The big picture
Illustration providers are having a tough time
Two and a half millennia after Confucius said that “One seeing is worth a hundred hearings” some bright spark in the English-speaking took a page out of the great sage’s book and came up with “A picture is worth a thousand words”.
In the West that gave birth to an industry last century that employs millions of people who provide illustrations for books, catalogues, advertising and other media.
And yet somewhere along the way in China the old message seems to have been overlooked by many, and only in recent years has the printed picture begun to impose itself as a medium par excellence for getting across messages in many different areas.
One of those who is aware of how far China has lagged but is now seeing it making strides to catch up is Zhang Yunbao, 29, a children’s picture book editor for Beijing Poplar Culture Project Co Ltd. In her free time she draws commercial illustrations and makes her own picture books.
Zhang has worked in the field for five years and says that she has realized that in the past two years the demand for both commercial illustrations and children’ s picture books has begun to take off, “which holds the prospect of a much bigger market in coming years”, she says.
“You can see that illustrations are increasingly wanted by online shops, clothing brands, cellphone brands, and booths in shopping malls.”
Over each of the past 10 years sales of children’s picture books have grown by an average of 10 to 12 percent in China??, says Hou Mingliang, founder of IlluSalon, an organization founded in Beijing in 2014 promote the use of illustrations in China and aims to bring together illustrators and those who use illustrations wherever they are.
Hou has worked in the children’s book publishing industry for eight years.
Even as a society like China fulfils its mission of ensuring that the vast majority of its citizens are clothed and fed and people feel well off materially, the public appetite grows for intellectual and spiritual nourishment that only the likes of education and arts such as music, literature and painting can give, he says.
Li Ajiu, 32, a freelance illustrator in Shanghai, says that just 10 years ago when she graduated from university, illustrated books were hard to come by in China, but now they are everywhere. That is partly because parents have come to accept the concept of picture books, she says.
Hou says: “Picture books with beautiful illustrations, good stories and creative story telling will exert great influence on children, who construct the world and connect themselves with society through the picture books. So good picture books are very important.”
Illustrations are increasingly wanted by online shops, clothing brands, cellphone brands, and booths in shopping malls.” Zhang Yunbao, children’s picture book editor and illustrator
However, 85 percent of children’s picture books are imported from overseas, and 15 percent are domestic original creations, Hou says.
Chinese parents prefer to buy imported picture books for their children because the values reflected in the stories are expressed in more creative ways and the quality is generally better than that of domestic works, he says.
“And for publishing houses, imported good-quality picture books, particularly ones that have won big awards, are safer in the market.”
Some people attribute this to the longer history of the illustration tradition in Europe or the United States, which naturally cultivates more highly talented illustrators, but others, including Hou and Zhang, say many other factors are hampering the growth of the domestic illustration industry.
Legal protection
Zhang can recall few cases in which those who order illustrations from her have offered a contract for her to sign. In most cases the only communication is by email and without legal protection some illustrator s have to fight to get paid even after their work has been used.
Apart from needing artistic talent and training, creating an illustration is time consuming and most illustrators who have not made a name for themselves struggle to survive on the meager earnings. In fact many of Zhang’s illustrator friends say trying to make a living from their art is out of the question.
“They all love painting, but they have to live,” she says.
Han Dan, 28, an illustrator who is known on the internet as Ghost Master, is an editor at Chemical Industry Press in Beijing. The lethargic growth in the publication of original picture books in China is partly the result of a dearth of picture book editors in publishing houses or elsewhere she says.
Zhang says: “Apart from illustrators, most people do not know about illustrations, or know what kind of illustrators they need, or what kind of creative styles they want. People in other fields know little about art and painting.”
Good ideas
For Han, another problem is the limited scope that illustrators have for selling their work.
“In China, picture books are mainly for children, and that means illustrators have a very limited space in which to express themselves.”
Hou says that in Europe, illustrations were originally created by people to express their ideas or imagination on canvas. Some of the more personal illustrations that carried the wisdom of older generations may have been shown to the young as a means of education.
He cites Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, saying that Potter originally just painted for herself without thinking about publishing the story. But after she showed the stories to a friend, he encouraged her to publish them. Peter Rabbit then became a popular picture book, which has become a classic.
“Many European illustrators draw very personal stories, and then have them published,” Hou says.
Han has almost never drawn commercial illustrations because “they usually don’t like my style, which is cool, not that kind of warm or light style”.
She has been working on and off on stories about ghosts living in another world.
“I have talked to people in an online illustration platform. Obviously what they are looking for are illustrations for children books, so for them weird or cold, dark themes and colors are out.
“I know some Chinese illustrators who are really good, and you may say they lack creativity compared with people in Europe or the United States, but that’s because they cannot express themselves fully.”
Good illustrators
But to gauge the quality of illustrations in a certain country you have to see the general level of the illustrators, not just a few of the top ones, Hou says.
“Maybe this is going to offend some people, but the average level of Chinese illustrators is low because many illustrators are just craftspeople who are good at technique, but who lack the quality to become masters because they don’t have a big enough reserve of culture, including literature, music, and painting.
“China’s arts education is twisted. Students who go to fine art academies are usually those who may not be able to enter general universities. Ideas are most important for illustrations, and the images are secondary.
“So there is still a long way to go. Nowadays Chinese people annually read no more than five books on average, compared with more than 60 in Israel.”
A college teacher, Xu Han, creates stories about Ali, the popular red fox image he created. Now he is directing a motion picture about Ali.
He says that when he created the picture books about Ali, the biggest challenge he faced was writing good stories rather than getting the painting techniques right.
“The core of a picture book is the story. To write a good story you have to build up a big collection of ideas from everyday life.”
The task that illustrators or designers face covers more than just artistic technique and form and also entails trying to express oneself through the content, Xu says.
Zhang says that when she was deciding which university to go to, her father, who always encouraged her to realize dreams, suggested that she should go to a comprehensive university rather than a special one.
“When I was little my father told me to find the thing I really love and to pursue the things I really loved as a career. Of course, academies of fine arts have their advantages, with better faculties and richer artistic perspectives for students. My father said, ‘I know you love painting, but at an academy of fine arts you will be surrounded by nothing but arts, but if you go to comprehensive universities there are various kinds of things you can learn about, which I think is better for your development’.
“I personally believe that illustrators need to care about more than painting — things such as literature, movies, theater, photography or child psychology. You also need to know about society. These things are connected.”
Good platforms
Luo Qianxi, 26, a freelance illustrator in Beijing, says China’s illustration industry lacks organizations or agencies that can help creators to promote their works.
“Illustrators spend most of their time and energy on creation. They don’t know how to find customers or to promote themselves. On the other hand there are many well developed organizations and agencies in Europe that help illustrators promote themselves and find customers. They also have good platforms to sell their works.”
In addition, in Europe people generally are more familiar with the illustration industry, and often support and respect illustrators’ works, she says.
In China, piracy is also a big problem, says Xia Mengyu, another freelance illustrator.
However, Hou says that in future illustrations will become mainstream in China and even part of everyday life. They will appear everywhere, and people will use them to decorate their houses or to promote their products, he says. Good works will be collected and stored.
“This is an audio-visual era, and the day will come soon.”