Teaching the stylistic peculiarities of

The illustrators 
Despite several noteworthy exceptions, the scarcity or lack of skilled 
illustrators raises problems for many developing countries in obtaining highquality 
textbook illustrations. Several reasons, some of which are linked, explain this fact: 
- lack of the means to train these specialists; 
- lack of coherent planning of textbook production which accords insufficient 
importance and financial resources for illustrations; 
- lack of recognition of the need for good quality illustrations for the 
educational effectiveness of school books; 
- low remuneration offered to skilled illustrators; 

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- under-employment of full-time illustrators whose level of skill is not always 
very high and who have to do other jobs as well. 
Despite all this, it is often possible to improve the quality of illustrations with 
a relatively small increase in expenditure, on the one hand to remunerate qualified 
illustrators (even, if necessary, calling upon personnel living in other countries), 
and on the other, with the use of colours. In fact, if such expenditure is shared over 
a large number of printed books, then it represents only a modest proportion of 
textbook production costs. Whereas, print-runs of school textbooks, especially 
those for primary education are often in excess of a hundred thousand and 
subsequent re-prints considerably increase this figure. 
What mainly raises the price of production for many countries is that they 
have to import most or nearly all of the material elements: paper, cardboard, 
equipment and supplies for publishing and printing, spare parts and maintenance. 
But, even if books are to be distributed free of charge or sold at prices falling under 
the real production costs, the quality of illustrations still remains an essential 
element. Should then the quantity perhaps be limited in order to safeguard quality? 
The qualifications of illustrators 
The qualities required of a good school textbook illustrator are not necessarily 
those of a well-known artist, draughtsman or painter. The abovementioned 
characteristics and conditions of a good illustration clearly distinguish the purely 
artistic drawing or image from illustrations for school books. The illustrator must 
certainly be gifted for drawing and have training in the arts, but he must also, 
through training courses and intensive practice, acquire the professional experience 
which will turn him into a skilled textbook illustrator. It is sometimes necessary to 
attend such courses and work abroad, but not necessarily in the highly developed 
countries. There are countries in each region of the world where talented 
illustrators work, where workshops for the illustration of school books have 
already been set up, and where it is possible to gain professional experience. 
Over and above artistic skill and experience of techniques in illustrating 
school books, an illustrator should: 

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- know something about the content for which the illustrations are prepared, 
without necessarily being a specialist in a specific discipline; 
- use a technique and style of drawing which corresponds to the content 
(scenes, people, situations, maps, technical drawing, scientific diagrammes, etc) 
and the text of the book; 
- have a good understanding of the educational objectives of the textbook. 
Illustrators cannot, at one and the same time, be good designers, specialists in 
a discipline and teachers. So, there must be close collaboration between illustrators 
and the author of the manuscript, the latter giving precise details on the type and 
characteristics of illustrations required in his textbook. In addition, the illustrator 
should take into consideration the requirements of those who will typeset and lay 
out the pages of the textbook, so far as dimensions and presentation of illustrations 
is concerned.
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