrations made for children. All illustrations are made differently because children and people are different and are attracted to different styles of art. So many things can be shown in a picture and it is cool hear different views what one sees in one picture. I loved the picture on page 127 with the cat and the mouse. It showed how intrigued they were with reading as if they didn't know they were right next to each other and it united them together. This chapter shows so many illustrations with different textures and art styles, that I found it all intriguing. Being a big fan of art, I found the picture on page 145 humorous imitating the original art from George Seurat.
I absolutely love Maurice Sendak! His illustrations also caught my attention as well. Awhile back for a class assignment I had to research him as an artist and also an author. He used a lot of art techniques, such as pointillism which is hard to master. His book, Where The Wild Things Were also had bad reviews when it came out because they believed his illustrations were too scary for children. It's rather humorous because of all the much scarier illustrations we have out in the media today. I am definitely excited for the movie to come out on October 16th!
I fully agree, that kids do judgen a book by illustrations and the cover. Some kids will see a cover and decide or thumb through a book to see if they want to check it out or not.
I agree that children do just a book by its cover. My son is 11 and he still tries to do this. I have to have him read the back cover with the synapsis on it to make sure he truely thinks it would be and interesting book or not before I let him either get it or put it back. I am 33 and sometimes find myself doing this. If the front cover or the title is not appealing, then I find myself not even looking at the back to see what it might be about. Unfortunately this is kind of a 1st impression type of thing.
I really enjoyed reading parts of chapter 4, and other parts really bothered me. I thought it was very annoying how the author gave such beautiful detailed descriptions of certain books...and then gave no visual. Some of these descriptions did have visuals, but the picture was on a completely different page. There were also pictures of books that weren't mentioned in the text. Maybe I'm not seeing the point, but I like to think that if you're going to spend so much time on the description and provide visuals, the visual should be what the description is about. Otherwise, those other titles become forgettable. No matter how good the description was, I'm not going to bother going back to read a textbook to find out what it was. I'm probably just going to skim the pictures.
Anyway, something else that bothered me was that the text really doesn't explain how an artist/illustrator and author collaborate on the artwork for a book. The text alludes that they work together. Last year, at the elementary school I worked at, Marsha Diane Arnold (check out her website: www.marshadianearnold.com) visited our students and explained the process to them. According to her, she doesn't even know who the artist will be until she sends in her text to her editor and the editor picks from a list of available artists. Then the editor sends the text to the chosen artist who can exercise artistic license with the illustrations before sending them back to the editor for approval. If the editor approves them, the whole book gets sent to the publisher. Marsha Diane Arnold said that she would see the final book storyboarded before it was bound...but after it was published. I don't know if that's how it always works, but I checked her site, and almost all of her books are done by different illustrators...Something to think about when reading the text!
What I did like about the chapter, though, is that the descriptions were quite thorough and the classroom suggestions sounded very fun! I think that using art to teach kids descriptive vocabulary, writing, cultural heritage, and art in general sounds like a blast! I used to create art projects for our Sp. Ed. kids to do and to decorate our classroom with, but I know the regular ed. kids hardly had any time for art. I think that as a teacher, I would like to be able to use some of the suggestions from this book to incorporate art into my regular lessons. Learning is more fun if it's enjoyable!
Geoff - I agree that the pictures often make a story, and that even in chapter books they are important. When I was younger, I loved to read (and still do), but always some of my favorite parts were the pictures. I would skip through my chapter books first to look at all the pictures before I would read it, and when I got to that part I would study the picture to make sure it was exactly how it was described. It's kind of funny now, though. I was reading a book the other day and stopped to point out something funny to my husband. My 3-year-old wanted to see the picture, and I told him "There aren't any pictures. Mama's books don't have pictures. Isn't that weird?" Sometimes I think it would be nice if adult books did have them!
If I were to guess, I’d say that almost every single one of us at one point in time has chosen a book by it’s cover! Illustrations play a very integral part in a book. As our chapter points out; the collaborative process of creating picture books for children makes special demands on artists. I find this especially true among our young children. Picture books with little words rely so much on the illustrations to tell the story. I particularly find it enjoyable at circle time in preschool to go around the circle and let the children tell the story by just looking at the picturesJ It’s amazing the results you will get. So many times they will be able to tell it as though they’ve read it themselves!
There are so many different visual elements that an illustrator can use to draw pictures for the reader as we learned in the chapter such as line, color, shape, and texture. It’s how they combine these elements that gives us the reader/viewer the pleasure of displeasure of looking at it. I think it’s important to choose various books that depict these different styles of illustrations to use in our classrooms. We are all different individuals as are our children. We all look at things differently and like different things. However, I think it’s important when we choose a book that again we go back to our previous chapters and choose wisely, in accordance with the grade you are teaching and where they are developmentally.
I believe this quote to be so true………….. “Pictures Are Worth a Thousand Words”
Where the Wild Things Are is a wonderful book. I have never heard that before about the reviews regarding the illustrations! I find that whenever I’ve heard this book read in front of even the youngest age; preschoolers they absolutely love it. They love imitating the sounds the author puts into his story…..my own children love this story, it won’t change my mind about reading to a classroom of my own someday!
SMartens- I was not aware of the bad reviews due to the illustrations being scary. That is interesting as a child I never found the pictures to be scary I thought they were exciting. I loved Max's adventure. Most of all because I could relate to his character's choices. How many kids get upset with their parents and say things they don't mean? Alot! :) I found this to be humorous as a child and still to today. I remember my teacher had a puppet of Max and used it while reading the book. Another good memory. And thank you I forgot about the movie coming out. I remember hearing about it being made into a movie but since I become a mom 7 months ago I have not been to a movie in a theater. I just might have to go. It was also nice to hear someone else loved the book. It will forever be a favorite of mine.
Chapter 4 gave us a very in-depth look at illustrations in children’s books and what an important part they play in children’s literature. As was pointed out in the text, children oftentimes choose a story based on the illustrations presented. I really enjoyed the section on visual elements and how it explained the artist’s use of line, color and shape. Although I have always enjoyed the illustrations in children’s books, it wasn’t until reading this chapter did I fully understand how important those elements were to the overall picture. I have always noticed the various colors, shapes and depths of lines, but had never really considered how the use of lines suggested so much movement. I have always picked up on the use of color and how it can enhance the overall mood of the story and the text aptly pointed out that the combination of lines and colors is a very common strategy for artists to convey emotions in picture books.
