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Illustrated Tales: Experience a Magical World!
Illustrated Tales: Ex …
Did you know that the first illustrated story that is recorded in history is Orbis sensualium pictus, whose purpose was the teaching of Latin? It was written in 1658 by the Czech theologian, philosopher and pedagogue Jan Amos Comenius, considered the father of pedagogy, and has since been recognized as one of the most influential in Western children’s literature.
This book marked a watershed in the production of texts for children, as it was discovered that illustrating a writing favored the taste for reading from an early age and it facilitated the understanding of the subject in question, for which the illustration became an almost essential element when dealing with stories.
In this note I would like us to review the importance and benefits of illustrated stories and its impact on children’s narrative, but not without first sharing the skills that a digital illustrator should have.
Index:
- What is an illustrated story?
- The characteristics of the illustrated story
- Illustration in children’s stories
- Illustrated stories in the contemporary world
- The best illustrated stories
An illustrated story is part of a literary genre, which basically combines images with text, although with a greater graphic preponderance. Alejandro Herrerías, our teacher of the online course Introduction to Children’s Illustration, explains it better.
Image: Unsplash
“Illustrated stories are for visual reading, that is, they need the reader to make a narrative interpretation beyond words. So, the story is based mainly on illustration.”
Likewise, illustrated stories stand out for their complexity and creative diversity Because the images not only illustrate and decorate the text, but also dialogue, contrast or complement the text.
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There are some characteristics of the illustrated story, but first Professor Alejandro gives us a brief introduction.
“A common characteristic of children’s books is that, in addition to words, they use images to tell stories. The importance of these types of images is that they play a fundamental role in the intellectual development of children.”
That said, now we will tell you some of the characteristics of the illustrated story.
📌 They have little or sometimes no text.
📌 The texts and illustrations complement each other. The number of illustrations depends on the length of it.
📌 Illustrations are rich in detail.
📌 The purpose of the illustrated story is awareness and reflection.
Now that we understand better the concept of illustrated stories, it is time to know the importance and impact they have on children.
Until recent times, literary critics who studied children’s books focused mainly on the analysis of texts; however, more recent studies have highlighted the communicative value of illustration in terms of pictorial trends of different periods, lines and theories of thought, among other things.
Illustrated stories, in addition to constituting a very important market, promote intellectual development and imagination; they entertain without alienating; they develop graphic memory and the concept of aesthetic beauty; help to keep children’s attention; they fuel their creativity, and improve the way they express themselves.
Children they learn graphic language much earlier than writing and with the illustrations they are recognized, identified and imagined new possibilities, which facilitates their learning. A book with attractive pictures causes pleasure and this promotes a taste for reading.
Learn to illustrate a scene for a children’s story from scratch
Currently, the new technological tools have enabled and accelerated the development of illustrations for stories, as well as its global access. Now illustrations in books not only serve as support for a text, but also illustrators are given the task of conducting in-depth research and analysis of the narration to complement the story.
There are even children’s stories whose weight falls entirely on the image and the text simply serves as support, or some who with their illustrations are able to improve the written content with drawings that provide new ideas.
The drawing and its interaction with the text, without a doubt, represent a powerful medium for communicating ideas. For a child, learning to interpret images means an expansion in your ability to understand, since this implies that they will have learned to decipher non-linguistic codes: symbols and social conventions. By the way, do you already know these techniques to draw in pencil like a pro?
We dived on the web to search for the best illustrated stories and found some real wonders. Some even they did not need texts to completely captivate us.
Without further ado, we present you a list with the best illustrated stories (classic and contemporary) that we find.
Table of Contents
Ocean dream, an illustrated story that will transport you
Khoa Lea is a Vietnamese illustrator with an incredible ability to completely transport us through her illustrated stories.
Image: Behance
Ocean Dream is a clear example of this. It tells the magical story of a girl who creates a special connection with the ocean. Here we will find absolutely no text and the best thing is that this work is on the author’s Behance.
Where the monsters live, an illustrated tale made into a movie
There are real gems in illustrated stories and “Where the monsters live” is one of them. Maurice Sendak wrote this work in 1963, although it only became popular in 2008, when a homonymous film based on this illustrated tale was released.
It tells the story of Max, a mischievous boy who does not feel understood at home, so he decides to elope in a small boat. Max arrives on an island, where he meets mysterious creatures.
In this link you can find “Where the monsters live”.
The snowman, from short stories with a great message
Raymond Briggs is a British writer and illustrator who in 1978 published an illustrated story called “The Snowman”. It is an illustrated story for children with colored pencils that also lacks text.
In this work, the story is told of a boy who lives a magical story with a snowman he created. In 1982, Dianne Jackson created an animated short based on this illustrated tale, which was nominated for an Oscar the following year.
The very hungry caterpillar, from the best illustrated stories for children
The American writer and illustrator Eric Carle brings us this fantastic illustrated tale called “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
In this illustrated story for children, the story of the entire metamorphosis that a little caterpillar undergoes to become a beautiful butterfly is told.
The Little Prince, one of the best illustrated stories
If you have to talk about classic illustrated stories, “The Little Prince” is one of them. Antoine De Saint-Exupéry is the author of this work of art and he is the one who made the illustrations with watercolors. Speaking of watercolor, learn these five exercises to paint easy with this technique.
Due to its simple style, “The Little Prince” is considered an illustrated story for children; however, it has a background on life that makes this work also aimed at adults.
Hansel and Gretel, another classic illustrated tale
Hansel and Gretel is another of the quintessential classic children’s illustrated stories. Published in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm, this traditional tale has been representative for several generations and, in fact, still is.
It tells the story of Hansel and Gretel, two children who were the children of a very poor woodcutter. One day, because they had no way to feed them anymore, their parents decide to abandon them in the forest, where they find a little house made of chocolates and sweets.
John without fear, another illustrated tale by the Brothers Grimm
This is another of the classic and traditional illustrated children’s stories created by the Brothers Grimm. In this classic tale, the aim is to teach children how to face and overcome their fears.
It tells the story of Juan, a boy who received the nickname ‘without fear’ because he was not afraid of anything. However, Juan was not proud of it and always said that he would like to experience fear.
Illustration in children’s stories greatly favors the educational development of a child and as the French writer André Bretón said: “The books of our childhood, with their pages shining with lights and shadows, perhaps decided, above anything else, the nature of our dreams.”
Under this premise, when choosing the right illustrated stories for them, we are choosing at the same time the size and shape of your wishes, which is like starting to design your destiny 👨👩👧👦. How about? Until next time!