The Development of Illustration Creativity of Children Book in Laos

Abstract

The research “Factors Affecting Illustration Creativity of Children Books in Laos aims to 1) study the development and the situation of illustrations of children book in Laos, 2) study the factors affecting illustration creativity of children books in Laos. This research is a qualitative study with an area of the study is Vientiane, Laos. The target groups of this study are 5 publishers in Laos. The target books are the books for 7 to 9 years old children which were published in Laos People’s Democratic Republic from 2008 to 2018. The methods used consisted of data collection from papers and documents, field survey, observations and interviews. The results were divided into two topics as follows: In term of the development and the situation of illustration of children book in Laos, focusing on types of illustration in children book, Drawing illustration was popular in 1932 to 1990, Painting illustration was found in Laos since 1991 and Computer graphic illustration was found in 2007. Focusing on types of books, it was found that the popular children books for 7 to 9 years old children in Laos were picture story books. In 1986 to 2006, Lao local tales are the popular content for story picture book. In 2007, most of the contents of the books were created by Lao story tellers. Focusing on the form of illustration, 3 forms of illustration were used: Realistic form, Analogical form and Surrealistic form. Focusing on the cover of the books, most of them used a single page which was created focusing on the image of the main characters of the story. Focusing on the arrangement of illustration, single-page illustration and double-page spread were found since 1986. Focusing on the development of publishers, they were non-profit organizations and private publishers. All of them were established in 2004 to 2009 which was the time that the 4th Education reform policy (2006 to 2015) was announced. Non-profit organizations published the illustrations books for library of primary schools in Laos. Private publishers published books to sell to Non-profit organizations and some of books were sold in convenience stores and morning markets in Vientiane. In term of the situation of illustration of children book, focusing on the content of the book, it was found that the Picture Storybooks were combined with Easy to read books. All the contents were proved by Ministry of Press, Culture and Tourism. Focusing on the form of illustration, the popular form of illustrations was a painting illustration. Non-profit organization had plans of creating illustration for children books in terms of form, color, page layout and content. Private publishers focus on content of the books. They employed freelance artists including Thai artists to illustrate their books. They bought copyright to publish and sell Thai children books in Laos. Keywords: Factors, Current condition, Illustration of Children Books, Laos