The text did a great job of explaining all the elements, media and styles of art, but many times I felt like I was caught up in an art history text book. When analyzing illustrations in children’s books, I have never personally wondered where the artist’s inspiration came from. Rather, I look for illustrations that are used to complement the text of the books, and especially enjoy illustrations that expand the text of the story and may even tell a story of their own. In my opinion, that is the importance of illustrations in children’s literature.
There were some beautiful examples of illustrations provided in the text, but I found myself looking for some of the illustrations that had been referred to, but not shown. Personally, I felt that I would have been able to appreciate the chapter more had there been more examples of illustrations with brief descriptions rather than so much information with what seemed to be very few examples. There was some great information about several awarding winning illustrators and I enjoyed reading more about Maurice Sendak as “Where the Wild Things Are” was a childhood favorite of mine and is a favorite of my children.
Also described were several activities that can be used in the classroom. Many of them sounded quite interesting; however I would have enjoyed learning more about incorporating art in a lower elementary level as I felt many of the ideas given were targeted toward middle and high school students. I found the section on aesthetic scanning the most informative. I feel that I can easily use this information to actively engage my future students in appreciating the illustrations and attempting to understand the meanings that they convey.
Miranda H - I completely agree with your comments about the textbook failing to discuss the interactions of the authors and illustrators. So much is involved in the publication of books, that it seems this would have been an important part of this chapter. Thanks for the suggestion about Marsha Diane Arnold's website - very neat!!
Miranda, I agree about having some pictures in adult books!!! I remember when I was a kid, I would open a book and try to get one that had pictures, cause that is less to read! And I know about 1/2 the class did the same thing! What can I say? I was young and would have rather been playing wiffle ball or nintendo.
Miranda, Thank you for the interesting post. I often wonder if the author gets to choose from several illustrator and gets to pick or if they work together as a team.
Chapter Four, My children are at the ages that they prefer to look at the pictures. They have to be interesting for them to pick it out to read. I like to think of them as pieces of art. I enjoy looking the=rough the Caldecott books in our library. There is a first grade teacher at my kids' school that is a very good artist as well. She has made poster sized drawings of many of the pages from Eric Carlson's books. My children also do as the text stated, make up their own stories to go along with the pictures. It is great for their imagination before they can read.
I have read stories to my 3 children plus 10 years worth of daycare children, and not once did I see the illustrations as anything other than cute. I never thought to see the illustrator separate from the author. The illustrator is an individual with his own unique style of depicting a scene. I was amazed by the comparison of Clement Hurd and Goya. Goodnight Moon was nothing more than a cute story until I finished reading this chapter. In fact, after finishing this chapter I read a Bill Martin Junior book. Before reading it, I went page by page and analyzed the illustrations and text layout. I have a newfound interest! My first attempt at college was as an art major. I spent 2 years studying artists such as Rousseau, Van Gogh and Manet, but I had no idea they could be found in children’s literature. I also learned the techniques of collage, pointillism and woodcuts while trying to find the artistic style that was best suited for me. Had someone told me to study the artistic masterminds in children’s books, I may have completed my teaching degree way back then. The only part in the chapter that had me a little uninterested was the focus on Economic and Social conditions in art criticism. Turning the focus from lines and color to art shaped by ideology was a little distracting. Overall, I enjoyed learning the variety of styles illustrators have used for the interest of the young. I hope soon to be analyzing the illustrations of many of these talented artists with my own class.
Stephanie, I really like how you said that children do judge a book by its cover. I never really paid much attention, but it is true. My daughter brought home a chapter book Friday, and she picked it out because of the Yorkie pup in bows on the cover. I also have to agree with Rebekah in the area of more examples. They described a lot, but showed very little. I read Where the Wild Things Are for the very first time (that I can remember) a couple days ago. I have to say that the illustrations did not impress me. I think I expected so much more because of all the discussion I have heard about it lately.
I really enjoyed reading chapter four of the book. To be honest I have never paid attention to the pictures of books. For some reason I don't see the purpose of the pictures. All that changed when my daughter started bringing home picture books for herself to read and then she would explain to me what she thought the pictures meant and how they connected to the words in the story. The author and the illustrator both play a major role in the success of a book. I really enjoyed the technique suggested for in the class room use. I think that incorporating art into the lessons would have a better outcome of the assignments because the enjoyment is much greater.
I totally agree with you when you say that children judge books by there covers. I for one always do that for some reason. I always read the back part of the book to see if it sounds interesting or not. My daughter has a habit of doing that as well. I think that we should not judge a book by its cover, we should learn to appreciate what the pictures are trying to portray. This chapter focuses on that in its entirety and I think that now I have learned to see the pictures in a different light.
That is funny that I too never realized the impact of the cover of the book. I caught myself testing my son. He really does look at the front of every book to determine if he will want to read it or not. I guess I never thought about it before and I have probably helped reinforce this as well because I do the same thing unless I have prior knowledge that the book is supposed to be good.
I like illustrations. I pick a book by its cover a lot but depending upon what kind of book it is I don't always want illustrations in it. Pictures can bring words to life if they are done correctly and that is what this chapter is all about. I read a lot of childrens books due to having young ones at home. It is amazing how they really love to look at the pictures. My youngest can't read but she can tell a story just by looking at the pictures and with a good illustration she can come close to what the words say. I can't draw and so some of what the chapter says is more detailed than I am used to but I can understand that a good picture doesn't need words.
I agree with you that I also never looked at pictures other than something that was on the page. I loved looking at the cover of a book but pictures didn't matter. Until my children I had no idea that pictures were such a big deal. Now I know that they matter and tend to find books for them with good pictures in them.
I have never really been that in depth with art, but I did find Ch. 4 interesting. Learning about how the illustrators use different lines, colors, shapes, etc. to help tell the story had me thinking. I never really thought about the way they use these different techniques before. I always looked at a picture as a whole, not with the detail discussed in Ch. 4.
