1. Woodcutting
It is an ancient technique that you can see in some of the world’s oldest surviving manuscripts. It was popular during the Middle Ages and became the illustration type of choice after the invention of the printing press. Carved block illustrations made it possible for mass-produced books to have beautiful illustrations all printed from the same master cutting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that woodcut illustrations were also extremely popular in feudal Japan.
Distinctive for this technique are the contrasting colors if any; the contrast between dark and light areas in the illustration, as well the relatively big strokes. It is still a preferred technique of many contemporary illustrators who love the rougher feel and the textured look of these illustrations.
2. Metal etchings
In traditional pure etching, a metal (usually copper, zinc, or steel) plate is covered with waxy ground that is resistant to acid. The artist then scratches off the ground with a pointed etching needle where he or she wants a line to appear in the finished piece, so exposing the bare metal. The plate is then dipped in a bath of acid and the acid “bites” into the metal where it is exposed, leaving behind lines sunk into the plate. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate. The plate is inked all over, and then the ink is wiped off the surface, leaving only the ink in the etched lines. The plate is then put through a high-pressure printing press together with a sheet of paper and the paper picks up the ink from the etched lines, making a print.
Depending on the metal etching technique used, the illustration can look like watercolor (aquatint) or it can look like a pencil drawing – with very fine lines and hatching. The above 3 examples are showing the versatility that can be achieved in illustration with these techniques.
3. Pencil Illustrations
Maybe one of the most popular types of illustration is the pencil one. It is rich material, which allows you to create soft shadows and transitions, as well creating sharp, accurate lines. Sometimes, illustrators choose to keep the pencil sketch very loose and to draft with a pencil – later on, they finish off the illustration with another material.
Above you saw 3 different approaches to pencil illustration – monochrome, with clean lines and richness of the line weight; one with colored pencil with very smooth and soft shading of the volumes; and one rough, sketchy and dynamic illustration, because of the energetic line work and the search for
4. Charcoal illustration
Charcoal illustrations are often not as precise as pen and pencil illustrations but are a preferred choice for illustrating short stories, fast sketches, and nooks. Charcoal’s blendability lets the artist create a range of textures, representing materials and shadows, people, objects, and the natural world. Artists often use fingers and tissues to blend the soft material, smudge and create smooth and soft shadows.
In the above illustrations, you can see how the charcoal helped in creating a rough, loose sketch of a horse. Then, another artist made very fine detailing of a human face in another piece. Last, but not least, an illustrator created soft shadows, blending, and texturing. Probably, the main difference, compared to pencil illustration is, that the line of the charcoal is always slightly thicker, softer, and darker in quality. The reason why examples 2 and 3 are so different is because of the way the charcoal is produced: charcoal pencils consist of compressed charcoal powder and a gum binder, which produces a fine, sharp line; while vine charcoal provides a smooth, softer line.
5. Lithography
Lithography comes from the Greek word for stone. Originally, the technique used an image drawn with oil, fat, or wax onto the surface of a smooth, level lithographic limestone plate. Today, most types of high-volume books and magazines, especially when illustrated in color, are printed with offset lithography, which has become the most common form of printing technology since the 1960s. Y
6. Watercolor illustrations
In watercolor illustrations, the main thing is to use color pigments and to create nuances and different transparencies by adding water to the color. The overall feeling of watercolor illustrations is soft, airy, and with lots of depth. Illustrators prefer it for illustrating cookbooks, feminine and fashion types of illustration, childrens book illustrations, as it is very light. It is one of the easiest ways of creating splashes of color, merging one into another – common threats for the mentioned illustration styles.
7. Gouache illustrations
Gouache paint is similar to watercolor modified to make it opaque. It offers rich, thicker, bit darker shades than watercolor and can be even reworked some years later. Commercial artists often use gouache for works such as posters, illustrations, comics, and other design work. Most 20th-century animations used it to create an opaque color on a cel with watercolor paint used for the backgrounds. Using gouache as “poster paint” is desirable for its speed as the paint layer dries completely by the relatively quick evaporation of the water.
8. Acrylics illustration
Acrylics are one of the most preferred techniques for beginners – it is relatively easier to work with them, than with watercolor or oils. Still, the artist can achieve both similar effects to oils and watercolors. One can paint with them on almost any kind of surface and they become water-resistant, once they are dry. These paints are very versatile as they also come as fluorescents, metallics, and other interesting effects.
9. Collage illustration
The name comes from the French coller, which means ‘to glue’. It is a technique, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, often from different materials, to form a new whole. These types of illustrations are hugely popular in recent years and even are considered an inspiration for the big trend – material design. Often, illustrators use the shading from the different layers of their collage to achieve a beautiful 3D effect and to achieve depth. You can see in the above illustrations, how this technique was interpreted beautifully by different artists.
