Types, Characteristics and Importance of Illustration

Abstract

We live in an increasingly digital world with our work tools like the computer, tablet, and smart phone, each with some form of image-capture technology. Teaching and research gadgets are also outfitted with carefully chosen, high quality and high-resolution cameras, which are invaluable tools. These devices make taxonomic research much easier, if not more robust. None-the-less, there is still much to be said for a well-crafted illustration. Digital imagery, while an exceptional resource, still does not completely capture the morphological complexity and minutia of insects such as the Chironomidae (specie of insect) quite like a hand-drawn or digitally-inked illustration. Even with expensive and high-quality techniques such as “z-stacking,” it is still difficult, if not impossible, to fully capture minute details that can be easily conveyed with a simple stroke of the pen. The crux or nexus of this study is the characterization of illustration and its importance as it applies to our design process.