The chapter discusses how different lines, shapes, and colors can mean different things. I don’t know if I totally grasp that entire idea yet. When I look at a picture, to me I just see the picture and what is in it (people, buildings, trees, etc.), but according to the chapter the lines, shapes, and colors have more of an effect. Do we actually see more, or feel more than that, without even realizing it? What part of us see’s more than kids playing in a park? What part of us realizes that the horizontal lines in the picture are actually calming, or the jagged lines mean danger? Is that something that we have learned over time? If so, do these illustrations have the same effect on children as they do on adults?
I love good illustrations, and I believe that a good illustrated book will help keep everyone interested in a book. I know that a well illustrated cover, or illustrations in a book can make a difference between a kid wanting to pick that book or not. So, the importance of illustration is obvious. It definitely helps make a story, especially for kids.
I know exactly what you mean by only seeing an illustration as cute, or just as a picture of items. I see how color can make you feel different ways, but I am still trying to learn about the use of lines and shapes having the same effects.
I know a lot of research has been done on the effect of color on mood. The Iowa Hawkeyes football team actually painted their visiting locker room pink, because it is supposed to be calming. I don't know how well it has worked out for them, but it helps show the background of how color can effect mood.
I think I need to try and spend more time with books that have more illustrations and try to analyze these ideas more to help my understanding.
Chapter 4 discussed the work of some of my favorite illustrators. I plan to teach younger elementary students and am well aware of their attraction to art. The illustrations of many books clue them in to what a word or main idea might be. They look to the pictures for reassurance that they understand what they read. The chart on page 119 reminded me of the important points to consider when evaluating the illustrations in a book.
The location of the text on a page in relation to the illustrations was discussed in this chapter. I read The Little House for my review of a Caldecott book and noted the movement of the text. The words were winding, just like the roads in the pictures. This informal style was fun to read.
I enjoy using art when teaching a story. I tried to choose a projject that resembled the the illustrations in the story or reflected the main idea of the story. One of my favorite examples of this was in a piece of “dot” art we did to correspond to a study of the book “The Dot” by Peter Reynolds (Scott Foresman Reading Program). This particular story was about a child and the beauty of a teacher recognizing ability in something as simple as a dot. The recognition and praise encouraged the child to continue to paint. In the end the child shares the feelings of acceptance and the love of painting with another student. The piece of art associated with the story was Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. In using this work, the students were able to transform many dots to create an a piece of art reflective of their personality . My students also enjoyed using stickers, stamps, and drawings to create their own stories. They were able to “speak” through their art. This reminded me how important illustrations are to their comprehension of a story. I know I am thankful for the illustrations in the texts I read.
Jade, I agree that the discussion about different styles of art. I am not familiar with art history and appreciated the review of impressionism, expressionism, and abstract works. The illustrations say so much about the story plot, and they also represent the social climate and values of the time. I wonder, as others in the blog did, if it is difficult to find an illustrator that "says" what the words say.
Illustration personaly I love, especially in a childrens book. It exposes them to different types of art. It can sometimes just give a hint of what's about to happen but you want to continue to read on to find out why who is doing what in the picture. Some illustrations are vague and some give so much detail like in picture books. I'm amazed at how picture books can tell you a story by just looking at the pictures themselves. I really like the books with the more detailed pictures and colored art and I also like the books with no pictures at all. I think it opens the imagination both ways.
Danica I use to also pick books by their cover too! I was disappointed at time cause sometimes although the cover looks awesome the book is not what you expect. Kinda like movie previews. I know better now. A lot of the books that we are required to read I would never look twice at getting because of the cover but wow...some of the things you find inside are just amazing.
After reading this chapter I see now that I have been taking the illustrations in all my childhood books for granted. I never realized how the books add and complete the story. How the illustration give the book its mood and reflects how the characters feel in the book. I’ve never really thought about the different types of media used in books and always thought it was the different styles between illustrators and not a totally different media all together. After reading this chapter I went and looked at the different children’s books of my daughters and it was easy to tell which books were down in pastels to the ones done in water color. I see now that the illustrator is just as important as the writer when it comes to children books. The depth and feeling they can put in one picture is literally worth a thousand words.
Jade B- Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books as well. They are making it a movie comes out October 16th. MirandaH- now that you bring it up I am also curious to how they work out who illustrates the book. In my mind they have worked together in the past or the author would pick an illustrator that does work they like. I would think the book would benefit if the author and illustrators would work directly together. What if the illustrator gets a different vibe from the book their illustrations may have a feeling the author doesn’t want. I don’t know but that whole situation I do not like. If it is done the same way you say it’s done I think they should change it. They would more likely make a higher quality book.
Illustrations are an important part of any book. I know when I see an illustration it helps me to see what the author is trying to tell me. If this works for me than I am sure that it works for children as well. This chapter talks about Eric Carle who is one of my favorite illustrators. I find it fascinating that he can paint on tissue paper. This seems like such tedious work to me, tissue paper is very fragile. It is amazing how he gets all the wonderful pictures he creates out of painting colors on tissue paper and just putting them together. I had a 1st grade teacher that I worked with that would do an Eric Carle unit every year. She would read them Eric Carle books and tell them how he created his artwork. She would then have them create their own collage using tag board instead of tissue paper (much easier for 1st grade hands) and had them create bugs using 3 different colors. They seemed to have almost too much fun creating their collages. It was amazing at the wonderful artwork that these 1st graders came up with. Talking about illustrations. I think the author could have used many more in this chapter. She described many different illustrations in books and I really would have liked to have seen more illustrations used or less descriptions. I thought it bogged down the reading too much with out enough pictures to show what she was talking about.
