picturebook
Understanding comics
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
McCloud, S. Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Harper Collins (1994).
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, comics, illustration, iconology, genre, definitions
Annotation:
McCloud created a comic book that acts as a guide to reading comic books. In depth descriptions regarding visual iconography, the definitions associated with the genre, as well as the way that text and illustration are interdependent and related is the main focus of the text. The book acts as a reference point for reading both comics and other illustrated forms of literature. The dynamics between psychology and color are given fair attention. McCloud’s text is an overall analysis of the medium of comic books. By building a reference guide to illustrated literature as a piece of illustrated literature, McCloud achieves a referential work that defines and explains the importance of the multimodal narrative.
Illustrations, Text, and the Child Reader
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Fang, Zhihui. “Illustrations, Text, and the Child Reader: What are the pictures in Children’s Storybooks for?” Reading Horizons 37.2 (1996): 130-142.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, publishing, printing process, history of picturebooks, child readers, picturebook psychology
Annotation:
This article discusses the relationship between the illustration and the reader. The explicit purpose of the paper is to “delineate the main functions of illustrations in relation to the text in picture books and to examine the significance of illustrations to the child reader.” Art argued to work as a tool for storytelling as opposed to a decoration. The work being done includes establishing the setting of the story, definition and development of the characters, as an arm to extend and develop the narrative story, alter and augment the perspective of the reader, add understanding, and reaffirm elements of the narrative. After positing the previous, the author goes into a lightly psychological overview of the effect of illustrations for child readers. Illustrations are concluded to be an essential narrative device for developing readers. The interplay of text and illustration is also concluded to be supplementary for young readers.
A Multimodal Analysis of Image-text Relations in Picture Books.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Wu, Shuxuan. “A Multimodal Analysis of Image-text Relations in Picture Books.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 4.7 (Jul. 2014): 1415-1420
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: Multimodal, picturebook, image/text, computer science, linguistics
Annotation:
Wu is a scholar of Linguistics that implements a Systemic Functional Multimodal Analysis in an effort to illuminate image-text relations. A thorough classification multimodal classifications and their construction of meaning is given. A brief overview of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is given. Picture books have been chosen because the genre contains a wide array of image-text relation examples. Three categories for image-text relation types are given: Elaboration, Extension, Enhancement and Projection. Wu who breaks it into a multi-level analysis presents a generic framework of picture books. From culture context, context of situation, to the content stratum, down to the display stratum, a new perspective for non-linguistic scholars is provided. Wu concludes that the text and images in picture books contribute autonomously, but that the image-text relationship is complex and not as simple as complementary, extensible, etc.
‘Everything Comes from Seeing Things’: Narrative and Illustrative Play in Black and White.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Pantaleo, Sylvia J. “‘Everything Comes from Seeing Things’: Narrative and Illustrative Play in Black and White.” Children’s Literature in Education 38.1 (Mar. 2007): 45–58.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, art, illustration, text/image relationship, color codes, Black and White, postmodernism, deconstruction
Annotation:
Pantaleo acknowledges Macaulay’s use of play as a means to interact with readers. The use of this motif is a catalyst in drawing out the readers interest and ability to reason with an otherwise challengingly deconstructed narrative. The importance of reading with literary and artistic codes in mind is a key element of this article. The article goes into depth exploring student reactions and their suggestions for reading. Illustrations are given equal attention to text in Pantaleo’s study of play in Black and White. From specific imagery to the use of color, illustrations are particularly import in this type of metafiction, as Pantaleo points out.
‘Wait a Second . . .’: Negotiating Complex Narratives in Black and White.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
McClay, Jill Kedersha. “‘Wait a Second . . .’: Negotiating Complex Narratives in Black and White.” Children’s Literature in Education 31.2 (June 2000): 91–106.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, art, illustration, text/image relationship, color codes, Black and White, postmodernism, deconstruction
Annotation:
Exploring the impact of postmodern fiction on children’s literature and in effect their realities, McClay reads Macaulay’s Black and White. The postmodern picture book is a special case that seeks to break the boundaries set up by traditional examples. Visual and textual information is particularly important in this genre of literature. The words and pictures are assigned explicitly and equally important value on the title page which asserts a warning. McClay points out that both the textual narrative and the stylization of the art within the text work within a constantly intermingling quadruple parallel. The effect of this diversified deconstruction of picture book norms is a variety of positive and negative readings based on space and narration. The value of the visuals in juxtaposition to the textual narrative is clearly pinpointed in this article.
