Popular types of illustrations include charcoal drawings, woodcuts, metal etchings, metal stamps, pen-and-ink drawings, pencil sketches, freehand digital illustrations and vector graphics. Each has a distinct appearance and is especially well-suited for specific applications.Continue Reading
Pen and pencil drawings often have elaborate, precise details and are useful in cookbooks, instruction manuals and other media containing step-by-step instructions. In the absence of digital illustration tools, pen and pencil drawings are suitable for technical diagrams.
Charcoal illustrations lack the minute precision of pen and pencil works but are a popular choice for illustrating short stories and nooks. Charcoal's blendability lets the artist create a range of textures to represent shadows, people, objects and the natural world. According to ArtHistory.net, charcoal illustrations are prone to smudging unless sprayed with a fixative.
Woodcutting is an ancient technique used in some of the world's oldest surviving manuscripts. It was popular during the Middle Ages and became the illustration type of choice after the invention of the printing press. Carved block illustrations made it possible for mass-produced books to have beautiful illustrations all printed from the same master cutting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that woodcut illustrations were also extremely popular in feudal Japan.
Vector graphics are an important and useful type of digital illustration. Enlarging photographs and other digital art results in a grainy, pixelated image. Vector graphics behave differently and retain their smooth lines at all sizes. They are a popular choice for billboards, movie posters and company logos.Learn more about Drawing