Chapter 4 I found to be very interesting yet very long. I am struggling keeping up with all of the titles that are discussed throughout this chapter. I guess what really bothered me about the chapter is that it is about illustrations in books but there were very few examples of the illustrations compared to the amount of titles that were discussed. I did find the discussion on the visual elements to be very interesting. I really do appreciate art but I never truly looked at the elements of an illustration to find meaning, I usually got that from the text. I enjoyed the discussion about aesthetic scanning and can see how that would be beneficial to children as well fun, interesting. And interactive The art education books that were mentioned in this section sound like they would be very helpful in learning more on how to get children to respond to art. During this chapter I was looking back to my childhood to try and remember some of my favorite children’s books and I had a difficult time coming up with any picture books that stood out to me. I could only remember the stories and not the illustrations. As an adult I have found many favorite picture books in which I truly enjoy the illustrations, sometimes even more than the story itself.
MariaC, I agree with the use of art projects to go along with the literature to help get kids more intrested in the material. Most kids enjoy doing the art lessons and I can definitely see them being able to take more away from a book and have a better appreciation of art when using the aesthetic scanning technique.
I've always been a big fan of the illustrations in books. As a child, my mother used to read "What Was That!" by Geda Bradley Mathews (Author), Normand Chartier (Illustrator), and I loved to look at the illustrations of the little creatures who were making the noises the little bears heard. Just the image of the three bears in bed together, and the looks on their faces! I'm also a huge fan of Mercer Mayer, and the illustrations for "Little Monster's Bedtime Book" are adorable. You have to really look at them to see all of the little details that are in those illustrations. Even now, I get those books out and read them to my kids, and what really stands out about them IS the illustrations.
I think that it is very important to take the type of Children's book into account. Pen and ink drawings would look really out of place in some stories, and watercolors would look out of place in a book about something like Egypt. And cut paper illustrations? Those take serious determination, I don't think I'd have the patience. They do look impressive though, don't they?
I agree. It would have been better to have more examples of the illustrations they spoke of in the book. I felt like I was drowning in information at times with this chapter. If you go to Amazon.com, you can search for the books and sometimes they will have parts of the book available to look at, that helped me.
I found Chapter four very interesting, although I have always enjoyed art work and looking at the pictures, I never really realized how much expression goes into every thought of the picture. I have found that reading to my six year old, who is very interested in books, sees a lot more details in the pictures than I might have until she pointed them out. Therefore, I do believe children pay more attention to the illustrations, as the busy adults whom get caught up in just reading the words. I accidentally did two Caldecott books, and didn't realize it until I already had my report finished and went to add it. But the second one that I read was "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat", I really liked this children's book a lot. As the overcoat got more holes the pictures had more die-cuts. And as Joseph changed his item from an overcoat to a jacket, etc. until he had a button, the pictures got smaller with the item he had created. Excellent book, the kids would like this one. My point was the illustrations went along well with the story. In Chapter 4, I also enjoyed looking at all the pictures in the book that they provided for examples. I did get the magnifying glass out and looked at them. I suggest doing this too, if you can get a chance, its really neat.
Pedar, I agree with you about taking time and looking at those pictures in the stories. I went back and looked at a few of my children's that was laying around the house and it was amazing after reading the chapter, how much I have been missing out on as well.
Miranda H. I did not know this about the author and the illustrator either. That is very interesting to me, I thought the author and the illustrator knew each other throughout the process of the book coming to life. Thanks for sharing.
I really enjoyed this chapter. I've always been big on looking at the illustrations of a book and seeing how they tie in to the words on the page. Of course, I think that comes from years of reading comic books, where the pictures really tell most of the story. I absolutely agree with reading a book through to see if it is appropriate for the age group you'll be reading it to. Sometimes I think that we as adults just assume a picture book is appropriate for any age group, but this is absolutely not true.
Having read "Officer Buckle and Gloria", I can see how you'd miss so much not having the illustrations. You wouldn't get why Officer Buckle was so upset with Gloria, and that is a huge part of the story. If you haven't read this one, I totally recommend it.
I really thought that this chapter was very interesting. When I look at pictures rather they are in books or magazines, I don’t think of what type paint the author used or what type of lines they used, I just see color either bright or dull. Do we really think that children care about this? I am not saying it isn’t important, it’s that what eight years old will. Vertical or horizontal lines, I never thought of when looking at pictures, or diagonal lines and how they loose balance or uncontrolled motion. Color is a major part of a picture, which I understand but does it matter if it’s oil, watercolor, or abstract? I don’t, I like bright colors or old - fashioned color pictures. For example: the picture on page 125. The picture of Santa Claus, I really like the color. It’s what caught my attention, not the fact he’s picking his nose. My son caught that. I agree with Jade, pictures help to tell the story. It helps the reader to follow along with the words that is speaking the story. I have never have heard of woodcuts. This is new to me. Just like the talking of the different lines. It would have been nice to see a picture of a woodcut. It would have helped me to see what they the author of the book was trying to describe. It would have been nice to see some pictures by the artists that the chapter talked about.
Chapter 4 was insightful regarding the importance of illustrations. Personally I have always valued illustrations in regards to books. Most of my favorite books from my childhood I remember not only the main characters and their journey but the pictures as well.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 even referenced one of my favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I remember how important the pictures were in allowing the reader to visualize Max’s adventure. The pictures are pastels and it was nice to find out in I was correct about the illustrations being watercolor. I had presumed they were. It was interesting to find out watercolor is one of the most common artistic media for illustrations in children’s books. I am able to understand all the terms in regards to illustrations and the importance of pictures within a book, especially for children.
Identifying the purpose of color in illustrations and the association to feelings and moods was important for me to understand. It will be helpful in choosing a book for the classroom mood or atmosphere. This knowledge could also be used when assisting a student in finding a book especially if they are feeling sad.
It was also insightful and useful to read about artistic style, such as Pablo Picassos’ abstract paintings, which I feel are impressionable, beautiful, and at times are wordless to describe. I also valued the list of illustrators and the summaries providing detail on their artistic styles. This is another piece of information which is going to be useful when I begin to teach. The Teaching with artists and their illustrations section of the chapter could be useful as well. Most of all I felt his chapter displayed the underlining importance illustrations have in literature and how in result they allow children to be inspirited and creative.
