Here are the various types and styles of Illustrations created by IndieFolio artists

An illustration is a graphic depiction of any concept or subject in a drawing, sketch, painting, photograph, cinema or other type of image. The word comes from the latin word illustra’tio, illu’stro meaning enlighten, irradiate. Printing is the current process for reproducing illustrations, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information by providing a visual representation of something described in the text. Illustrations can be executed in different techniques, like watercolour, gouache, ink, oil, charcoal chalk or woodcut.

That was the wikipedia entry for illustrations. Wasn’t that enlightening? :/

Right, we thought so. So here’s IndieFolio’s take on illustrations and its various types:

An illustration is an image that’s created to represent, decorate, explain or give emphasis to something. They are used anywhere that requires a message to be communicated visually. From magazines, books, advertisements to concepts for movies, games etc.

Types of Illustrations

While there may be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of different styles of illustrations, they can all be placed within the following the two groups:

Literal Illustrations

Literal illustrations are those which represent pictorial truths. Here there is generally an accurate description of reality, and even if the image depicts narrative fiction of a fantastical or dramatic nature, the intent is to create a scene that is credible. (Think of these as similar to non-fiction books)

Conceptual Illustrations

Here we can have metaphorical applications to the subject or visual depictions of ideas or theories. The images may contain elements of reality, but as a whole take a whole different form or meaning. (This is the fiction category for illustrations, anything goes here.)

Examples of literal illustration would include the following:

Photorealism

This is where an illustration is created by the illustrator looking at a photo, and re-creating it to match the photo as closely as possible. This is usually done through a style of painting or via airbrushing. A great example of a photo realistic illustration was created by Pracheta Banerjee which you can see above but also in greater detail here.

Historical/Cultural

These are primarily paintings, focusing on areas such as portraits or landscapes where the artist wanted to convey something. This style was most common before the invention of photographs as that was the only way of documenting an event or person. Although some scenes could be seen to be exaggerated in either a flattering or degrading way, they were realistic enough to be classed as literal. Vivek Mandrekar and Parvez Solkar are artists on IndieFolio who have created such projects.

Hyperrealism:

This is where an illustration is made to look like a photograph. There may be a few illusionist features added to give an extra meaning to the piece but being as true to life is the goal of this style. Kriti Garg is a IndieFolio artist who does hyperrealism well. You can also view our interview of hyperrealistic artist Sachin Kamath.

Examples of conceptual illustration would include the following:

Sequential Imagery:

Normally in the form of a storyboard, whether that be for a cartoon or a graphic novel. Styles vary to the individual piece. For example a cartoon may focus more on fine-liner for the outside, using Photoshop to add colour to keep things crisp and clean, while a political satire cartoon may use ink, with an chaotic layout in order to portray the chaotic business of politics. Here we see the work of Perpetual Gomes.

Information graphics/Technical diagrams:

These can include cutaway or technical drawings that make it clear to the audience what they are looking at, but presented in a completely different way visually to convey extra information. Some areas of these may even look like literal illustration. MGL Infographic are one of the best agencies who create these. (Hint: It’s in their name!)

Distortion/Abstraction:

These illustrations are far removed from reality and are figment of the illustrators’ imaginations. Two abstract artworks will look very different from each other. You can check out Satyaki Sarkar to view more abstract artwork.

Conclusion

So as we can see, there are lots of sub-sections and categories that illustrations fall into. And yes, before we begin any debates, many of them do overlap with each other.  However, these were some of the major styles that fall under illustration. Did we miss out any of your favorites? Ping me at kavan@indiefolio.com and let me know about the same 😀