Illustration Class Room

hosted by Tang Ho (Co-hosted by Barbara,with the assistance of lovable little Lisa)

This class room is mainly for people who already have basic skills of drawing. I will not teach any technique. I believe every one have their own style. I will concentrate on composition, balance,emphasis and grammar of a drawing, In short, how well the pictures are telling a story.

 

Lesson Three: Flow of visions

 

 

Hi! I am Barbara. Tang has done 52 children's book illustrations, and I appeared in 19 of them. To say I'm his favorite character wouldn't be wrong. Now, I'll teach you lesson three: Flow of visions

 

In lesson two, the prince told you how to make your main character stand out in a drawing. Nevertheless, only catching the viewer's attention is not enough. Your next step is to keep them captivated.

In lesson one, you learned that the reader will follow the direction of an image that catches their eyes first. Now you can direct them in a flow within the picture. When you look at me, you notice my eyes first, because you recognize me as a human figure. As Lisa told you before, "people read a picture the same way they read a book - left to right, top to bottom (right to left, if you read Chinese)." Therefore, your eyes' next stop is the ruler in my hand. The

ruler lead you to my left hand by pointing at it. Then you will go to my mid-sections and to my lower body. Finally to my left foot, exit this image and you will start reading this text.

To keep viewers from going out, you should direct them back to the picture with other elements such as an object or another character.

 

 

 

 

   
 In this example, the flow of vision is as follows: From my face to my hand, then to the ruler towards Lisa's adorable big eyes. Her eyes bring you back to the ruler again. The flow becomes a loop going back and forth until you've gotten the message of this drawing.  Now try to find out the flow of this one. Remember, keeping the flow in a loop is the best way to keep people from leaving the frame too early.

 

The main goal of illustration is telling stories. Unlike in manga where you have a lot of pictures linked together to do the storytelling, an illustration should be able to express the message by itself.


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