Chapter 4 was very good... I enjoyed reading all about illustrations. I never really looked into the depths of it all before. Once they talked about the difference and why the illustrator uses different colors and techniques and designs, I started thinking back at the pictures in the books and realized how true it is. Emotions going along with colors is very true. I couldn't agree more with Jade about using color when choosing out books for the classroom to go along with the student's mood.
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 was interesting. I fully agree that illustrations in books are a must and are extremely important in telling a story. My son is 7 and in the 2nd grade, he is reading a lot of the A to Z Mystery books, these are chapter books, however there are illustrations thrown in throughout the book, helping tell the story. Illustrations can sometimes tell just as much or more of the story then some of the texts. The way it is submitted, the Emotions that Hillary speaks of is totally true. When I am looking for books for my son, I intentionally look for books with fun illustrations, cause I know my son will enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteI liked the introduction in this chapter. It just goes to show that children do judge books by their cover. There is so much creativity used in illustrations made for children. All illustrations are made differently because children and people are different and are attracted to different styles of art. So many things can be shown in a picture and it is cool hear different views what one sees in one picture. I loved the picture on page 127 with the cat and the mouse. It showed how intrigued they were with reading as if they didn't know they were right next to each other and it united them together. This chapter shows so many illustrations with different textures and art styles, that I found it all intriguing. Being a big fan of art, I found the picture on page 145 humorous imitating the original art from George Seurat.
ReplyDeleteJadeB -
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Maurice Sendak! His illustrations also caught my attention as well. Awhile back for a class assignment I had to research him as an artist and also an author. He used a lot of art techniques, such as pointillism which is hard to master. His book, Where The Wild Things Were also had bad reviews when it came out because they believed his illustrations were too scary for children. It's rather humorous because of all the much scarier illustrations we have out in the media today. I am definitely excited for the movie to come out on October 16th!
I fully agree, that kids do judgen a book by illustrations and the cover. Some kids will see a cover and decide or thumb through a book to see if they want to check it out or not.
ReplyDeleteSMartens,
ReplyDeleteI agree that children do just a book by its cover. My son is 11 and he still tries to do this. I have to have him read the back cover with the synapsis on it to make sure he truely thinks it would be and interesting book or not before I let him either get it or put it back. I am 33 and sometimes find myself doing this. If the front cover or the title is not appealing, then I find myself not even looking at the back to see what it might be about. Unfortunately this is kind of a 1st impression type of thing.
I really enjoyed reading parts of chapter 4, and other parts really bothered me. I thought it was very annoying how the author gave such beautiful detailed descriptions of certain books...and then gave no visual. Some of these descriptions did have visuals, but the picture was on a completely different page. There were also pictures of books that weren't mentioned in the text. Maybe I'm not seeing the point, but I like to think that if you're going to spend so much time on the description and provide visuals, the visual should be what the description is about. Otherwise, those other titles become forgettable. No matter how good the description was, I'm not going to bother going back to read a textbook to find out what it was. I'm probably just going to skim the pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, something else that bothered me was that the text really doesn't explain how an artist/illustrator and author collaborate on the artwork for a book. The text alludes that they work together. Last year, at the elementary school I worked at, Marsha Diane Arnold (check out her website: www.marshadianearnold.com) visited our students and explained the process to them. According to her, she doesn't even know who the artist will be until she sends in her text to her editor and the editor picks from a list of available artists. Then the editor sends the text to the chosen artist who can exercise artistic license with the illustrations before sending them back to the editor for approval. If the editor approves them, the whole book gets sent to the publisher. Marsha Diane Arnold said that she would see the final book storyboarded before it was bound...but after it was published. I don't know if that's how it always works, but I checked her site, and almost all of her books are done by different illustrators...Something to think about when reading the text!
What I did like about the chapter, though, is that the descriptions were quite thorough and the classroom suggestions sounded very fun! I think that using art to teach kids descriptive vocabulary, writing, cultural heritage, and art in general sounds like a blast! I used to create art projects for our Sp. Ed. kids to do and to decorate our classroom with, but I know the regular ed. kids hardly had any time for art. I think that as a teacher, I would like to be able to use some of the suggestions from this book to incorporate art into my regular lessons. Learning is more fun if it's enjoyable!
Geoff -
ReplyDeleteI agree that the pictures often make a story, and that even in chapter books they are important. When I was younger, I loved to read (and still do), but always some of my favorite parts were the pictures. I would skip through my chapter books first to look at all the pictures before I would read it, and when I got to that part I would study the picture to make sure it was exactly how it was described.
It's kind of funny now, though. I was reading a book the other day and stopped to point out something funny to my husband. My 3-year-old wanted to see the picture, and I told him "There aren't any pictures. Mama's books don't have pictures. Isn't that weird?"
Sometimes I think it would be nice if adult books did have them!
Terra M
ReplyDeleteIf I were to guess, I’d say that almost every single one of us at one point in time has chosen a book by it’s cover! Illustrations play a very integral part in a book. As our chapter points out; the collaborative process of creating picture books for children makes special demands on artists. I find this especially true among our young children. Picture books with little words rely so much on the illustrations to tell the story. I particularly find it enjoyable at circle time in preschool to go around the circle and let the children tell the story by just looking at the picturesJ It’s amazing the results you will get. So many times they will be able to tell it as though they’ve read it themselves!
There are so many different visual elements that an illustrator can use to draw pictures for the reader as we learned in the chapter such as line, color, shape, and texture. It’s how they combine these elements that gives us the reader/viewer the pleasure of displeasure of looking at it. I think it’s important to choose various books that depict these different styles of illustrations to use in our classrooms. We are all different individuals as are our children. We all look at things differently and like different things. However, I think it’s important when we choose a book that again we go back to our previous chapters and choose wisely, in accordance with the grade you are teaching and where they are developmentally.
I believe this quote to be so true………….. “Pictures Are Worth a Thousand Words”
Terra M
ReplyDeleteSmartens……….
Where the Wild Things Are is a wonderful book. I have never heard that before about the reviews regarding the illustrations! I find that whenever I’ve heard this book read in front of even the youngest age; preschoolers they absolutely love it. They love imitating the sounds the author puts into his story…..my own children love this story, it won’t change my mind about reading to a classroom of my own someday!
