Line #33 Main/CanonIllustrations


1	Sometimes one set of illustrations for a book or series, especially a classic, becomes so ubiquitous that those images become our cultural idea of what the scene or character "looks like," regardless of how it's described in the text.
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3	There are three ways this can work. First, the illustrations may accurately follow the text. (This is generally the case when these illustrations have been vetted by the authors themselves.) Second, the illustrations may include prominent details that don't contradict the text but neither are mentioned. Third, the illustrations may [[UnreliableIllustrator outright contradict the textual descriptions.]]
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5	Contrast FanArt.
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7	[[foldercontrol]]
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9	!!Examples of illustrations that don't contradict the text:
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11	[[folder:Fan Works]]
12	* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'':
13	** The FanArt made by [[https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/silvstardust Silvstardust]], who was not part of the roster of creators at the time, was adopted by the four authors as official illustrations of the characters. Her artwork can be seen on the fic's cover (depicting Galadwen, Bloom, Stella, Trisha, Altalune, and Stacy) and in an entry devoted to canon and fan art of the story (it being a JuxtaposedHalvesShot of Bloom and Trisha). The illustrations are done in the ''Winx'' art style and get down little details such as the fact neither of Bloom's daughters have pupils. They also depict the girls' weapons as per the ''World of Warcraft'' canon.
14	** Over the years since the fanfic's conception, Popsicle has drawn some SideStoryBonusArt of the characters. One example is a FamilyPortraitOfCharacterization of Bloom and her kids. Bloom is a very loving mother, so she's proudly wrapping her young daughters with her arms and looking proud, the shy Trisha is embracing her teddy bear and looks timidly at the camera, and the bombastic Altalune is making a V-sign with her fingers and smirking.
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17	[[folder:Literature]]
18	* John R. Neill's illustrations for the early ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books.
19	* Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for Creator/LewisCarroll's works, particularly the ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' books. It's worth noting that [[WordOfGod Carroll himself said he imagined Alice as a brunette]], as Alice Liddell was (although her hair color is never mentioned in the text itself), but thanks to Tenniel's classic illustrations, she is almost always blonde even in other illustrations and adaptations to other media.
20	* Antoine de Saint-Exupery's ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'', (self-admittedly poorly) drawn by the author himself. Re-illustrated versions are heresy.
21	* Garth Williams's illustrations of ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'', ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'' and other children's books.
22	* ''Literature/ThePolarExpress'' is famous for its gorgeous, full-page illustrations, most of which were reproduced in TheFilmOfTheBook (it was probably the point of making a movie to begin with).
23	* Paul Kidby's ''The [[Creator/TerryPratchett Pratchett]] Portfolio'', and subsequent ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' covers.
24	* Any other illustrations for Creator/DrSeuss' books other than his own are practically criminal. All movie adaptations today are expected to resemble at least MOST of his drawings.
25	* The ''Zamonia'' books by Creator/WalterMoers (such as ''Literature/TheThirteenAndAHalfLivesOfCaptainBluebear'', ''Literature/RumoAndHisMiraculousAdventures'', ''Literature/TheCityOfDreamingBooks'' and ''Literature/TheAlchemastersApprentice'') all come with the author's own lavish illustrations.
26	* Munro Leaf supposedly wrote ''Literature/TheStoryOfFerdinand'' to offer his friend, the illustrator Robert Lawson, an opportunity to show his talent, and the book accordingly has always been published with the Lawson illustrations.
27	* ''Literature/PettsonAndFindus'' is illustrated by the author himself.
28	* ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' includes the iconic and crazed cartoon illustrations of Ralph Steadman. The film adaptation includes a Steadman-drawn Mickey Mouse on the hitchhiker's shirt.
29	* ''Literature/PanTadeusz'' is inseparably associated with the illustrations by Michał Elwiro Andriolli from the 1882 edition.
30	* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' is illustrated by Brett Helquist in a very distinctive style that has become strongly associated with the books and the appearance of the characters.
31	* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' had this before [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the films]] did, with the illustrations by Creator/JohnHowe and Alan Lee being the most prevalent visual depiction of the story. Peter Jackson brought both of them on as concept artists for these and ''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy, and such was their influence that some designs were put in unaltered and illustrations recreated as actual shots. Creator/JohnHowe serves as conceptual designer for Amazon's ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' too.
32	* ''Literature/MondayBeginsOnSaturday'' was illustrated in 1965 (and later re-illustrated in 1979) by Evgeny Migunov, and his work is considered the definitive portrayal of the books' characters and events in the former Soviet Union.
33	* ''Literature/TheGoodSoldierSvejk'': Švejk's appearance is not described in the text but Josef Lada's illustrations are a staple of most editions of the book. Most people imagine him as a rather fat man with a very round and perpetually smiling face.
34	* When a 30th-anniversary edition of ''Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'' was released with new illustrations by Brett Helquist, it was [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks not well received]] by longtime fans of the books. Helquist's illustrations were okay, but they just weren't Stephen Gammmel's. As [[https://aiptcomics.com/2011/12/18/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-gammell-vs-helquist/ one article]] comparing the two pointed out, it was the original illustrations, not the text, that terrified children and stayed with them long after they'd grown up.
35	* Chris Riddell's illustrations in ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'' are considered so intrinsic to the work that his name is featured on the covers with the same amount of emphasis as the author, Paul Stewart. And his artwork is so beloved by fans that there was a significant backlash when publishers chose to replace his artwork on the covers.
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38	[[folder:Western Animation]]
39	* The Disney animated version of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh]]'' has taken over from the Ernest Shepard illustrations as the "official" look for the characters, but recently, the Shepard "look" has gained a resurgence as the "classic" look for Pooh.
