History of Illustration in China and Abroad

The development of illustration art has a long history. From the world's oldest illustrated cave frescoes to the folk prints of Japan's Edo period ukiyo-e, all of them demonstrate the development of illustration.

Illustration was first developed in the early nineteenth century with the change of newspapers and books. And its real golden age is the 1950s and 1960s from the United States first began, when just separated from the art works of illustration is obviously with the color of painting, and engaged in the illustration of the author is mostly professional painters, and later by the influence of the abstract expressionism school of painting, from the figurative change to abstraction. Until the 1970s, illustration returned to a realistic style.

The earliest illustrations in China appeared in the form of prints, which were introduced with the introduction of Buddhist culture, and were used in the scriptures to publicize the teachings of the scriptures in the form of "disguised" illustrations. At present, the earliest historical record of China's prints, the Tang Suzong published the "dharani sutra mantra map". The exact date of publication is the title page of the Vajrayana Sutra of Emperor Yi Zong of the Tang Dynasty in the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Xian Tong (868).

Book illustration made great progress in the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties. The scope of application expanded to medicine books, history and geography books, archaeological atlas books, daily encyclopedias and other books, and appeared in color overprint illustrations. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it can be said that the ancient art of illustration was a period of great development, and there were book engraving industries all over the country. Different styles were formed in different regions. The form of illustration has the following broadly: the volume attached to the first picture, illustrations in the text, the upper picture below or the lower picture above, the inner cover or title page paintings and card notes, and so on.

Expanded Information

Status of Illustration Illustration the most developed place: the United States is the illustration market is very well developed countries, appreciate the illustration has become a habit in society. On the one hand, there are a large number of independent illustration products sold in the terminal market, such as illustrated books, magazines, illustrated greeting cards and so on. On the other hand illustration, as a part of the visual communication system graphic design, illustration and commercial photography, is widely used in the content of print advertisements, posters, covers and other designs.

Illustration in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan: As we all know, Japan's commercial anime has already had a huge market and operation team. And anime is an important branch of the illustration industry. In the CG technology Computer Graphics, the use of computer technology for visual design and production into the field of illustration before, by hand-drawn animation has become Japan's sunrise industry. Today's younger generation is increasingly inclined to use computer digital technology.

In South Korea, illustration, especially digital illustration, has risen to prominence as the game industry has climbed to become the second largest pillar of the national economy in recent years, and game characters designed with digital illustration have gained more market space as Korean games have become more popular in China. Meanwhile, illustrators in Hong Kong and Taiwan are still searching for their own way into the industry, although their work shows clear signs of following Japan's lead.

Illustration education: Institutions such as the Beijing Institute of Printing, the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, the Beijing Broadcasting Academy, the Academy of Arts at Tsinghua University, and the Central Academy of Fine Arts have all offered illustration or illustration-related majors in the last two years, but the content of the teaching tends to include only publication illustrations rather than commercial illustration in the full sense.

But abroad, illustration education and the market are closely integrated. Many famous illustrators are guest teachers at various universities, and they bring the most fashionable and cutting-edge commercial awareness to schools. Today, commercial illustration in foreign markets includes four forms: publication illustration, cartoon mascot, movie and game art design and advertising illustration.

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