SMartens-
ReplyDeleteI was not aware of the bad reviews due to the illustrations being scary. That is interesting as a child I never found the pictures to be scary I thought they were exciting. I loved Max's adventure. Most of all because I could relate to his character's choices. How many kids get upset with their parents and say things they don't mean? Alot! :) I found this to be humorous as a child and still to today.
I remember my teacher had a puppet of Max and used it while reading the book. Another good memory. And thank you I forgot about the movie coming out. I remember hearing about it being made into a movie but since I become a mom 7 months ago I have not been to a movie in a theater. I just might have to go. It was also nice to hear someone else loved the book. It will forever be a favorite of mine.
Chapter 4 gave us a very in-depth look at illustrations in children’s books and what an important part they play in children’s literature. As was pointed out in the text, children oftentimes choose a story based on the illustrations presented. I really enjoyed the section on visual elements and how it explained the artist’s use of line, color and shape. Although I have always enjoyed the illustrations in children’s books, it wasn’t until reading this chapter did I fully understand how important those elements were to the overall picture. I have always noticed the various colors, shapes and depths of lines, but had never really considered how the use of lines suggested so much movement. I have always picked up on the use of color and how it can enhance the overall mood of the story and the text aptly pointed out that the combination of lines and colors is a very common strategy for artists to convey emotions in picture books.
ReplyDeleteThe text did a great job of explaining all the elements, media and styles of art, but many times I felt like I was caught up in an art history text book. When analyzing illustrations in children’s books, I have never personally wondered where the artist’s inspiration came from. Rather, I look for illustrations that are used to complement the text of the books, and especially enjoy illustrations that expand the text of the story and may even tell a story of their own. In my opinion, that is the importance of illustrations in children’s literature.
There were some beautiful examples of illustrations provided in the text, but I found myself looking for some of the illustrations that had been referred to, but not shown. Personally, I felt that I would have been able to appreciate the chapter more had there been more examples of illustrations with brief descriptions rather than so much information with what seemed to be very few examples. There was some great information about several awarding winning illustrators and I enjoyed reading more about Maurice Sendak as “Where the Wild Things Are” was a childhood favorite of mine and is a favorite of my children.
Also described were several activities that can be used in the classroom. Many of them sounded quite interesting; however I would have enjoyed learning more about incorporating art in a lower elementary level as I felt many of the ideas given were targeted toward middle and high school students. I found the section on aesthetic scanning the most informative. I feel that I can easily use this information to actively engage my future students in appreciating the illustrations and attempting to understand the meanings that they convey.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMiranda H - I completely agree with your comments about the textbook failing to discuss the interactions of the authors and illustrators. So much is involved in the publication of books, that it seems this would have been an important part of this chapter. Thanks for the suggestion about Marsha Diane Arnold's website - very neat!!
ReplyDeleteMiranda, I agree about having some pictures in adult books!!! I remember when I was a kid, I would open a book and try to get one that had pictures, cause that is less to read! And I know about 1/2 the class did the same thing! What can I say? I was young and would have rather been playing wiffle ball or nintendo.
ReplyDeleteMiranda,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interesting post. I often wonder if the author gets to choose from several illustrator and gets to pick or if they work together as a team.
Chapter Four,
ReplyDeleteMy children are at the ages that they prefer to look at the pictures. They have to be interesting for them to pick it out to read. I like to think of them as pieces of art. I enjoy looking the=rough the Caldecott books in our library. There is a first grade teacher at my kids' school that is a very good artist as well. She has made poster sized drawings of many of the pages from Eric Carlson's books.
My children also do as the text stated, make up their own stories to go along with the pictures. It is great for their imagination before they can read.
Goodness..typo Eric Carle.
ReplyDeleteI have read stories to my 3 children plus 10 years worth of daycare children, and not once did I see the illustrations as anything other than cute. I never thought to see the illustrator separate from the author. The illustrator is an individual with his own unique style of depicting a scene. I was amazed by the comparison of Clement Hurd and Goya. Goodnight Moon was nothing more than a cute story until I finished reading this chapter. In fact, after finishing this chapter I read a Bill Martin Junior book. Before reading it, I went page by page and analyzed the illustrations and text layout. I have a newfound interest!
ReplyDeleteMy first attempt at college was as an art major. I spent 2 years studying artists such as Rousseau, Van Gogh and Manet, but I had no idea they could be found in children’s literature. I also learned the techniques of collage, pointillism and woodcuts while trying to find the artistic style that was best suited for me. Had someone told me to study the artistic masterminds in children’s books, I may have completed my teaching degree way back then.
The only part in the chapter that had me a little uninterested was the focus on Economic and Social conditions in art criticism. Turning the focus from lines and color to art shaped by ideology was a little distracting. Overall, I enjoyed learning the variety of styles illustrators have used for the interest of the young. I hope soon to be analyzing the illustrations of many of these talented artists with my own class.
Stephanie, I really like how you said that children do judge a book by its cover. I never really paid much attention, but it is true. My daughter brought home a chapter book Friday, and she picked it out because of the Yorkie pup in bows on the cover.
ReplyDeleteI also have to agree with Rebekah in the area of more examples. They described a lot, but showed very little. I read Where the Wild Things Are for the very first time (that I can remember) a couple days ago. I have to say that the illustrations did not impress me. I think I expected so much more because of all the discussion I have heard about it lately.
I really enjoyed reading chapter four of the book. To be honest I have never paid attention to the pictures of books. For some reason I don't see the purpose of the pictures. All that changed when my daughter started bringing home picture books for herself to read and then she would explain to me what she thought the pictures meant and how they connected to the words in the story. The author and the illustrator both play a major role in the success of a book. I really enjoyed the technique suggested for in the class room use. I think that incorporating art into the lessons would have a better outcome of the assignments because the enjoyment is much greater.
ReplyDeleteSMartins
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you when you say that children judge books by there covers. I for one always do that for some reason. I always read the back part of the book to see if it sounds interesting or not. My daughter has a habit of doing that as well. I think that we should not judge a book by its cover, we should learn to appreciate what the pictures are trying to portray. This chapter focuses on that in its entirety and I think that now I have learned to see the pictures in a different light.
