Storytellers and propagandists

I tend to consider illustration as one of the essential purposes of drawing. Whether it is for children’s books or propaganda posters. Illustrations work on their own. The images might be re-enforced or clarified through text, but the drawings tend to be the centre of focus.

I have a strong passion for “storytellers without language” -illustrators who use little or no text, or whose work does its purpose before you have even started reading the text.

Both children’s book illustration and propaganda art have certain things in common. Such as a lack of realism with exaggerations and modifications from how we see things in real life. Illustration is not necessarily fine art created from references and life studies, it is often drawn from memory, to create ideas and associations rather than to illustrate an exact truth. Essentially, in the way Nigel Homes describes diagram making in Information Without Language.

Shaun Tan's "The Rabbits"

Shaun Tan’s painting “They came by water” from his book The Rabbits is a prime example of how picture books and propaganda can have very much in common. The book is an allegorical fable on colonisation, though it is considered a children’s book, it might be more appropriate for adults. The absurd shapes, colours and the atmosphere makes a distinct allusion to propaganda posters portraying “the enemy”.