History of Children's Book Illustrations

1600's

John Amos Comenius
- Comenius was the first person to start thinking how children were different to adults and they actually learned differently to how adults learned.
- He also began thinking about how it would be easier for children to learn through images than words.

1697

Charles Perrault (1628-1703)
- Perrault brought the Evolution of the Fairytale.
- He wrote the original fairytales such as:
                                        -Tales of Mother Goose
                                        - Red Riding Hood
                                        -Cinderella
- Perrault's version of the fairytale stories influenced the German versions which were published by the Brothers Grimm over 100 years later.
-His stories have been adapted into opera, ballet, theatre and films.
- His stories were a lot darker and more brutal than they are told in the present day. In his original fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood, he made it very obvious that the "wolf" character was actually the intent of men who were preying on young girls who wander into the woods on their own.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/12093512/Who-was-Charles-Perrault-Why-the-fairy-tales-you-know-may-not-be-as-they-seem.html

Chapbooks:
- Chapbooks are small paper booklets which contained stories and moral tales.

Educational Hornbooks:
- Hornbooks are thin sheets of paper which have been mounted onto wooden panels.
-They usually contain the alphabet or moral stories which the children are to learn.
- The educational hornbook would be kept round the child's waist or hung on their belt.

Baby Books:
- Strong contrast, very bold
- Very little wording
- Use of primary colours
- Simplistic and easy to understand

Picture Books:
- The illustrations tell the story without a need for any text.
- Type is included but it often is artistically and creatively designed so that it acts as an image itself.

Tweenagers:
- Children at this age don't really need many visuals to focus on as they are interested in the wording on the page over the images.
- The use of colour diminishes at this age as there is no need for vibrancy to attract the child.

Graphic Novels/ Comic Books:
- These types of books are a good way of getting reluctant readers into reading as it doesn't come across as a big scary book as there are lots of images which are brightly coloured and interesting.
- The illustrations in these types of books are for a wide range of audiences as they are suitable for children, teenagers and often young adults.