As a result of growing up in a family of educators, I became quite a bookworm as a child. Children's books played such a huge part of my childhood that I remember asking my mother for art supplies so that I could make my own picture books with my own illustrations and stories. Two of the children's authors and illustrators that influenced me the most growing up were Ezra Jack Keats and Eric Carle. After our amazing class in which we were able to bring in children's books (my favorite discussion of the semester), I knew I wanted my paper to incorporate authors that doubled as illustrators, and these two men immediately came to mind, especially due to their unique illustration styles, which tie into the whole point of this class-how art can "speak" to the viewer, and about how words can become a sort of "visual language".
Both Carle and Keats use a type of collage style to make their artwork, resulting in unique, memorable illustrations that have won both Carle and Keats multiple honors and awards. Here are two of my favorite pictures by both of them; the first is from Carle's
10 Little Rubber Ducks, and the second is from Keats'
The Snowy Day. What do you guys think? Do you prefer collage-style illustrations to say, drawings? Paintings? If so, why? Why not? Or do you think choice of medium is not important when it comes to effectiveness of illustration?
I love this approach to the discussion of children's books! I think the choice of medium is critically important in terms of the effectiveness of an illustration. The bold, shape-based nature of collage imagery can present a story very differently, and often with more power than can a pencil-sketched drawing, yet the drawing certainly has its place too. I find it interesting that there's a sort of voice to different visual accompaniment to stories, and when the author also acts as the illustrator they have full control over the cohesion of the voice of the image and that of the story. I can't say whether I prefer one style of illustration over another, because it often depends on how it works withe the story it's illustrating!
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