Illustration has been around for over 10,000 years. One of the oldest drawings ever found was a hand-shape in Spain that dates back more than 66,000 year. Around 1997, the use of illustrations has increased. Google’s daily Doodles and Red Bull energy drinks are two examples that use cartoon illustrations and animations in a very effective way.
Traditionally, illustrations were done with pencils, pens, etchings and paints. Now, you can create both digital and analog styles or mix media.
For example, even though photography is the most popular way to communicate visuals it’s not always the best solution. Illustrations offer a variety of styles to help companies communicate and engage with their audience. Good illustrations can create a mood, and bring ideas and concepts in the text to life. Visualisation is another word for it.
A good illustration can help bring information to life in a more engaging way than using only text, numbers or tables.

How can we decide what style or type of illustration is best? How can illustration enhance or echo your corporate image? What will your primary audience prefer? What about the content? What would best suit and highlight it, and what would work for the primary age group it is intended for?
Before we get into the examples, let us discuss the qualities of a good illustration and how important it is to understand your audience. The rubric below can help you make the best choices for your audience.
What Makes a Good Illustration?

Visualise something from the content.
It must be visually pleasing, stimulating, and interesting (it should have qualities and harmonies in colour, elements, proportions and subject matter).
Must have a mood, dramatic edge or attitude. (Needs to create an atmosphere and describe it.
The illustration should bring to life and enhance what is described verbally and in text form.
Illustrations that bring to life the text in a unique and useful manner. The illustration should enhance and illuminate the content, so that readers can better understand it.

Look at what we’re presented with most often.

Understanding different audiences is important
It is important to consider and know the different audiences. We are not all the same, and we do not have the same resources, abilities, or cognitive capabilities. Writing, illustrations, and designs should take into consideration the users’ capabilities and make-up.
There are several common types of audiences:

Child,
Teenager,
Middle-aged,
Ageing,
Prefer a particular style (gothic, retro, vintage, modern, sporty, branded).

Here are some interesting illustrations that illustrate, in no particular sequence, how different styles can communicate and echo different qualities, and affect mood and tonality.
Watercolour
It is a good choice for formal, sophisticated, and classy imagery. It also lends itself well to imaginative expression. It is a great use of texture and lighting that gives a humane, personal feel. You wouldn’t get that automatically if you used software.
Strengths

Feelings, emotions, and a sense of depth and texture.

Drawing with Real-life Objects
This is a great choice for highly abstract compositions and concepts with a funny and unusual aspect. This style can be used to create some stunning and clever work that will engage your readers.
Strengths

Conceptual play.

Surreal Photomontage
Perfect for abstract hybrid illustrations and photo illustrations with a surrealistic fantasy aspect. This is an excellent example of combining different imagery to create a dramatic, scary and visually arresting image that fits with the musician’s music.
Strengths

Mixing and merging concepts to create new, unseen imagery.

Cartoons
This style is great for expressing humor or fun. Concepts with wit and cleverness are created. This style can be used to create new messages and forms for communication.
Strengths

Conceptual.

Cartoon with Block Colour
It is great for illustrating fun, quirky or humorous concepts and aspects, with lots of wit and sass. The simplicity of the style is great for people who have trouble with more complex imagery concepts. It makes it accessible.
Strengths

Simplicity, unclutteredness and simplicity.

Clean Vector
Designed to create illustrations that are clear and clean, and are durable. This illustration style is very versatile as it does not have a strong stylistic direction.
Strengths

Realism, conceptual and broadly pleasing.

Textured Vintage Clean vector
This is best suited to imagining rustic imagery with a vintage feel. This is a great example of texture and uncleanliness enhancing the feel of the imagery. It is very Western and Old-fashioned and perfect for the core message of the illustration.
Strengths

Aged feeling and rough appearance

Pictogram
Highly effective for clean and legible imagery and concepts that are quickly recognizable, even at small sizes. Pictograms are often seen in environments that require quick viewing, such as airports. They also have to be able to appeal to a wide range people.
Strengths

Accessibility (accessibility): speed of understanding, legibility.

Abstract Geometric
This style is great for creating abstract and visually appealing imagery and concepts. This style allows for a lot of customisation and experimentation by the illustrator. The result is some really cool, visually striking results.
Strengths

Visual stimulation and curiosity.

Lithography Etching
Ideal for imagery with an old, traditional, and historic feel. A great look is achieved by using a greyscale color palette, etchings and sketchy markings. This is not something you would get from software but if you put it in the right context, or juxtaposed it with something unusual (like a modern corporate identity that is clean and trendy) then this could work well.
Strengths

Realism and old traditions

3D gradient
It is a great option for highly realistic illustrations with a friendly and accessible character element. This style is not too stylistic and can be accepted by a wide range of people.
Strengths

This is a widely acceptable and appropriate approach.

Sci-fi Comic Book And Pop Art
This style is particularly useful for concepts that are bright, animated and colourful. This style can create some really cool, almost animated graphic communications, which can be used for humorous purposes. The boldness of the style and its directness encourages visual engagement.
Strengths

Animation.

Tatoo
Ideal for bold, block-coloured imagery and silhouettes. It’s so bold and striking, but there is still a lot of detail, making it a sharp and cool illustration. The illustration is great in black and gray, but would be even better with colour.
Strengths

Directness and clarity

Pencil
Perfect for detailed, humane imagery with lots of feeling and personality. Sketchy style brings out unusual details, creating a creative feeling and imagery.
Strengths

Humane and detailed imaginative feelings

Gradient
Particularly useful for highly imaginative or fantasy imagery. The imagery has depth by using gradients, and a light to dark color palette.
Strengths

Fantasy (through depth in colour) and a clean feeling.

Charcoal
It is a great way to give illustrations a humane, tangible feel with echoes of historical illustrations. The black-and white illustration has a sombre atmosphere.
Strengths

Humane and detailed feelings

Woodcut
It is a great way to create block silhouette images that are sharp, clear, and have impact. Is colour really necessary? The contrast of the black against a light background is very effective in communicating the image.
Strengths

Clear and striking.

You can also check out our Fashionable Clothing.
This is a great option for images that have a feminine feel and are full of movement. This style of illustration is often used for fashion illustrations. It’s great for expressing colours and lines with motion and has a real runway flair.
Strengths

Motion and expressive flair

Caricature
Ideal for humorous illustrations and imagery with a graphic edge. The layering of dark and light elements creates a depth to the illustration, which is perfect for playing around with the details of the character. This is not something that you would get automatically from a clean vector image. It has been given more thought and care than a typical clean vector illustration.
Strengths

Detail and humour

Paint
It is a great option for romantic imagery with lots of detail, texture and depth. This style is best illustrated by the rose flowers because they are so detailed and have many different colour shades.
Strengths

Tradition and emotions

Chalk
Ideal for creating a working concept or idea from highly sketchy images. The white lines on the black background give the illustrations a life and movement. This style is an excellent example of how to use pure lines in illustrations but with great effect.
Strengths

Hand-realised animation and hand-realised.

Illustration Sample Card

How to Start Doing Illustration
You can use pencils, chalks, pens, paints, or etchings and then scan them in. You can also use software such as Illustrator, Photoshop or Corel Painter. No matter what software you use, you’ll need a vision and a creative mind to create illustrations.
Recommended Resources

Association of Illustrators
Tom May, “20 Best Illustration Agents in the UK and the Awesome Illustrators They Represent,” Tom May
It’s Nice that
Behance Illustration