Art Styles and Audiences

Information/ Reference Titles- aimed at 9-11 year old's:

- A photo realistic style is used throughout the majority of information/reference titles.
- Information books usually tend to have brightly coloured and interesting cover pages, by having interestingly designed outer pages, it could draw in the audience's attention as the kids may be put off from reading it if they know that it is an information book. So by making the cover interesting and colourful, it makes it more welcoming.
- There are lots of illustrations present that are merged with text, the images usually back up or emphasise the wording on the page.
- The images are used to break up the text as it can be quite daunting, despite these books being for a much older audience.
- The large amount of text will put off a younger audience.
- Columns and grids are usually present in these types of books as there is more of a focus on structure of the book and the text in it.
- I think that the photorealism found in the images in information books is really important as they act as references so if they were abstract, it wouldn't be easy to link the images in the book with real life images.
- Elements:
        - Real life/ photo-realistic images
        - Bright colours
        - Text present but it is backed up with images





Babies/ Toddlers- First Object Books:

- The pictures in these picture books are realistic as they are in theory references for the baby as they could link together the images in the picture book to real life objects. They would be able to notice and recognise the different objects in the book from the images to what they have seen in real life.
- Books which show the alphabet in upper-case and lower-case tend to be in cartoon format as the emphasis is on the alphabet letters (A, B, C) and not the images (Apple, Bird, Cat). These cartoons could be seen as being whimsical as they perhaps want children to use their imaginations more rather than having it laid down for them.
- There are no narrative to these first object books. The only wording present is the titles and the words underneath the objects which states what they are.
- I believe that this is an appropriate art style for children's first object books because the objects should be able to be recognised  in real life as this acts as a learning aid.
- Elements:
        - Photo realistic images in order to make recognition
        - Bright Primary Colours




Picture Books- Aimed for 3-6 year old's:

- There is a whimsical cartoon look to the majority of picture books as they are for small children with good imaginations.
- The main difference between picture books and first object books is the amount of text present.
- Picture books actually tell a story with both the text and the images.
- The wording is often illustrated so that its acts as an image in order for it not to be daunting for the children.
- There is very little, if any, examples of children's picture books with photo realistic images.
- I think that this art style is appropriate for this type of book/genre/age range to take more from cartoon images as they enhance the fact that it is actually a story and not real life. I think the fact that it is designed with cartoons acts as a type of detachment from real life.
- Elements:
       - Lots of bright primary colours
       - Wording is often used creatively to act like an illustration.


















www.art-is-fun.com/art-styles/

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.

Features in Children's Books for Different Ages

Toddlers and Babies:
- There are lots of images present in books for such a young audience, in fact, the majority of the book is pictures, hence why they are called picture books.
- There are a large amount of colours present in these books which tend to be primary colours with a lot of different contrasting colours as babies focus and get drawn in by contrasting colours. The colours also make it seem really exciting as not many other things in the world that they will have come across would be as colourful as a picture book.
- There is very little (if any) text in these types of books and if there is, it is more for the benefit of the adult which would be reading the book to the child over it being useful for the child itself. Type that is messed around with so that it isn't just blocks of text makes it more interesting for the child also as the text becomes imagery in its own right, A good example of an illustrator and writer who does this is Lauren Child who wrote and illustrated Charlie and Lola.
- Examples:
        - We're Going on a Bear Hunt
        - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
        - Freight Train (This book features many illustrations which help the children to learn the names           and a bit about the different types of trains.)



3-6 Year Old's:
- There are more words to a page with these books compared to the ones for toddlers and babies but there are still a large amount of images.
- At this age, the children may not be able to properly read or would be just learning which means that they would still have story books read to them, the images would be present to help them understand the story a bit better than listening to the adult reading it.
- The images also give children of this age time to think into what is in the images a bit more as they may instantly forget what is read to them.
- The usual layout tends to be one page of text and then one page of imagery and the pattern continues.
- Examples:
       - The Very Hungry Caterpillar (There is a slight cross over from the two ages as this book is a classic and it is read and enjoyed by ages up to about 9)
       - Green Eggs and Ham

9-11 year olds:
- There are more words than images in books for this age range as they are able to understand the text on its own without a need for referencing images for help with the storyline.
- The images in these books tend to be ones that describe what is happening in the story at that particular point rather than hosting other bits of information that isn't in the wording. A fair few of 9-11 year olds would probably be embarrassed at the thought of them reading a picture book or even a book with pictures in it.
- The images are very small in these books for this age group as they are more for decorative purposes over telling the story for those who can't read text yet.
- Examples:
          - Skellig
          - Carrie's War
          - Matilda

Lauren Child

I chose to research Lauren Child as her work inspires and interests me. I like the way she uses multimedia in her work by layering up her work in order to add textures and depth to the usually flat imagery. When researching into one of her most popular illustrations and books, Charlie and Lola, I discovered that she uses real life people as inspiration and then fits the stories around the characters. She also used experiences from her life when she was a child which in my opinion adds so much personality to the books and the characters as it is realistic.

The use of illustrative drawings in Lauren Child's specific style matched with some cut outs of real life objects and textures such as the real wood texture for a wooden table adds a large amount of depth into the drawings that would otherwise be relatively flat images. She uses materials such as magazine cut outs, collages, drawings, photographs, materials and watercolour paints which adds a traditional feel to the illustrations.

Her illustrations look childlike but they are not childish. They are far too detailed and advanced for a child to draw but they are drawn and designed in a way that children would be able to relate to them as they are far enough away from a real photograph. The different textures such as a real image of wood for the wooden table also allows the child to piece information together as they would be able to recognise what wood or a wooden table looks like from previous experiences.

Despite Lauren Child's having more than one character which could mean that the target audiences are different depending on the book, she still has the style which is suitable for a target audience of three to seven year old children. Although many older children and adults watch or read her many books or can at least appreciate her illustrations. From looking at the Charlie and Lola in particular, I would say that the target audience for this book and TV programme is for three/four to seven year olds which is the same for the rest of her characters. 

http://www.milkmonitor.com/home/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_Lola
http://www.theguardian.com/books/lauren-child

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