5 signs of a good illustration for kids

Being a father, an inspired visionary, an illustrator would like to share with parents and shopmates some thoughts and observations about children's illustrated books for the little ones. Although book illustration is difficult to attribute to IT, yet, in this article I will describe important principles that can be useful to all developers of visual products for young audiences.

A book for a child is the path to knowledge of the world. The choice of a book for the child by the parents is a responsible part of his upbringing, since the children's book assumes important cognitive, ethical and aesthetic functions. Therefore, the artist is directly involved in the upbringing of the child. With his illustrations, he develops the aesthetic taste of the child, influences the formation of his outlook.
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To help parents choose a book for the child, and the following 5 basic signs of a good illustration for kids will help the illustrators create it.


1. The objects depicted in the illustration must be expressive and easily recognizable. All the methods are good here. For example, the exaggeration of certain properties of objects, the emphasis on their main features and the simplification of secondary ones.


Bear, brown bear, who is there ahead? Posted by: Martin Jr. Bill, Illustrator: Karl Erik

2. Characters should easily convey emotions. Facial expression and body position of the character must be well defined. Do not use complex emotions: sad smiles or tears of happiness. The child understands only one kind of tears - the one who feels bad cries. And the one who is good smiles.


New Year's book of rabbit stories. Author: Geneveva Yurye, illustrator: Loic Johannigo

3. Color in the children's illustration performs an important informational function. Bright, contrasting colors set the emotional mood, and color accents control the attention of the child.


The Cat in the Hat. Theodor geisel

4. The characters of the characters are revealed through their phrases and actions. The child perceives the actions in the picture, so the illustration should strive to “tell” the story without accompanying the text. The artist in the children's book is not just an illustrator of the book-turning scene. He becomes the director of the whole story, the storyteller.


SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN. Chris Haughton

5. In the illustration, everything should be logical and thought out. In the rapidly developing thinking of a child, the construction of cause-effect mental connections plays a very important role. The investigation should try as much as possible to connect with the reason through “why?” It is important to remember that the book is a textbook for the kid, because you should pay attention to what she can teach.


Visible-Invisible. Author: Valery Ordinartseva, illustrator: Polina Bakhtina

English illustrator Martin Salisbury (Martin Salisbury) in one of his interviews said: "... the picture book serves as a personal traveling art gallery that you can hold in your hands and visit again and again."

The child will “reread” the book hundreds of times. And later, in adulthood, remember what I read in childhood. Everything that he takes from the book, on a subconscious level, will affect his attitude towards the world and those around him. Therefore, I ask parents to be attentive to what your kids read and don’t spare money on good children's books.