The 2 Main Categories of Illustrations in an Ad

What are the two main categories of illustrations in an ad? Illustrations provide variety in an ads, but they are not essential. The main reasons for using illustrations are to:

• show the product

• provide atmosphere

• demonstrate the product in action

• make people interested in the ad and get them reading

• break up the text.

Now is the time to decide what kind of pictures you are going to use, what they are going to illustrate and their size and shape. There are any number of different kinds of illustration, but there are two main categories:

Photographs:

Photos are the most common form of illustration in advertising. People are used to looking at photographs, and generally believe them. According to the old adage, the camera never lies. Photographs are usually easy to obtain, and they can show scale.

Line drawings:

Line drawings (straightforward black and white drawings using only black lines) and line and tone illustrations (which use shading) can, however, be better in certain circumstances:

• On poor paper, when the ink on photographs is likely to run, blurring the illustration.

• For atmosphere, where they can create an idealized world which can't be captured in a photograph.

• To show detail. A photograph, particularly in a small ad or on poor paper, may not show the style and cut of a coat clearly enough, whereas a slightly stylized line drawing will.

• To show a cutaway picture, such as the inside of a car.

• For technical illustrations.

If your ad is in color, then your line drawing too can be in color. It should still be drawn in black and white; you specify the colors you want with the artwork.

Having decided whether you want photographs, line drawings or a combination, you need to consider their size and shape. Variety creates interest, so if you are using more than one illustration, vary their size and position on the layout.

You can also have photographs cutting into each other (giving the effect of one slightly overlapping the other), or you can use a cut-out, in which the background is cut away, leaving just the object or person you want to illustrate. This is useful for showing someone modeling clothes, for example, where the background is irrelevant. It can also be used if there is something in the background which is likely to distract the reader from the main object.

Having decided on the size, shape and type of illustrations you would like, you have to get hold of them. If your ad contains some general illustrations - two people running across a meadow, a tropical island, an animal study, etc - you can obtain them from a picture library.

If you want line drawings of general subjects, you will find that there are several instant art books available which contain drawings of a wide range of subjects, all ready for you to copy or to transfer onto your artwork. You are unlikely to find these books in any except the largest bookshops, but a good art shop should be able to help you. They are expensive, but they contain drawings of almost any subject imaginable. If the illustrations you want are specific to your advertisement -shots of a product, scenes in a hotel, etc - then you will either need to commission them or draw or photograph them yourself.