Illustrating non-fiction: a practice-based exploration of visual and material strategies in non-fiction children's books
Lostale-Seijo, Beatriz (2026) Illustrating non-fiction: a practice-based exploration of visual and material strategies in non-fiction children's books. PhD thesis, Anglia Ruskin University.
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This practice-based investigation explores visual and material strategies used by illustrators to present and structure the information, organise the book’s content, and influence the perceived reliability of the depictions in non-fiction picturebooks. The study was motivated by a shift in the genre that resulted in the proliferation of visually-conceptualised books, and in an increased presence of the illustrator in their ideation and development.
The methodological bricolage employed in the study enabled a combination of methods, at the core of which was creative practice. A review of primary literature led to the identification of visual strategies used in the genre, which were analysed in view of the degree of reliability they are perceived to convey by using the social semiotic concept of visual modality. Finding potential in introducing features from informational spaces into the book, four projects were developed through creative practice, exploring connections between non-fiction picturebooks and cabinets of curiosities, museums, and collections. Reflective processes were holistically applied through the research to reveal insights during making, and to extract conclusions from the findings.
Through this study, I found that modality can be expressed through pictorial, design and material means in non-fiction picturebooks. While certain strategies risk conveying authoritarian implications, they can be reframed, resignified or contested through conceptual, visual and material approaches. This investigation thus highlighted the illustrator’s role in shaping the content of non-fiction picturebooks through their subjective voice, creative choices, and modality conveyed by the strategies employed.
The investigation concluded that, given the convergence of the creative and the informational in non-fiction picturebooks, illustrators have the possibility of using visual and material means to communicate information, influence the perceived reliability of the depictions, reinforce the narrative, enhance the content, and generate alternative reading experiences. The picturebook can thereby offer great expressive potential for the illustrator to construct informational experiences by making use of the multimodal nature of this form.
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