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45	!!Examples of illustrations that include important details not mentioned in the text:
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47	[[folder:Literature]]
48	* Literature/SherlockHolmes and his deerstalker hat, added by ''Strand'' artist Sidney Paget (but only when Holmes was in the countryside).
49	* In the ''Literature/MagicSchoolBus'' books, the text and illustrations complement each other, with the illustrations and dialogue frequently including details the text leaves out. For example, the text of most of the books doesn't mention any of the children's names, but they are all worked into the dialogue.
50	* Going back to Tenniel and ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', the price tag on the Mad Hatter's hat ("In This Style 10/6", the fraction being ten shillings and sixpence in [[UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney the old monetary system]]) was Tenniel's own invention and nowhere to be found on the text. It has been retained in some form or another in almost all adaptations.
51	** It was also apparently Tenniel's choice to draw the Lion and the Unicorn in ''Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass'' as caricatures of Gladstone and Disraeli.
52	* Snape is never described as having a beard in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', but the goatee Mary Grandpre gave him became {{Fanon}}. However, it's been largely superseded by Creator/AlanRickman's portrayal of him in the movies.
53	** Before the films, a lot of ''Harry Potter'' merchandise seemed to copy the look of Mary Grandpre's illustrations, including kind-of-sort-of keeping her "soft geometry" art style.
54	** Perhaps most significantly in the long run, it was Mary Grandpre who invented the "Harry Potter" logo with that "P" that looks like a lightning bolt. It carried over to the films and beyond.
55	* Paul Kidby's illustrations to ''Literature/TheLastHero'', adding such details as Ponder's "Actually I Am A Rocket Wizard" FunTShirt, now as ubiquitous to the character as the robe that looks like an old-fashioned anorak (which ''is'' in the text). {{Defictionalisation}} has occurred.
56	* Creator/RudyardKipling's illustrations to the ''JustSoStories'' - which are left out entirely or replaced with new ones in many editions - contain quite a bit of additional information in the accompanying explanations, for instance the names of some characters that are not named in-story (e. g. the Rhinoceros and the Parsee are called Strorks and Pestonjee Bomonjee, respectively) or what happened afterwards (e. g. the Whale and the little 'Stute Fish became good friends again after the Whale got over his temper). One of the illustrations of ''The Coming of the Armadilloes'' tells an entirely unconnected story of an expedition to the mouths of the Amazon in the 16th or 17th century.
57	* ''Literature/LePetitNicolas'' is forever associated with Sempé's illustrations. Adaptations keep art-exclusive elements such as the titular Nicolas being the boy with the darkest hair in class, and wearing a red sleeveless sweater.
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60	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
61	* For many TabletopGame/DarkSun players, Brom provided the definitive look for Athas with his novel and sourcebook covers. When the Fourth Edition campaign guide came out, many called for Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast to hire him for the cover. They didn't.
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67	!!Examples of illustrations that contradict the text (for instances of lying book covers, see CoversAlwaysLie):
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69	[[folder:Literature]]
70	* Literature/{{Heidi}} is described as having short, black, curly hair. She's drawn as a blonde.
71	* The original illustrations from ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'''s magazine serialization depict him as the now-stereotypical LoinCloth-clad brute, but in the actual text what Conan felt to be one of the advantages of his stature was the ability to wear very heavy armor (usually chainmail over leather) while remaining agile and unencumbered. Conan generally wore whatever attire was appropriate for the climate and culture he was in at the moment, so there were a few instances where he actually did wear a loincloth, but certainly not as much as the illustrations would have you believe.
72	* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' books...in some of them, Jake is described as having blonde hair, but in one illustration has black hair.
73	* The covers of the early Discworld books depict Rincewind as old enough to have white hair, and most infamously, depict Twoflower as literally having four eyes. To quote the lspace wiki:
74	-->Consensus on alt.fan.pratchett has it that Terry was trying to get across the fact that Twoflower was wearing glasses ('four-eyes' being a common insult thrown at bespectacled folks), but that Josh Kirby simply triggered on the literal text and went off in a direction of his own. Whether this action essentially shows Kirby's interpretative genius (the [=KirbyFan=] explanation) or his inability to get the joke / read very carefully (the [=NonKirbyFan=] explanation) is a matter still under discussion.
75	* The Pauline Baynes illustrations of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. She contradicted Lucy's HairOfGoldHeartOfGold, but people still believed in her chosen colors for the rest of the (never-described) kids enough to complain about the AdaptationDyeJob when the recent movies gave Peter blond hair and Edmund brown/black hair, the reverse of how she drew them.
76	* Literature/CiaphasCain is always depicted in illustrations carrying a Bolt Pistol, despite using a Laspistol in the books. This is apparently deliberate, to reflect the fact that the images are meant to be ridiculously over-the-top propaganda posters. One later book does mention that he has a Bolt Pistol to brandish dramatically for portrait sittings and photo ops, but he still almost always uses his trusty Laspistol in actual combat (he sometimes has the chance to take something bigger, but always keeps the laspistol due to being a better shot with it. Considering he's taken out [[EliteMook purestrain genestealers]] and [[KingMook ork warlords]] with the weakest standard weapon in the setting, you kind of see his point).
77	* ''Literature/TomcatBlueEyesDiaries'': Blue Eyes and Kiki are both explicitly identified as Siamese cats so they should be silvery or white with various forms of darker point colouration. Helena Zmatlíková's illustrations depict them as blue-grey cats, similar to Russian Blue or British Shorthair Blue, albeit with blue almond-shaped eyes. The charming illustrations are included in all editions of the book and all covers of audio books so most people imagine Blue Eyes and Kiki as grey kittens.
78	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CanonIllustrations