Bibliographic Data
Bang, Molly. 1991. Picture This: How Pictures Work. New York: SeaStar Books. ISBN 1587170302
Summary
In the first half of this book, illustrator Molly Bang analyzes the decisions she makes when creating illustrations for “Little Red Riding Hood” using simple geometric figures. As she uses different shapes in varying colors and sizes, she discusses the emotions each evokes within the reader, and how the choices add or detract from the story. The second half of the book is devoted to Bang’s ten principles relating to structure of illustrations, further explaining how size, placement and other style decisions affect how the reader interprets a picture.
Critical Analysis
This is the rare book that can be understood and appreciated by a variety of age and learning levels. While younger children may need the teacher to summarize lessons, older students can easily understand and still learn from the text. Bang’s conversational writing style draws the reader in, and we eagerly turn the page to learn the story of how she makes a red triangle turn into a scared little girl.
It’s clear that the star of this book is the pictures. In all but a few instances, the text takes less than half of the page, and is either balanced by a picture or a large area of negative space. All of the pictures are, with margins, half of the page, and are present on every two-page spread other than the first and last few pages of the book. The text portion is black, on a medium gray background. While the text is easily read, choosing a background in the same color family as the text slightly deemphasizes the words, and visually highlights the pictures.
Reviews
Journal of Aesthetic Education says “…its illustrations would be useful in opening up the formal aspects of art to those whose understandings are more or less limited to the content and context of masterworks. In that connection, Ms. Bang does more in a few pages of text and designs than I have achieved in whole chapters of exposition. So, it is with some envy that I recommend this tiny volume to anyone involved in the teaching or practice of graphic design or illustration.” - John Adkins Richardson
[Review refers to an earlier edition of this book.]
Connections
In a 1st grade classroom, the teacher can recreate some of Bang’s illustrations using shapes on a felt board, discussing with children how the different shapes make them feel. After the class discussion, the children can form small groups to use colored geometric shapes to illustrate a sentence the teacher has given them, such as, “Playing with my dog is fun!” or “I felt sad when my toy broke.”
Bang, Molly. 1991. Picture This: How Pictures Work. New York: SeaStar Books. ISBN 1587170302
Summary
In the first half of this book, illustrator Molly Bang analyzes the decisions she makes when creating illustrations for “Little Red Riding Hood” using simple geometric figures. As she uses different shapes in varying colors and sizes, she discusses the emotions each evokes within the reader, and how the choices add or detract from the story. The second half of the book is devoted to Bang’s ten principles relating to structure of illustrations, further explaining how size, placement and other style decisions affect how the reader interprets a picture.
Critical Analysis
This is the rare book that can be understood and appreciated by a variety of age and learning levels. While younger children may need the teacher to summarize lessons, older students can easily understand and still learn from the text. Bang’s conversational writing style draws the reader in, and we eagerly turn the page to learn the story of how she makes a red triangle turn into a scared little girl.
It’s clear that the star of this book is the pictures. In all but a few instances, the text takes less than half of the page, and is either balanced by a picture or a large area of negative space. All of the pictures are, with margins, half of the page, and are present on every two-page spread other than the first and last few pages of the book. The text portion is black, on a medium gray background. While the text is easily read, choosing a background in the same color family as the text slightly deemphasizes the words, and visually highlights the pictures.
Reviews
Journal of Aesthetic Education says “…its illustrations would be useful in opening up the formal aspects of art to those whose understandings are more or less limited to the content and context of masterworks. In that connection, Ms. Bang does more in a few pages of text and designs than I have achieved in whole chapters of exposition. So, it is with some envy that I recommend this tiny volume to anyone involved in the teaching or practice of graphic design or illustration.” - John Adkins Richardson
[Review refers to an earlier edition of this book.]
Connections
In a 1st grade classroom, the teacher can recreate some of Bang’s illustrations using shapes on a felt board, discussing with children how the different shapes make them feel. After the class discussion, the children can form small groups to use colored geometric shapes to illustrate a sentence the teacher has given them, such as, “Playing with my dog is fun!” or “I felt sad when my toy broke.”
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Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. New York: SeaStar Books, 1991.
Richardson, John Adkins. "Picture This: Perception and Composition [review]." Journal of Aesthetic Education 28, no. 1 (Spring 1994): 118-119.
1 comment:
Whoot! Lookit you! I am going to go and give you your first link!
Shelly
This Eclectic Life
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