What the Young Eyes Want to See

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: What are the things that really matter in making a work on children’s literature visually pleasing to the little readers? As artist Venki states, it is a perception on their intelligence and interaction with them that makes it worth clicking among children. Conducting a workshop on the topic ‘Technology in drawing: limits and restrictions’ he expounded on various aspects of designing pictures for children’s literature in an era of computerisation.   Though books for children in the pre-school category are available aplenty in the market, works that assure quality are scarce. “Rather than putting in a lot of effort and creativity to design a pleasing picture, some artists resort to downloading  pictures from the Internet and fix them into the work,” Venki pointed out.  Ideally, for children, it is advisable to compose pictures that lay emphasis on good colour composition. Instead of cluttering a page with several pictures, it is advisable to bring only one picture per page. This would quickly register the matter in their minds so that they can read without strain and enjoy the process to its best. Even technological intervention can be made effective without losing the essence of the picture. “Once a sketch is manually composed and scanned and re-worked with the help of computer technology, the picture would be more appealing than the one that is fully made with computer assistance” he said.  While the matter of book designing for children is considered, the designer must conjure up the reader at the other end. “For books where illustration and text appear together, a co-ordination between the illustrator and designer is essential,” he said. “The illustrator must maintain an idea regarding the page on which his illustration is going to appear. In the same manner, the designer should also know the nature of the illustrator who is making the picture”, he said.   The talk was conducted on the sidelines of the ongoing Thiruvananthapuram Children’s Book Fair organised by the State Institute of Children’s Literature at the Government Sanskrit College here on Thursday. Artists from various parts of the State participated in the workshop.