5 signs of a good illustration for kids

Being a father, inspired by a visionary, the illustrator would like to share with parents and colleagues in the workshop some thoughts and observations about children's illustrated books for the smallest. And although the book illustration is difficult to attribute to IT, nevertheless, in this article I will describe important principles that may be useful to all developers of visual products for a young audience.

A book for a child is a way to know the world. Parents' choice of a book for a child is a crucial part of their upbringing, since a children's book takes on important cognitive, ethical, and aesthetic functions. Therefore, the artist is directly involved in raising a child. By his illustrations, he develops the aesthetic taste of the child, affects the formation of his worldview.

The following 5 main signs of a good illustration for kids will help parents help them choose a book for their child, and illustrators will be able to create it.


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


Bear, brown bear, who is in front? Posted by: Martin Jr. Bill, Illustrator: Carl Eric

2. Characters should easily convey emotions. The facial expressions and the position of the character's body should be well defined. Do not use complex emotions: sad smiles or tears of happiness. A child understands only one kind of tears - the one who is feeling bad cries. And the one who is well smiles.


New Year's book of rabbit stories. Author: Geneveva Yurie, illustrator: Loic Juannigo

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


The Cat in the Hat. Theodor Geisel

4. The characters' 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 a children's book is not just an illustrator of a book-reversal 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 the child, the construction of mental relationships "cause-effect" play a very important role. The investigation should try to connect with the cause as much as possible through “why?” It is important to remember that the book is a textbook for the baby, so you should pay attention to what she can teach.


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

English illustrator Martin Salisbury said in one of his interviews: “... a 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, at a subconscious level, will affect his attitude towards the world and those around him. Therefore, I ask parents to be careful about what your kids are reading and not to spare money for good children's books.