Chapter 3: The Mechanics of Illustration
Communication is a process of people sending messages to each other in any sort of way. There are two schools of thought: The Process School and the Semiotic School.
The Process School: “Who says what to whom in which channel with what effect?” Also, “purpose” and “context” are looked at.
The Semiotic School: This couldn’t have been more specifically said then from the book so here is the pulled quote “ focuses on “text” (which can mean a painting, a photograph, a film, a dance, and so on), on the signs and codes that text is comprised of, on the people who decode them, and on the social context within which both text and audience exist."
The Four Steps of the Communication Process:
- You: the originator of the message, the communicator.
- Message: the “thought” to be encoded by you and the code used to encapsulate that thought.
- Channel/ medium: the physical means and media type by which your code is carried.
- Destination: the decoding of your message and the intended destination of that message.
You: our art style is comes from all the things about us, like where we grew up, the time era we grew up, age, habitat, social context, interest, family, education, and personality.
Message: Using codes that are understood by both creator and receiver. There is “Langue” which is like the store cupboard, a wide collection of everything that means something, and then there is “Parole” which are individual units of communication code that have been used in a piece of art (like Von Gough using a chair and pipe in a painting).
Unlimited Semiosis: there will always be an unlimited formation of what precedes and succeeds a sign, so signs are always changing, as we’ll as the arrangement in which signs are arranged can greatly change the meaning of the key signs in an illustration.
Signs: There are : firstness, secondness, and thirdness. The triad of sign types most frequently used is icon, symbol, and index.
icon: represent something for exactly what is is, like a clean picture of a taxi cab.
symbol: represent a process of something, like recycling.
index: “natural” signs that have a physical connection between the sign and what it signifies, like dark grey clouds signify it’s probably going to rain.
Key Elements of Iconic Visual Systems:
Setting, Costume, Character, Composition, Color, Properties, Body Language, Drama.
Sequential Narratives:
A story is being told through multiple images. And it’s about moving from one level to the next with a story, following the character through their journey, from beginning (has a problem), middle (discovers root of problem) and end(problem solved).
Metaphor: drawing a comparison between two things. Like drawing a big apple to describe New York.
Allegory: a story connecting the main idea, like Animal Farm following characters around and disguising his doubts about Communism within the story itself.
Humor: anything that brings about humor, from politics, to a messed up picture that still is funny, to the absurd and crazy.
Changing Codes: political-led change, economic-led change, social-led change, technological-led change, legal-led change, and environmental-led change (known as “PESTLE” for short).
Channel/Medium: Physical means by which messages are sent, be it from radio, television, photographs, paint, etc. There are people like art directors and art buyers who often control the channel and commission illustrators for a piece of work.. And the destination is the people who decode the message.
