Extending and Distancing.

I've looked at how the placement of an illustration within the text may disrupt or enhance the narrative but now I want to look more at the content of the illustration, the view point, style and what the illustrator chooses to or not to depict.
 It is important to remember that while an illustration can extend the narrative as we've seen, it can also distance the reader.

These examples look mainly at early illustrated children's literature but the points they explore can be carried across all illustrated books:

"The world Greenway creates is certainly familiar, with its bright-red houses, blooming boarders, delicate china and floral-smoked girls. This is something that a child can feel part of..." - Stuart Sillers, Visualisation in popular fiction

Here the text suggests that the illustrations in the book described work well because they appeal and relate to a young audience, that they reflects the colour and gaiety of childhood. The child can empathise and relate to the character depicted and therefore enter the narrative more fully. Put themselves in their shoes.

If this is the case for children's literature how do you go about reaching and appealing to an adult audience. Traditionally and historically the main style would be woodcuts or engravings, but what about a contemporary audience. What would you depict that someone browsing the best-seller shelf would a) relate to but more importantly b) show interest to. and not be 'put off by'.

In both these examples viewpoint is key to the success of the illustration and its dual discourse with the narrative.

In the first example the illustrator places us behind the main characters allowing us to 'see what they see'. This gives us a huge sense of involvement and lets us experience the story with them instead of as an outside observer.

In the second it is both the viewpoint and  moment the illustrator has selected. 

"The choice of this moment, shows illustration being used to help the reader's grasp of the dynamic growth of the narrative; and the selection of the viewpoint from which we see something that the traveller cannot makes us accomplices in the crime, stressing out involvement in the story to the degree of giving us knowledge which the key character, the traveller, lacks."

This use of dramatic irony when the audience knows more that the character makes the story hugely engaging and allows the reader to anticipate the reveal of knowledge or the narrative climax which it will lead to. 

  Of course the opposite effect of an illustration is that it doesn't work well and in turn distances the reader from the narrative:

"The children have been organised into a decorative pattern which puts them outside both the real world and the fairy kingdom. As a result we do not enter the world of the book; we are held at a distance outside it."

Many factors may distract and distance the reader from the narrative perhaps even the presence of the image itself. I've looked at how the placement of the illustration within the text can modify our reading experience but there are many content and stylistic features that can do the same by distancing us.
If the image is too realistic, too unrealistic, too decorative, formal, archaic or abstract. If it gives us too much of a literal view of the characters/scene. A whole jumble of factors. Of course each will be specific to the narrative it illustrates, so as illustrators we must study and thoroughly understand the narrative and consider the reaction and response a reader would have when reading the book as a dual discourse.

 I also think that it can be down to personal opinion. For myself if any novel is illustrated it is usually for the better (because I find the artefact alone exciting), even when it does inevitably change my experience.

The ethics of illustrating a novel are addressed here again. Each decision on layout, content and style is crucial to a successful discourse.

Thus illustrate at your peril!