That is funny that I too never realized the impact of the cover of the book. I caught myself testing my son. He really does look at the front of every book to determine if he will want to read it or not. I guess I never thought about it before and I have probably helped reinforce this as well because I do the same thing unless I have prior knowledge that the book is supposed to be good.
ReplyDeleteI like illustrations. I pick a book by its cover a lot but depending upon what kind of book it is I don't always want illustrations in it. Pictures can bring words to life if they are done correctly and that is what this chapter is all about. I read a lot of childrens books due to having young ones at home. It is amazing how they really love to look at the pictures. My youngest can't read but she can tell a story just by looking at the pictures and with a good illustration she can come close to what the words say. I can't draw and so some of what the chapter says is more detailed than I am used to but I can understand that a good picture doesn't need words.
ReplyDeleteShadra T.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that I also never looked at pictures other than something that was on the page. I loved looking at the cover of a book but pictures didn't matter. Until my children I had no idea that pictures were such a big deal. Now I know that they matter and tend to find books for them with good pictures in them.
I have never really been that in depth with art, but I did find Ch. 4 interesting. Learning about how the illustrators use different lines, colors, shapes, etc. to help tell the story had me thinking. I never really thought about the way they use these different techniques before. I always looked at a picture as a whole, not with the detail discussed in Ch. 4.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter discusses how different lines, shapes, and colors can mean different things. I don’t know if I totally grasp that entire idea yet. When I look at a picture, to me I just see the picture and what is in it (people, buildings, trees, etc.), but according to the chapter the lines, shapes, and colors have more of an effect. Do we actually see more, or feel more than that, without even realizing it? What part of us see’s more than kids playing in a park? What part of us realizes that the horizontal lines in the picture are actually calming, or the jagged lines mean danger? Is that something that we have learned over time? If so, do these illustrations have the same effect on children as they do on adults?
I love good illustrations, and I believe that a good illustrated book will help keep everyone interested in a book. I know that a well illustrated cover, or illustrations in a book can make a difference between a kid wanting to pick that book or not. So, the importance of illustration is obvious. It definitely helps make a story, especially for kids.
Shadra,
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean by only seeing an illustration as cute, or just as a picture of items. I see how color can make you feel different ways, but I am still trying to learn about the use of lines and shapes having the same effects.
I know a lot of research has been done on the effect of color on mood. The Iowa Hawkeyes football team actually painted their visiting locker room pink, because it is supposed to be calming. I don't know how well it has worked out for them, but it helps show the background of how color can effect mood.
I think I need to try and spend more time with books that have more illustrations and try to analyze these ideas more to help my understanding.
Chapter 4 discussed the work of some of my favorite illustrators. I plan to teach younger elementary students and am well aware of their attraction to art. The illustrations of many books clue them in to what a word or main idea might be. They look to the pictures for reassurance that they understand what they read. The chart on page 119 reminded me of the important points to consider when evaluating the illustrations in a book.
ReplyDeleteThe location of the text on a page in relation to the illustrations was discussed in this chapter. I read The Little House for my review of a Caldecott book and noted the movement of the text. The words were winding, just like the roads in the pictures. This informal style was fun to read.
I enjoy using art when teaching a story. I tried to choose a projject that resembled the the illustrations in the story or reflected the main idea of the story. One of my favorite examples of this was in a piece of “dot” art we did to correspond to a study of the book “The Dot” by Peter Reynolds (Scott Foresman Reading Program). This particular story was about a child and the beauty of a teacher recognizing ability in something as simple as a dot. The recognition and praise encouraged the child to continue to paint. In the end the child shares the feelings of acceptance and the love of painting with another student. The piece of art associated with the story was Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. In using this work, the students were able to transform many dots to create an a piece of art reflective of their personality . My students also enjoyed using stickers, stamps, and drawings to create their own stories. They were able to “speak” through their art. This reminded me how important illustrations are to their comprehension of a story. I know I am thankful for the illustrations in the texts I read.
Jade,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the discussion about different styles of art. I am not familiar with art history and appreciated the review of impressionism, expressionism, and abstract works. The illustrations say so much about the story plot, and they also represent the social climate and values of the time. I wonder, as others in the blog did, if it is difficult to find an illustrator that "says" what the words say.
Illustration personaly I love, especially in a childrens book. It exposes them to different types of art. It can sometimes just give a hint of what's about to happen but you want to continue to read on to find out why who is doing what in the picture. Some illustrations are vague and some give so much detail like in picture books. I'm amazed at how picture books can tell you a story by just looking at the pictures themselves. I really like the books with the more detailed pictures and colored art and I also like the books with no pictures at all. I think it opens the imagination both ways.
ReplyDeleteDanica I use to also pick books by their cover too! I was disappointed at time cause sometimes although the cover looks awesome the book is not what you expect. Kinda like movie previews. I know better now. A lot of the books that we are required to read I would never look twice at getting because of the cover but wow...some of the things you find inside are just amazing.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this chapter I see now that I have been taking the illustrations in all my childhood books for granted. I never realized how the books add and complete the story. How the illustration give the book its mood and reflects how the characters feel in the book. I’ve never really thought about the different types of media used in books and always thought it was the different styles between illustrators and not a totally different media all together. After reading this chapter I went and looked at the different children’s books of my daughters and it was easy to tell which books were down in pastels to the ones done in water color. I see now that the illustrator is just as important as the writer when it comes to children books. The depth and feeling they can put in one picture is literally worth a thousand words.
ReplyDeleteJade B- Where the Wild Things Are was one of my favorite books as well. They are making it a movie comes out October 16th.
ReplyDeleteMirandaH- now that you bring it up I am also curious to how they work out who illustrates the book. In my mind they have worked together in the past or the author would pick an illustrator that does work they like. I would think the book would benefit if the author and illustrators would work directly together. What if the illustrator gets a different vibe from the book their illustrations may have a feeling the author doesn’t want. I don’t know but that whole situation I do not like. If it is done the same way you say it’s done I think they should change it. They would more likely make a higher quality book.
