Your Photos On Canvas

Illustration is the art of visualizing a subject utilizing line drawing, painting, photographs or other works of art in a way that stresses the story or message more than the form. The aim of an illustration is to provide further information, decorate, explain visually, or clarify a story, a poem, or textual information related to the subject.

Probably the earliest illustrations were prehistoric cave paintings. These early graphic renditions of familiar animals, plants and objects were more likely used to tell hunting stories and keep records of daily activities than as purely cave decorative. They may even have acted as advertisements of a sort commemorating specific deeds or events.

Before the invention of the printing press all illustration was made by hand. Religious scribes spent lifetimes illuminating or decorating holy manuscripts and religious books entirely by hand.

Woodblock printing was probably the first innovation used to repeat designs and decorations. An image was carved into the surface of a block of wood and ink or paint was applied to the surface level leaving the indented carvings "empty". When the wooden block was rolled over a surface the carved image was transferred. The entire process was by hand but enabled many copies to be easily repeated. In 8th century China and Japan, illustration of writings was traditionally accomplished by creating handmade woodcuts to accompany handwritten text.

During the 15th to 18th centuries, books illustrated with woodcut illustrations became more widely available. During the 16th and 17th centuries the primary processes used for reproducing illustrations were engraving and etching. By the end of the 18th century, the development of lithography allowed even higher quality illustrations to be reproduced for broad distribution.

In the 19th century there was an increased demand for illustrations for the mass circulation of newspapers and magazines publishing full-length popular novels in serial form. Steel print was used for type to set the text but wooden blocks engraved with artist's drawings were set along side the type to create illustrations. The return to handmade wood engraving gave rise to workshops that employed engravers, illustrators, and fine artists to fill the demand.

From the 1880s through the 1920s, especially in the US, illustration enjoyed a golden age. As in Europe, the dominant media for popular consumption was newspapers, magazines and illustrated books. The great demand for mass-produced printed material led to improvements in printing and advances in illustration techniques, including experiment with color.

Illustration as a profession gained prestige some illustrators became rich and famous, though were not usually considered as part of the 'fine art' world. By the end of World War II and into the 1950s and 1960s illustration for advertising and comic books were generally disregarded as art forms and considered more as a support industry feeding the marketing of mass produced goods for the newly prosperous middle class.

Only in the later 1960s did commercial illustration began to be recognized again as fine art in the innovative work of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, both of whom worked as commercial illustrators.

The invention of computers and computer graphics may be the most important development in visualization since the invention of central perspective in the Renaissance period. The quality of illustrations created using computers revolutionized book publishing, newspapers and magazines, and advertising in all forms. The work of illustrators is hung in fine museums throughout the world and with the huge demand for computer games, videos and film animations (and a renewed interest in comics); illustration has also become a very lucrative profession.

In a thoroughly modern use of computer technology, you can upload a digital photograph of a person, animal, or scene to Paint Your Life's Your Photos on Canvas online gallery website, and you can order a photo to canvas print that transforms your photo into a magazine illustration or commercial Illustration style advertisement. It's a great new way to decorate, create personal advertisements, or just please a family member.