Browse our guide to illustration-related terms, from ‘abstract’ to ‘zine’. Find definitions of materials, techniques, formats and types of illustration.

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Glossary

The ability of computers and other machines to show, or seem to show, intelligent behaviour. It sometimes refers to software that uses large amounts of data to generate new content, including images and film.

AI (artificial intelligence)

Describes an artwork that doesn’t accurately represent a visual reality and may not have a clear subject matter.

Abstract

Fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion. It is water-based and dries quickly.

Acrylic paint

The practice of promoting products or services, as well as the materials used to do so (such as posters).

Advertising

A pen-like tool that sprays tiny droplets of ink, dye or paint onto a surface using compressed air.

Airbrush

The display of a sequence of still images that creates the illusion of movement. The still images may be drawings, computer graphics, digital models or photographs of three-dimensional objects.

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Animation

An intaglio printmaking technique that creates watercolour-like tone. A metal plate is sprinkled with powdered resin, heated and submerged in acid. Areas that aren't protected by resin are ‘bitten’ by the acid, creating recesses. The resin coating is removed and ink is rubbed into the recesses. Damp paper is then laid on the plate and run through a press that squashes them together and transfers the ink onto the paper.

Aquatint

The practice of accurately recording archaeological sites and objects. It can be used to visualise what a whole object may have looked like based on a found fragment of it.

Archaeological illustration

Used by architects and other people working on construction projects to communicate and develop their ideas. It includes elevations and plans, and impressions of what spaces and interiors will eventually look like.

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Architectural illustration

A copy (or copies) of a print traditionally made so the artist could test and experiment with an image before multiple copies were made. Today it refers to any version of a print made outside its numbered edition.

Artist’s proof(s)

An interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content.

Augmented reality

A person or group who begin or create something new. Often refers to a writer of a literary work.

Author

A practice or project in which an illustrator directs the concept and output themselves, rather than working with a commissioner.

Authorial illustration

A story of someone’s life narrated by themselves. It may take a range of forms, such as a book, comic, letter or journal.

Autobiography

A pen containing an ink reservoir with small ball at its tip. When the pen is moved across a surface, the ball rolls ink onto it to create a line. 

Ballpoint / biro

A printed area around the edges of an image that is designed to be cut off as part of the production process. Bleed ensures that if there are minute variations in the print or trimming process, the image will fully extend to the edges.

Bleed

Usually a set of sheets of paper bound together on one side and set inside a cover. The sheets might be printed or hand-drawn. ‘Book’ can also refer to paper bound in a different way, a work made from something other than paper or a digital publication.

Book

A tactile or visual image appearing in a book, usually as part of a sequence. ‘Book illustration’ has traditionally meant visual media that accompanies text to complement it, contrast with it or extend its meaning. Some book illustration does not accompany text. ‘Book illustration’ can also refer to the decoration of text.

Book illustration

The practice of visually documenting plant life, traditionally to create a scientific record of a plant or eco system and used to identify, categorise and compare species.

Botanical illustration

Describes an illustration that appears within a defined border.

Boxed in

A set of qualities that an entity (such as a company, collective, individual or organisation) aims to present to others using a variety of media.

Brand

A set of guidelines or instructions for a project, often given to an illustrator by a commissioner. It may include information about the intended audience for the project and the format for the illustration(s).

Brief

Graphics made with imaging software for art, film, printed media, simulators, videos and video games.

CGI (computer-generated imagery)

The process of creating handwriting that can be expressive or decorative. It is usually drawn in a fluid motion with a tool that can create different thicknesses of line by applying pressure or changing the angle of the drawing tool.

Calligraphy

An image or three-dimensional work of a person or object with distorted or exaggerated elements.

Caricature

A book with covers that fold back and are fixed together to create a series of three-dimensional scenes in a circle.

Carousel

Can refer to:
a satirical or humorous drawing;
a comic strip;
an animation with a visual relationship to comic strips;
a preliminary version of a large-scale work, such as a mural.

Cartoon

An animation technique in which each frame is made by hand. Moving elements are painted on a series of clear celluloid sheets (‘cels’) that are laid on top of painted backgrounds and photographed. When the images are shown in a sequence, the images on the cels create the illusion of fluid movement.

Cel animation

A drawing material made from soft stone or earth in black, red and white. Coloured chalks are made from limestone, pigments and a binding agent.

Chalk

A small and inexpensive book. Chapbooks featuring woodcut illustrations, popular tales and ballads were made across Europe in the 1400s

Chapbook

One of the earliest drawing materials, traditionally made by burning twigs. It creates a black mark that can be smudged.