Illustrations are an important part of any book. I know when I see an illustration it helps me to see what the author is trying to tell me. If this works for me than I am sure that it works for children as well. This chapter talks about Eric Carle who is one of my favorite illustrators. I find it fascinating that he can paint on tissue paper. This seems like such tedious work to me, tissue paper is very fragile. It is amazing how he gets all the wonderful pictures he creates out of painting colors on tissue paper and just putting them together. I had a 1st grade teacher that I worked with that would do an Eric Carle unit every year. She would read them Eric Carle books and tell them how he created his artwork. She would then have them create their own collage using tag board instead of tissue paper (much easier for 1st grade hands) and had them create bugs using 3 different colors. They seemed to have almost too much fun creating their collages. It was amazing at the wonderful artwork that these 1st graders came up with.
ReplyDeleteTalking about illustrations. I think the author could have used many more in this chapter. She described many different illustrations in books and I really would have liked to have seen more illustrations used or less descriptions. I thought it bogged down the reading too much with out enough pictures to show what she was talking about.
Chapter 4 I found to be very interesting yet very long. I am struggling keeping up with all of the titles that are discussed throughout this chapter. I guess what really bothered me about the chapter is that it is about illustrations in books but there were very few examples of the illustrations compared to the amount of titles that were discussed. I did find the discussion on the visual elements to be very interesting. I really do appreciate art but I never truly looked at the elements of an illustration to find meaning, I usually got that from the text. I enjoyed the discussion about aesthetic scanning and can see how that would be beneficial to children as well fun, interesting. And interactive The art education books that were mentioned in this section sound like they would be very helpful in learning more on how to get children to respond to art. During this chapter I was looking back to my childhood to try and remember some of my favorite children’s books and I had a difficult time coming up with any picture books that stood out to me. I could only remember the stories and not the illustrations. As an adult I have found many favorite picture books in which I truly enjoy the illustrations, sometimes even more than the story itself.
ReplyDeleteMariaC, I agree with the use of art projects to go along with the literature to help get kids more intrested in the material. Most kids enjoy doing the art lessons and I can definitely see them being able to take more away from a book and have a better appreciation of art when using the aesthetic scanning technique.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a big fan of the illustrations in books. As a child, my mother used to read "What Was That!" by Geda Bradley Mathews (Author), Normand Chartier (Illustrator), and I loved to look at the illustrations of the little creatures who were making the noises the little bears heard. Just the image of the three bears in bed together, and the looks on their faces! I'm also a huge fan of Mercer Mayer, and the illustrations for "Little Monster's Bedtime Book" are adorable. You have to really look at them to see all of the little details that are in those illustrations. Even now, I get those books out and read them to my kids, and what really stands out about them IS the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is very important to take the type of Children's book into account. Pen and ink drawings would look really out of place in some stories, and watercolors would look out of place in a book about something like Egypt. And cut paper illustrations? Those take serious determination, I don't think I'd have the patience. They do look impressive though, don't they?
Shanna S-
ReplyDeleteI agree. It would have been better to have more examples of the illustrations they spoke of in the book. I felt like I was drowning in information at times with this chapter. If you go to Amazon.com, you can search for the books and sometimes they will have parts of the book available to look at, that helped me.
I found Chapter four very interesting, although I have always enjoyed art work and looking at the pictures, I never really realized how much expression goes into every thought of the picture. I have found that reading to my six year old, who is very interested in books, sees a lot more details in the pictures than I might have until she pointed them out. Therefore, I do believe children pay more attention to the illustrations, as the busy adults whom get caught up in just reading the words.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally did two Caldecott books, and didn't realize it until I already had my report finished and went to add it. But the second one that I read was "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat", I really liked this children's book a lot. As the overcoat got more holes the pictures had more die-cuts. And as Joseph changed his item from an overcoat to a jacket, etc. until he had a button, the pictures got smaller with the item he had created. Excellent book, the kids would like this one. My point was the illustrations went along well with the story.
In Chapter 4, I also enjoyed looking at all the pictures in the book that they provided for examples. I did get the magnifying glass out and looked at them. I suggest doing this too, if you can get a chance, its really neat.
Pedar,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about taking time and looking at those pictures in the stories. I went back and looked at a few of my children's that was laying around the house and it was amazing after reading the chapter, how much I have been missing out on as well.
Miranda H.
ReplyDeleteI did not know this about the author and the illustrator either. That is very interesting to me, I thought the author and the illustrator knew each other throughout the process of the book coming to life.
Thanks for sharing.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this chapter. I've always been big on looking at the illustrations of a book and seeing how they tie in to the words on the page. Of course, I think that comes from years of reading comic books, where the pictures really tell most of the story. I absolutely agree with reading a book through to see if it is appropriate for the age group you'll be reading it to. Sometimes I think that we as adults just assume a picture book is appropriate for any age group, but this is absolutely not true.
ReplyDeleteHaving read "Officer Buckle and Gloria", I can see how you'd miss so much not having the illustrations. You wouldn't get why Officer Buckle was so upset with Gloria, and that is a huge part of the story. If you haven't read this one, I totally recommend it.
I really thought that this chapter was very interesting. When I look at pictures rather they are in books or magazines, I don’t think of what type paint the author used or what type of lines they used, I just see color either bright or dull. Do we really think that children care about this? I am not saying it isn’t important, it’s that what eight years old will.
ReplyDeleteVertical or horizontal lines, I never thought of when looking at pictures, or diagonal lines and how they loose balance or uncontrolled motion.
Color is a major part of a picture, which I understand but does it matter if it’s oil, watercolor, or abstract? I don’t, I like bright colors or old - fashioned color pictures. For example: the picture on page 125. The picture of Santa Claus, I really like the color. It’s what caught my attention, not the fact he’s picking his nose. My son caught that.
I agree with Jade, pictures help to tell the story. It helps the reader to follow along with the words that is speaking the story.
I have never have heard of woodcuts. This is new to me. Just like the talking of the different lines. It would have been nice to see a picture of a woodcut. It would have helped me to see what they the author of the book was trying to describe. It would have been nice to see some pictures by the artists that the chapter talked about.