Drawing is a visual expression used to convey your thoughts and feelings towards a subject. In contrast, illustration is a tool of visual communication for people to visualize and understand the subject by looking at a picture rather than the accompanying text.
A Brief History
The earliest recorded illustrations appear in the cave paintings created in Lascaux, France, ca.15,000 B.C., featured as pictorial representations in succession, which detailed important events or their oral history.
In the Middle Ages, narrative pictorials appeared in illuminated manuscripts. Christian belief in the sanctity of religious writings was the primary reason for preserving and copying books. Monasteries were the centers of cultural, educational, and intellectual activities, and studio spaces called "scriptoria" were provided for writing, copying, and illuminating books.
Starting In the 14th century, artists of the Renaissance presented new art, music, and literature with publications that could be mass-produced and distributed due to the invention of a mechanical printing process by Johannes Gutenberg in 1452. Creating and distributing woodcuts and engraved prints brought images, ideas, and entertainment to a broad audience. They provided people outside the upper class with the possibility of experiencing art.[1]
References
1. Norman Rockwell Museum. “History.” Illustrationhistory.org,. 2008, www.illustrationhistory.org/history.
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