Common types of illustrative messages include descriptive, narrative and conceptual.
Descriptive Illustrations visually describe something - a place, a person, or an event.
They can run the gamut from representational to post-representational, collage and even
visual mashups.
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Narrative Illustrations tell a story. They can include cartoons, graphic novels, descriptive illustration and sometimes are even conceptual in nature.
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Conceptual Illustrations are effective when an idea or a point-of-view needs to be front and center. They can range from metaphor to signs and symbols, and usually are serendipitous to the viewer.
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Illustration Style, or the formal approach the illustrator takes to express the message, needs to be in-concert with the subject of the message, appropriate to the sender, and an accessible vernacular with the audience, as the style literally becomes the visual voice of the illustration’s concept.
An illustrator’style or his or her approach also often determines the type of message being conveyed.
An illustration of an object can be conveyed as a noun; a function or a verb; and/or as a idea, a concept, or as a symbol that stands for something more than that the object (noun) or the function of the object (verb).
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The work of the following contemporary illustrators each constitute a wide range of styles and message types. Their work is a bit hard to segregate into specific genres, but can somewhat be viewed accordingly:
Descriptive Illustration (Representational/Post-Representational)
- Andreas Lie www.andreaslie.com
- Eero Lampinen www.eerolampinen.com
- Alice Tye intern-mag.com/alice-tye
Descriptive Illustration (Collage/Juxtaposition)
- David Sparshott www.davidsparshott.com
- Rick Berkelmans hedof.com
Narrative Illustration (Story Telling)
- Robert Samuel Hanson www.robertsamuelhanson.com
Conceptual Illustration (Symbol/Metaphor/POV)
- Christoph Niemann www.christophniemann.com
- Harry Campbell https://harrycampbell.net/