Charcoal

A book primarily intended for young readers.

Children’s book

A person or organisation commissioning an illustrator or designer to create a new work, usually for commercial purposes.

Client

Technique in which pieces of paper and other materials are fixed to a supporting surface.

Collage

A group of creators working together to achieve a common objective.

Collective

A brief statement at the end of a book containing information about the publisher, and place and date of publication.

Colophon

The appearance something has because of the way it reflects light.

Colour

A dry drawing material made from pigments or dyes mixed with fillers, synthetic resin and wax, often set in a wooden handle. Coloured pencil was developed in the 1800s.

Coloured pencil

A comic made up of a single row of panels, traditionally published in newspapers.

Comic strip

A medium for storytelling and conveying information. A comic comprises a sequence of two or more images, often contained by a border known as a ‘panel’. Images can be combined with text that often appears as captions or speech bubbles. Comics can appear in print, online and as three-dimensional works.

Comics

Something that makes, or intends to make, a profit. ‘Commercial illustration’ can refer to a work of illustration that itself makes a profit or supports a profit-making enterprise.




Commercial

A request for the production of a new work (such as an illustration), usually to a particular specification and to meet a specific aim.

Commission

The purposeful organisation of elements like lines, shapes, colours and textures in a work of art.

Composition

The practice of developing plans for characters, settings and worlds, particularly for video games, comics, animation, theatre, and live action film and television.

Concept art

A book made by folding paper or card with an accordion (zig-zag) pleat. Also known as a ‘leporello’.

Concertina book

A hard crayon made from graphite and coloured clay, usually in black, brown or red. Water can be added to it to create a wash.

Conté crayon

A drawing material traditionally made from coloured chalk, but now often made with pigment combined with wax.

Crayon

Any mark made on an artwork or digital file to indicate where the image should be cropped for production, particularly print production.

Crop mark

Using crossed parallel lines to create tone, usually in a drawing or etching.

Cross-hatching

The lowering of a surface to create an imprinted image, texture or pattern.

Debossing

Can refer to:
the process of developing an idea into a concept, experiment, image, film, plan, object, environment, service, experience or piece of software;
a plan for the creation of something;
the purposeful organisation of elements like lines, shapes, colours and textures in a work of art.

Design

A version of an image produced using digital technology, often with a printer connected to a computer.

Digital print

A drawing tool made up of a handle with a pointed nib at one end. The nib is dipped into liquid ink and channels a line of ink when it is moved across a surface. Applying pressure can create different thicknesses of line.

Dip pen

A piece of art made up of two sections that are sometimes joined together.

Diptych

A piece of art or media that aims to capture or report on an aspect of reality.

Documentary

Can refer to:
the process of making marks and lines on a surface with any medium, such as pencil, ink, paint or digital tools;
a work made by the drawing process, which may be a finished artwork, or a plan for the creation of something else.

Drawing

An intaglio printmaking technique that creates sharp lines with fuzzy edges. A needle with a diamond on the tip is used to scratch a metal plate, creating sharp lines with excess metal at the edges (called 'burr'). The lines are filled with ink. Damp paper is then laid on the plate and run through a press that squashes them together and transfers the ink onto the paper.

Drypoint

An early version of a book made by its creator or publisher to plan and demonstrate the layout, text and/or images.

Dummy book

A set of identical prints, books or artworks made in the same way. A limited edition has a strict number of copies.

Edition

A person who directs the content of a newspaper or magazine, or someone who supports a creator to develop a concept into a finished work, such as a book.

Editor

The practice of creating images or other visual media for print or digital newspapers and magazines. Editorial illustrations usually interpret text-based articles on news, current affairs, culture, sport, travel or lifestyle.

Editorial illustration

A two-dimensional representation of one side of a building or space.

Elevation drawing

The raising of a surface to create an image, texture or pattern.

Embossing

An intaglio printmaking technique that creates a crisp, precise line. Lines are scratched into a metal plate a tool with V-shaped blade (called a ‘burin’). The lines are filled with ink. Damp paper is laid on top of the plate and run through a press that squashes them together and transfers the ink onto the paper.

Engraving

Material that was intended to be used for a limited period of time, such as posters, packaging and newspapers.

Ephemera

An intaglio printmaking technique that creates thin, fluid lines. A pointed tool is used to draw on a metal plate that has been coated with a thin layer of wax. When the plate is placed in acid, the drawn lines are incised (or ‘bitten’) by the acid. The coating is removed and the incised lines are filled with ink. Damp paper is laid on top of the plate and run through a press that squashes them together and transfers the ink onto the paper.

