Graphic design has a long history spanning from the Middle Ages to today. The various art movements have impacted the way graphic designers design, draw, create illustrations and type. Later I will go through the different time periods that have impacted the way I design and do my various illustrations, but for now here are the different types of illustration methods I know how to do.
Photography – is the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays. Dictionary.com
Line Art – is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a (usually plain) background, without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects. Line art can use lines of different colors, although line art is usually monochromatic. wiki
Silhouette – is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Traditionally, a silhouette is a form of artwork, the term originating in the 18th century and applied to portraits or other pictorial representations cut from thin black card. Silhouette images may be created in any artistic media, but the tradition of cutting portraits from black card has continued into the 21st century. wiki
Examples: Brother Bear II Credits |
Vector Image – are images that are made up of many individual, scalable objects. These objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels, so they always render at the highest quality. Objects may consist of lines, curves, and shapes with editable attributes such as color, fill, and outline. Changing the attributes of a vector object does not effect the object itself. You can freely change any number of object attributes without destroying the basic object. About & wiki
Examples: 2010 Robin Hood Credits |
Technical Illustration – also known as a hybrid image. It is the use of illustration to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim “to generate expressive images that effectively convey certain information via the visual channel to the human observer” wiki
Example: 2009 Sherlock Holmes Credits |
How do I create these different types of illustration? I am able to use Adobe Illustrator to create all three types of illustrations. When doing a vector or technical illustration in Photoshop it becomes more like a watercolor illustration in style.
strolling the stacks 
