An illustration is an image (a drawing, photo, or print) to explain the text of a work of fiction, technical documentation, or scholarly work. Visual images help the reader to feel more deeply the emotional atmosphere and understand the main essence of the book. Illustrations are widely used not only in books, but also in the advertising industry and in the media.
We are surrounded by all kinds of pictures, photographs, drawings, graphs, charts and other visual elements on websites and social media. Each of these illustrations conveys its own idea and meaning. But how is this technique different from the other types of images?
An illustration is any image that accompanies a text and supplements or clarifies it. The word itself is derived from the Latin and is translated as “pictorial image”. A person who creates such pictures is called an illustrator.
Now the meaning of the word is much more extended. Modern illustrations not only explain the text, but also tell a story. When one looks at such a picture, he sees a certain story and so to say “reads” it. So you have to tell a story, to transmit a certain meaning or context through an image.
There is a term, commercial illustration. By that we mean any illustration, for which the author gets paid. That is, certain drawings or photos are created to order, in accordance with a brief or terms of reference. Then the customer can use the image for any purpose, for example to publish it on a website, use it in advertising or when creating covers or characters.
What are the differences from a drawing, a photograph?
A drawing is not always an illustration, but an illustration can be a drawing. The same goes for photographs – but only if they accompany and explain the text. It all depends on how and how to use them.
Photos and pictures for an article on a website are all the same illustrations and additions to the text.
The difference between an illustration and an infographic
Infographics have some relation to illustration, but they are still different from it. So, infographics convey complex information not only through images and pictures, but also through text, various graphic elements and so on. Infographics is original, in some cases it can completely replace the text and depends on its form and type. Accordingly, it can both be an illustration and contain several illustrative elements.