Murals and stone carvings: In ancient times, humans knew how to use the form of "painting" to make each other understand and express with images such as lines and colors. According to the research of archaeologists, the earliest human painting was a cave painting in Lascaux, southern France, about 20,000 years ago. This is the earliest painting of modern human beings. This cave mural may be the oldest illustration in the world in terms of the meaning of conveying information.
Ukiyo-e painting in Japan: Ukiyo-e painting is a kind of folk print that rose in the Edo period in Japan. Although it had a high artistic style, it was widely circulated overseas from the end of Edo to the Meiji period (1the second half of the 9th century) because the Japanese at that time ignored it as a leaflet or poster. Impressionist painters such as Monet, Van Gogh and Rehnova were all influenced by Japanese Ukiyo-e painting. Van Gogh's personal collection contains a large number of Japanese ukiyo-e paintings. Van Gogh's Blue Sky and Golden Sunflower can be said to be based on Japanese ukiyo-e painting.
The charm of ukiyo-e painting lies in its high artistic value, and because it was a popular painting at that time, the themes were mostly taken from people's living habits and daily scenes, and with unique colors and creativity, each painting had a distinct Japanese national style and also reflected the Japanese cultural background at that time.
Benjamin Illustrator: The representative of the original illustrator in China, whose works and styles have been well received by the industry, called him "cutting-edge". Benjamin is a big boy, born as a fashion designer. Later, he gave up his position as a high-paying advertising company and devoted himself to comic creation. He has published related comic works in comic magazines all over the country. His works combine computer technology and comic skills, and have a strong appeal. There are many emotions hidden in Benjamin's paintings. Wandering in black and white colors and intricate lines. His works are good at using the atmosphere of color to express emotions, but they are not ambiguous in detail description. This kind of expression technique of coarse and fine is rare among the younger generation of painters in China. He often writes some comments and criticisms about his life and illustration art, and his writing is sharp and gorgeous, which complements his paintings.
Illustration technique
Whether it is traditional brush or computer drawing, illustration drawing is a relatively independent creative process with strong personal feelings.
There are many jobs related to illustrations, such as children's work, clothing work, book work, newspaper supplement work, advertising work and computer games work. Different kinds of works need different kinds of illustrators, and their styles and skills are also different. Even if it is a professional magazine illustration, the style that each publishing house likes is not necessarily the same. Therefore, illustration is becoming more and more commercialized, demanding higher and higher, and moving towards a professional level. It's never the same as before, maybe just to express a moment's thoughts.
When drawing illustrations, it is best to practice basic skills, such as sketching and sketching. Sketch is to train the understanding of light and shadow and composition.
Sketch, on the other hand, is to train memory, draw images and feelings quickly in a simple style, and make hands and brains more flexible. Then you can try to draw with different pigments, such as watercolor, oil painting, colored pencil, pastel and so on. And find a painting method that suits you.
Of course, you can also use computer drawing now, such as Illustrator, photoshop, painter and other drawing software. Simply put, Illustrator is vector drawing software, photoshop is dot matrix, and painter can imitate hand-drawn brushstrokes.
The creative expression of illustration can be concrete or abstract, and the creative freedom is extremely high. When photography cannot capture the physical image, it is the best time to use illustration as an expression. Illustrations can be divided into book illustrations, advertising illustrations and scientific illustrations according to their uses.
Postscript: Looking through fashion magazines and popular publications, what appears in front of us are more illustrations with flamboyant personality and rich foreign flavor, so I really want to write about the art of illustration and also want to write about local illustrators.
The examples in this paper are just the tip of the iceberg of many illustrators, and they are also listed in the order in which the illustrators who left an impression in the author's mind appeared. They are definitely examples. After reading their illustrations, I don't think they are just ordinary entertainment in my mood. Apply what you have learned. The next time readers see a page with illustration style in other magazines, they will think it is an illustration, and it is a creation to express some ideas, thus realizing the author's hope when writing this article.
Furthermore, if we can read their illustrations like the authors, we will not only know the truth behind the scenes, but also be willing to put their painting style and purpose together with similar painters or works to understand and ponder, such as Cai Zhizhong and contemporary Zhu Deyong, Jimmy and McDull, Thomas Bawick and Jeffrey Favimari, and so on. Then, you will learn a new art, that is "illustration".