Etching

Illustration practice that exists outside established commercial contexts for illustration, such as advertising. It may involve an illustrator researching and working independently or collaborating with others. It may involve using illustration-related skills, such as distilling concepts, rather than creating images. It may result in the creation of applications, publications, events or installations.

Expanded illustration

Media, including illustration, that celebrates and explores a subject that the creator is passionate about. It may be related to a work of literary fiction, television show, film franchise, performer(s) or sportspeople but is not usually officially connected to these sources.

Fan art

A publication about a subject the creator is passionate about. It may be related to a work of literary fiction, television show, film franchise, performer(s) or sportspeople but is not usually officially connected to these sources.

Fanzine

The practice of creating images or other visual media to communicate fashion-related ideas. These may include plans for the creation of garments, advertising assets and creative speculation.

Fashion illustration

A quick-drying ink pen with a tip made from compressed fibre.

Felt-tip pen

Describes images or other media that references the real world, and especially the human form.

Figurative

A version of an artwork that is ready to be published.

Final artwork / illustration

A brightly coloured substance or surface that absorbs ultraviolet light and reflects more light than it receives.

Fluorescent

A specific style (such as bold or italic) and size (such as 12-point) of a typeface.

Font

The shape or structure of something that may be an object in the real world or an element of a piece of media.

Form

A decorative horizontal band at the top of a wall inside or outside a building.

Frieze

An illustration or decorative image on one of the first pages of a book, sometimes opposite a title page.

Frontispiece

A technique that involves rubbing pencil, graphite, chalk, crayon, or another medium onto a sheet of paper that has been placed on top of a textured object or surface, creating an impression of the texture. Also called ‘rubbing’.

Frottage

A designed activity or experience in which a set of rules balances chance and/or the skills of other participants with the decisions of a player. These can take many forms such as board games or video games.

Game

Gloss / glossy

A water-based matte paint made of ground pigments and a binder, such as gum Arabic. Has an opaque finish. White and coloured gouache is mixed to create lighter colours: this makes gouache different from watercolour, which is mixed with water to create lighter colours.

Gouache

Text and/ or images painted directly on a public wall or other surface, usually without official permission.

Graffiti

The practice of using type, space, image, texture, motion and colour to create printed and digital media for a wide range of purposes.

Graphic design

A long-form work of sequential art that combines text and images, sometimes using the conventions of comics. Can take the form of a printed book, digital publication or installation-based work.

Graphic novel

A metallic grey material used for drawing and writing, often compressed in a pencil, or sometimes as powder. In a pencil it is called ‘lead’. Real lead the poisonous element) was used in early pencils. Graphite was originally thought to be lead, but it is a form of carbon.

Graphite

Hand lettering

Colour applied manually, usually to a black-and-white photograph or print.

Hand-coloured

Picture books made in the late 1700s that were inspired by theatre and the stock pantomime character Harlequin. They had flaps that were lifted to reveal a new illustration or message.

Harlequinade

Shading or filling in an area of an image with spaced parallel lines to create tone, usually in a drawing or etching. Crossed over sets of parallel lines are known as ‘cross-hatching’.

Hatching

Can refer to:
a sign (such as a graphic symbol) with a form that suggests its meaning or that represents something else;
an image on a display screen that represents an app, an object (such as a file) or a function (such as the command to save);
a sacred image, often a painting.




Icon

A range or system of symbols, images and/or objects that can represent a particular meaning.

Iconography

Can refer to:
the practice of creating an artwork or media that aims to communicate something specific. It may tell a story, convey information, act as a persuasive tool or create an identity for a concept;
something made through illustration practice, such as an image.

Illustration

The process of finding out something new or exploring an idea through illustration practice. It can involve researching a subject, audience, technique and/or production process.

Illustration research

Illustrator

A person or small organisation that develops, produces, markets and distributes media such as books and magazines.

Independent publisher

Black liquid ink made from fine particles of carbon (such as soot) combined with a binder (such as gum or shellac) and water. It is often used with a dip pen or brush and once dry it is opaque and indelible. It was called ‘Indian’ and ‘Chinese’ ink in Europe when it was first imported from Asia in the 1600s.

Indian ink

A visual representation of information or data. It may take the form of a chart, diagram or coded image.

Infographic

The practice of presenting information or data in a way that is efficient and easy to understand.

Information design

Fluid (or paste mixed with water) used for writing, drawing, painting and staining. Often made from carbon and gum, it can also be made from plant and animal products. Waterproof inks dry to a glossy film; non-waterproof inks appear like watercolour and dry to a matt finish.