Tips for Exploring Picture Books

Created by

Michelle "Shelly" Jensen

8^th Grade Student at Silvestri Junior High School

 

 

Line:

most powerful expressive tool; refinement/serenity etc.

 

Crosshatched lines:

Where the Wild Things Are = energy

 

Shape:

Horizontal = stability/ calm

Vertical = energy

Diagonal = most dynamic

Pointed = anxiety

Rounded = serene, calming, contemplative quality

 

Placement of shapes:

Upper half = freedom of spirituality

Lower half = down to earth

Center = greater importance    

Borders: enhance narrative; anticipatory clues

Borders

enhance narrative; anticipatory clues

 

Montage:

action/ motion, sequence of time; continuous narration

montage = increased # of shots = opportunity to study illustrations longer

 

Vignettes:

break up sections of text or decorate a page

 

Serial art form - it should be viewed in a certain order; narrative = action + time; image and text

 

Gaps due to limitations of shots

Motifs, patterns, rhythms = narrative continuity

Symmetry

 

Emotional trajectory (narrative)

Climax = emotions engaged most intensely

 

Page Breaks:

Changing perspectives

Psychological state

Changing emotions

Suspense & drama

Confirm or fail our predictions; represent gaps to bridge

 

Proportions:

Horizontal = objective view of characters/ events

Vertical = emphasize with characters

 

Text opening (where words begin); Openings- two facing pages; Double page spreads requires truly flat surfaces

Cover, title, end pages - signals about thematic thrust of the story

End pages can indicate the story structure in a visual way

 

Paper:

Glossy= distancing

Matte= invites serious interaction

 

Peritext:

1) Size/shape of book

2) Dust jacket

3) Front and back covers

4) End papers

5) Title page

6) Front matter

 

Characters: on left page = secure or confined; on right page = risk or adventure

 

Artist's grammar: color, shape, line, texture, and value (tones)

 

Color:

-Hue (segments)

-Tone (darkness and brightness)

-Tint (white) /shade (black)

-Saturating (intensity)

-Change in colors = change in mood; lack of color = surrealism

-Light and shadow

 

Style

1) Pictorial

2) Artistic change

3) Personal

 

Intertextuality and Interrelationships

 

Distance:

Closer- empathy/emotion

Long view - objective/detached

 

Frames as windows; unframed - 'view from within'

 

Full bleed double paged spread = 'ultimate view from within'

 

Breaking the frame:

- Almost a struggle to break free from the restraints of the frame

-Blurs the distinction between illusion and reality

 

 

 

Copyright Date: 2005

Information provided by

Ms. Natasha Coady

8^th Grade English Teacher and UNLV Graduate Student