Metalinguistic Awareness and the Child’s Developing Concept of Irony
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Kummerling-Meibauer, Bettina. “Metalinguistic Awareness and the Child’s Developing Concept of Irony: The Relationship between Pictures and Text in Ironic Picture Books.” The Lion and the Unicorn 23.2 (Apr. 1999): 157–83.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, semantics, metalinguistic awareness, nonliteral language, irony
Annotation:
The pictorial and textual elements of ironic narratives, more specifically picture books, is different than that of regular literary examples. Children have difficulty understanding irony. The ability to detect and understand nonliteral language has been coined “metalinguistic awareness.” Kummerling-Meibauer states that it is an accepted understanding that young children have the ability to foster this type of understanding when reading picture books. To Kummerling-Meibauer, there are four key patterns associated with this phenomenon: “semantic gap, contrast in artistic style, change in point of view, and sequential structure.” The relationship between text and illustration to infer meaning is explored in depth here.
Visual Images in Children’s Picture Books.
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Uncategorized | By Chris Vitale
Kiefer, Barbara Z. “Visual Images in Children’s Picture Books.” Shattering the Looking Glass: Challenge, Risk, and Controversy in Children’s Literature. Ed. Susan S. Lehr. Norwood: Christopher-Gordon, 2008. Print.
Referrer: Chris Vitale
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, comics, digitization, mass production, printing process, postmodernism, audience
Annotation:
Kiefer begins by working to define children’s picture books as more than a 20th century creation, but rather an integrated aesthetic experience consisting of concepts and images that has been around for much longer. Kiefer assigns art the ability of creating meaning. The gut of Kiefer’s article explores the form and formats of the picture book as it evolved from sequential illustrated picture books, comic strips, graphic novels, to nonsequential fiction and nonfiction in the picture book. All of these formats have widened the audience for the form of the picture book. Technological developments, such as woodblock versus moveable type, computers, laser scanners, and color separation are given their due credit for creating the possibilities of mass-produced picture books. Media developments like black-and-white to full color, computer generated to mixed media, have also had a profound effect on the picture book. Most compelling is Kiefer’s discussion of the effect new topics has had on the form. Kiefer discusses the emergence of dark comedy, complex emotional issues, and postmodern conceptualizations of the form. In this review of visual images in children’s literature, Kiefer does a thorough job of providing work that exemplifies the points she is making.
Read All Over
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Kaplan, Deborah. “Read All Over: Postmodern Resolution in Macaulay’s Black and White.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 28.1 (Spring 2003): 37–41.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, art, illustration, text/image relationship, color codes, Black and White, postmodernism
Annotation:
Kaplan explores the narrative techniques found in David Macaulay’s award winning picture book Black and White. Kaplan points out that “Layout, text, narrative, and color are all used in non-conventional ways.” Breaking the codified nature of color codes in picture books, Kaplan points out that Macaulay is able to add complexity to his narrative. The text is also juxtaposed to other texts that do similar work such as Nothing but the Truth and A Pale View of Hills. The deconstructive nature of Black and White, as well as these other texts, allows an insertion of meaning into the narrative that challenges what reader’s have come to expect and understand from the experience of a picture book.
Weaving Words and Pictures
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Uncategorized | By Chris Vitale
Desai, Christina M. “Weaving Words and Pictures: Allen Say and the Art of Illustration.” The Lion and the Unicorn 28.3 (Sept. 2004): 408–28.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, art, illustration, graphic art, text/image relationship, perspective, meaning
Annotation:
In an effort to position the study of illustrations found in children’s literature as a legitimate element for inquiry, Desai explores a handful of fictional works. To explore the subtleties of illustration, Desai examines three books illustrated by Allen Say: Dianne Snyder’s The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (1988), and Say’s El Chino (1990) and Emma’s Rug (1996). The relationship between text and illustration is read through its work as visual narrative, illustrated cues, as well as perspective and meaning. Graphic art is shown to be a central driving force and fundamentally necessary element of the story in illustrated picture books.
Schmalz Is as Schmalz Does
On 20, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Bradford, Clare. “Schmalz Is as Schmalz Does: Sentimentality and Picture Books.” Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature 7.3 (Dec. 1997): 17–32.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebook, visual storytelling, publishing, printing process, history of picturebooks, picturebook psychology, picturebook theory, sentimentality, cultural norms
Annotation:
Bradford explores how sentimentality is represented in the illustrations found in children’s picture books. In order to do this work, Bradford reads picture books that deal with trauma and extreme emotions such as sadness and grief. Sentimentality is connected to societal assumptions around gender, emotion, and cultural norms. By close reading illustrations in a range of texts that deal with complex emotions, Bradford endeavors to argue that sentimental picture books rely on the interplay of narrative textual and visual elements to manipulate the reader’s subjective understanding of the text.
