An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video games and films. An illustration is typically created by an illustrator. Digital illustrations are often used to make websites and apps more user-friendly, such as the use of emojis to accompany digital type. Illustration also means providing an example; either in writing or in picture form.
Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863–1935)
"Illustration beats explanation" Western Engraving & Colortype Co. (1916)
Cutaway drawing of the Nash 600, an American automobile of the 1940s (1942)
Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing by William Blake (1786)
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be used for many purposes. They are a frequent tool of advertisers, propagandists, protestors, and other groups trying to communicate a message. Posters are also used for reproductions of artwork, particularly famous works, and are generally low-cost compared to the original artwork. The modern poster, as we know it, however, dates back to the 1840s and 1850s when the printing industry perfected colour lithography and made mass production possible.
Poster for the Holzer Fashion Store, 1902
Police can sometimes put up a poster to let the public know about a criminal.
"Moulin Rouge - La Goulue" Toulouse-Lautrec, 1891
Lithograph poster for Ranch 10, a Western-themed play by Harry Meredith that opened in New York City in August 1882