READING REFLECTION #3

In Pictures and Words

Katie Wood Ray

Chapter 8 – Precision and Detail, In Pictures and In Words

Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer’s Notebook by Ralph Fletcher:

Details matter. In a poem, essay or story, a powerful detail allows the reader to understand the emotional drama. And it gives the reader plenty of space to enter the world of text.

DETAILS MATTER

The details in both illustration and text help to bring the work to life for the reader.

Authors may be “painting pictures” with words. It is important to select the details included in the text … or illustration … and to describe using quality detail  that supports the meaning.

Reading Like a Writer: A guide for People Who Love Books and Those Who Want to Write them (Francine Prose)

Great writers painstakingly construct their fictions with small but significant details that, brushstroke by brushstroke, paint the pictures the artists hope to portray, …

AN EYE FOR DETAIL: THE IMPORTANCE OF OBSERVATION

STRATEGIES!!!

·          NOTICING DETAILS (around yourself)!  Reflect these in illustrations

·          NOTICE PHYSICAL DETAILS:  clothing, hair styles, jewelry & accessories … these lend important information to illustration

·         NOTICE DETAILS about WHERE THE SUBJECT IS!  Location/Setting is important to the story!  Background scenery helps support or tell the story.

·         NOTICE DETAILS FROM NATURE around the subject

·         WHAT IMPACT HAS WEATHER HAD ON THE SCENERY?

·         NOTICE DETAILS RELATED TO PLACE, ERA, AFFLUENCE IN THE BACKGROUND AND AREA (man-made and natural details)

·         IS THERE AN ILLUSION OF MOTION/MOVEMENT PRESENT OR NEEDED?

·         HOW CAN ILLUSTRATION BE USED TO CREATE AN ILLUSION OF SOUND?

There is a LOT to observe … a lot to try to include in illustrations!