New Publication – The Journal of Illustration

New Publication – The Journal of Illustration

Following a successful launch at the 4th International Illustration Symposium in Oxford recently, the Journal of Illustration has arrived.

Illustration is a rapidly evolving field with an excitingly broad scope. Despite its cultural significance and rich history, illustration has rarely been subject to deep academic scrutiny. The Journal of Illustration provides an international forum for scholarly research and investigation of a range of cultural, political, philosophical, historical, and contemporary issues, in relation to illustration. The journal encourages new critical writing on illustration, associated visual communication, and the role of the illustrator as visualizer, thinker, and facilitator, within a wide variety of disciplines and professional contexts.

The aims of the journal are as follows:

  • To work towards a definition of illustration, and its place in culture and history.
  • To look at the subject as a form of authorial practice as well as commercially driven profession.
  • To locate and describe histories of the subject within a wide variety of cultural contexts.
  • To develop a critical discourse and taxonomies of the subject.
  • To review current practice through case studies and interviews.
  • To encourage new critical writing on the subject of illustration, the relationship between word and image, image and concept and visual narratives.
  • To analyse the cognitive and developmental processes illustrated material stimulates in children and adults.
  • To explore the issues surrounding illustration as a visual text when it a translation or adaptation from other texts.
  • To look at traditional and emerging formats for illustrators and the ways in which these technologies affect visual communication, for example the relationship between illustration and animation.
  • To investigate the evolving potential of illustration within new media landscapes.
  • To explore theoretically and discursively the conjunction of illustration and the ‘literary’.
  • To investigate the potential for metaphor, iconology and poetics in illustration.
  • To provide a platform for visual thinking.

The Journal of Illustration is published by Intellect and can be subscribed to or purchased via their website here.


Principal Editor: 
Desdemona McCannon
, Manchester School of Art
Associate Editor: Adrian Holme, Camberwell College of Arts/University of the Arts London
Associate Editor: Peter Lloyd, Southampton Solent University
Associate Editor: Dr. Sheena Calvert, University of Westminster
Associate Editor: Jim Walker, University for the Creative Arts
Associate Editor: Jaleen Grove, Stony Brook University
Associate Editor: Chris Glynn, Cardiff School of Art and Design / Cardiff Metropolitan University