Editorial

Illustration is a rapidly evolving field with an excitingly broad scope. Despite its cultural significance and rich history, illustration has rarely been subject to deep academic scrutiny. The Journal of Illustration provides an international forum for scholarly research and investigation of a range of cultural, politi cal, philosophical, historical and contemporary issues in relation to illustration. The journal exists to encourage new critical writing on illustration, associated visual communication and the role of the illustrator as visualizer and facilitator in a wide variety of disciplines and professional contexts. We hope that the journal over time will extend critical discourse and methodologies for the inter disciplinary study of illustration, exploring issues surrounding illustration as a visual text, the poetics of illustration and the relationship between word and image. The Journal of Illustration wishes to promote writing about traditional and emerging formats for illustrators and the ways in which these technologies affect visual communication. The journal is also open to hybrid and experimental forms of writing, and intends to provide a platform for visual thinking and practice-based ‘visual essays’